CMDB

CA Best Practices and Service model

Swedish Service Desk Manager User Group
30.05.2012
[email protected]
CMDB vs. CMS
Federation
Content Pack
Service Model
- Just Enough, Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up, Federation
- Visualization, filters
Integrations and Data Population
- GRLoader, TWA, R12.7
- CA Configuration Automation integration with CMDB via Catalyst



2 Copyright 2012 CA. All rights reserved.
Agenda
CMDB CA Best Practices and Service Model
3
primary CMDB use cases
based on CA Technologies survey
Primary Factors Driving CMDB
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
No Response
Other
Lower Costs
Reduce Risk
Improve Service Through Increased Service
Availability
Improve IT Alignment with the Business
Note: Change Impact
and Root Cause
Analysis represents
73% of the CMDBs
primary focus
4
What processes are you looking to implement first using a CMDB?
43%: Release, Change, and Configuration Management
34%: Incident and Problem
13%: Asset Management
8%: Service Level Management
Service Modeling based on critical applications
2%: Other

All are attributable to gauging impact, controlling
important assets, or guidance in defining services
based on CI relationships in existence

consumers of configuration management information
Source: EMA
Understanding the difference between the tangible value of an asset and the resource value
of an asset is key to determining the business risk value of loss of that asset.
Asset Management Focus
> Finance, ownership, and contracts
> Lifecycle management
> The asset as an IT corporate resource
> The micro individual performance
> CFO
Focus on cost and fixed risk
Configuration Management Focus
> Operational responsibilities
> Risk management and impact
> The asset as a business service enabler
> The macro aggregate performance
> COO
Focus on value and unlimited risk
Contrast Asset and Configuration Management
CMDB vs. CMS
Holds all the information for Cis within the designated scope
Holds asset data available to external financial AM systems
Relationships between all service components and any related
incidents, problems, known errors, change and release
documentation, employees, suppliers, locations, business units,
CMS will provide access to data in asset inventories wherever
possible rather than duplicating data
7
Source: ITIL V3 Service Transition book (OGC)
CMS Configuration Management System
Sample CMS System as defined by ITIL and CA mappings
Sample CMS System as defined by ITIL and CA mappings
Federation
CI Family CI Attributes CI Relationship
CA CMDB
Catalyst
CMDBf
API
Federation
Adapters



Mainframe
3
rd
Party MDR
CA NSM
MS SCCM
Spectrum SAM
CA Wily APM
Spectrum IM
Spectrum DCA
Service Catalog
CA ITCM (UAM)
CA Cohesion
CA
MDRs
CA CMDB Native Content & Federation
Federated Architecture
12

CA
CMDB
MDR1 MDR2 MDR3 MDR4
MDR link
CI Detail screen
CMDBf, Federation Adapters, Catalyst
Content Pack
14
The Content Pack for ITIL consists:
ITIL v3 standard process collateral consisting of
Processes Handbook, RACI matrix, Processes, sub-processes, Procedures & Work
Instructions
Includes; Service Catalog, Request,
Incident, Asset, Change & Configuration Management
Processes
Supporting workflows
CA Process Automation
Content Pack for ITIL
15
Content Pack for ITIL
16
Content Pack for ITIL
17
Content Pack for ITIL
Service Model
First - architect the right CMDB data model

What is a Service?
Step-by-step guide to building a Service Model with CA CMDB
Configuration Management
IT Service focused items (CIs) that need to be managed to deliver the Service
Models Business Services in the CMS, providing information about Configuration Items,
including their Relationships required to deliver the Business Service
The Configuration Management process provides the ability to consistently identify,
manage and verify the IT infrastructure components and their Relationships within the
Business Services
Quality is determined by the maturity level of the Configuration Management Process
20
It is not about sticking every bit of infrastructure in a big database!
21
critical to a service is understanding how it is consumed, constructed,
delivered and supported
translate IT to the business: service view
Trading System
Booking Website
Media Content
Server Router
Database
A Birds eye view of an IT Service

22
Services are made up of
many layers
Connecting layers is
what makes Services
robust but complicated
We need to find the
connections to
navigate through the
layers

23
A Birds eye view of an IT Service

Use Technology to Help



Change Impact
Root Cause
24
Service Model Design
Structure Underlying classification, component attributes and hierarchy of CIs
Object Model A diagram that represents all CI types within the scope of the Configuration
Management process and their named relationships
Service Model An Object Model diagram that includes the key attributes meta data values that
will be captured in relation to the defined CI Types

25
If the Infrastructure is the puzzle, and the Configuration Item (CI) is the piece,
then the Configuration Management Service Model is the picture on the puzzle
box
26
> objectives for a configuration
management database
> considering:
who are the consumers of configuration
management information?
what information do
they require?
why do they need it?
when do they need it?
who owns the process?

start with what you want to achieve
27
configuration data:
change & release management impact analysis
incident management root cause analysis
problem management root cause & trend analysis
service level management service definitions
service portfolio & catalogue management service definitions
availability management service definitions, impact analysis, root cause analysis
capacity management service definitions, impact analysis
financial management charging
typical consumers
28
Just Enough CMDB
Source:
Forester Research
The Just Enough CMDB
Implementing A CMDB Is Not A Five-
Year Project
April 12, 2006
Iterative Methodology
Adopt an iterative lifecycle approach:
Start small have a clear objective
Identify one or two key services
Work with consumers to define attributes
Leverage your existing tool information to populate CI
attributes
Supplement with Discovery
Define role-based service views
Synchronise data on an ongoing basis to ensure accuracy
29
Identify the hierarchical layers
Business Service
IT Service
Web Presentation
Applications
Software
Database
Operating System
Hardware
Network/Facilities
Additional Layers:
- Organisations
- Customers
- Locations
- SLA
- Application Development
- Virtual Environment
- High Availability
- Security
- . ???

Can these layers be represented as attributes of CIs?
If you add a layer be ready to have extra CI types, attributes and
relationships to manage
Build a Service Model with CA CMDB
- Baseline from Asset Management
- Baseline from Discovery tools (Desktops, Devices, etc)
31
Service Model Layers
CI types
CA CMDB Families and Classes
CI Attributes
(Family <-> attributes)
CMDB MDRs
Source of data for attributes
CI Relationships
(Provider -> Dependant)
Relationships MDRs
Source of data for relationships
CMDB Data Consumers
Service Managers
Infrastructure Mgr
Application Mgr
C
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g
e

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n
d
/
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r

C
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f
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CMDB Objectives
service model
identify the high level CI types
Business Service
IT Service
Web Presentation
Applications
Software
Database
Operating System
Hardware
Network/Facilities
Administration Service Owner Service Contract
Router Hub Switch SAN Network
Virtual Platform
Server Mainframe NAS Storage
Windows Linux UNIX
Database SW Database Cluster
CA/3
rd
party Software Components
Application Server
Load Balancer
Service Name
Processes Sub Services
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families can be
renamed
more can be created
each family has a set
of attributes

CA CMDB r12.6 CI families

34
CA CMDB r12.6 CI classes
service model with families
CA CMDB
Business Service
IT Service
Web Presentation
Applications
Software
Database
Operating System
Hardware
Network/Facilities
Administration
Contact Service Level Agreement
Network.Router Network.Hub Network.Switch SAN.Interface
Hardware.Server Hardware.Mainframe Hardware.Storage
Software.Operating System
Database SW Database Cluster
Software.COTS
Software.Application
Hardware.Other
Enterprise Service
Service
Software.COTS
Hardware.Virtual Machine
purists will say design first based on needs, then make the tool fit
but COTS tools (CA CMDB) have features and limitations

MDRs may have technical restrictions in terms of:
attributes & relationships automatically populated
what CI will require manual input
federation
reconciliation
synchronization

start considering available MDRs
select for each family the set of attributes needed (and available), examples:









for each attribute document which MDR will be used to populate it
Note: Sometimes you may need to select whether attribute should be a CI or attribute of CI - (f.ex. Operating System)
identify CIs attributes for each family
CMDB Entity Relationship Diagram
CMDB Entity Relationship Diagram
identify CIs relationships between layers
Business Service
IT Service
Web Presentation
Applications
Software
Database
Operating System
Hardware
Network/Facilities
Network.Hub
Hardware.Server Hardware.Server
Software.Operating System
SW Database Cluster
Enterprise Service
Contact/Org.
Provider
Dependent
Provider
Dependent
Provider
Dependent
Provider
Dependent
Provider
Dependent
Provider
Dependent
Provider
Dependent
Provider
Dependent
Dependent Provider
Dependent Provider
Is gateway for
Is server of
Is subscribed to by
Runs
Services
Is used by
Provides to
Hosts
Contains
Is gateway for
Is HA Server for
Is server of
Serves
Software.COTS
Software.Application
Software.COTS
Service
Administration Service Level Agreement
Dependent
Provider
Is governed by
Location
Is located at
they can be renamed
or you can create new ones

CA CMDB r12.6 relationship types
Service
Layer
Service
Subset
Layer
System
Layer
Logical
Host
Layer
Physical
Host
Layer
Storage
Hardware
Network
Hardware
Storage
Partition
Network
Zone
Firewall
Hardware
Service
Sub Service
Computer
Hardware
System
Logical
Partition
Determine Peer-to-Peer Relationships
Dependency? Dependency? Dependency? Dependency?
Handling Virtualization
Virtualization requires special attention due to the manner in which certain data exists in a
seemingly static state and other data is in a seemingly dynamic state.
A CMDB is typically not the best place to store dynamic state data. Therefore, the data that is more
frequently kept includes the information about the physical boxes, the clusters and how they are
related, and the specific images that can be tied to the cluster.
However, the real-time relationship information (image to physical box, for example) is usually part
of an operational system, not the CMDB.
This particular pattern is not limited to virtualization alone. The same is often true for mainframe
relationships like job management. In this case, the focus would be on defining queues as being
static.
42
Handling Virtualization
There are various methods to handle virtualization.
These methods depend on:
The processes virtualization supports
The ability to collect accurate information
CMDB planning and operational views can be different.
ESX Cluster
ESX Physical Box
ESX
Image
ESX
Image
ESX Physical Box
ESX
Image
ESX
Image
Operational
Relationships
CMDB
Planning
Relationships

Operational relationships for virtualization should not be defined in the CA CMDB.

leverage the technology to assist you
change impact
root cause
47
Market Need Example
Federated CMS-based BSM (per EMA)
The market need outlined in this
diagram by EMA shows integration of
data from many sources to a federated
service model (CMS or CMDB++).

We would deliver the pieces of this,
including the capabilities that would
feed config data, events and metrics
into it, as several discrete solution
offerings for various smaller market
segments with distinct buyers.

Consistent solution architecture is required to ensure discrete solutions can be further integrated in
flexible ways to construct larger solutions like this.

(OMDB = Operational Management Data Base PMDB = Perfromance Management Data Base)
48
Business Process: Card Requests and Cancellations
the traditional diagram
49
Business Process: Card Requests and Cancellations
a service model diagram
50
Business/IT Service: email
the traditional diagram
51
Business/IT Service: email
the traditional diagram
52
sample service model
CA World 2010
CAW10_Server1
Hardware.Server
ESX Server
CAW10_Image1
Virtual Machine
Windows 2003
CAW10_App2
Software.Application
Application
CAW10_Account Manager
Contact
Managerial
CAW10_Sales
Organization
Internal
CAW10_Rome
Location
City
Deploys
CAW10_Switch1
SAN.Switch
Switch
Is Gateway For
Administrative Layer
Service Layer
Application Layer
Data Stores
Virtual Environment
Physical Environment
Facilities Layer
CA World 2010
Service Model
CAW10_rte2
Network.Router
Router
CAW10_Copenhagen
Location
City
CAW10_Business Process2
Process
Service
CAW10_DB3
Software.database
Oracle
CAW10_DB2
Software.database
SQL
Is Location For
Is Location For
Hosts
CAW10_Server2
Hardware.Server
ESX Server
Hosts
CAW10_rte1
Network.Router
Router
Is Location For
Is Gateway For
Is proxy for
Is proxy for
CAW10_Business Process1
Process
Service
Fronts
Is subscribed to by Is subscribed to by
CAW10_Service1
Service
Service
CAW10_Service Batch
Service
Service
CAW10_App1
Software.Application
Application
CAW10_DB Scheduler
Software.Application
Application Instance
Secure
Security
Application Security
CAW10_Oracle DB
Software.COTS
Oracle_Database
CAW10_SQL Server
Software.COTS
SQL Server
CAW10_DB1
Software.Database
SQL
Runs Runs
CAW10_Image2
Virtual Machine
Windows 2003
CAW10_Image3
Virtual Machine
Windows 2003
CAW10_Image4
Virtual Machine
Windows 2003
Deploys Deploys
Deploys
Hosts
Is used by
Secures
Is used by
Is used by
Serves
CAW10_Server3
Hardware.Server
UNIX
Services
Provides to
Provides to
Provides to
Services
Middleware
Governs
CAW10_NetApp
Cluster
NetApp
Contains
Contains Contains
Is Gateway For
Services
53
viewed from CA CMDB Visualizer
Root Cause Analysis
Impact
Analysis
Integrations and Data Population
Master Data Model Table Connections
1. CA APM, CA Service Desk, and CA CMDB
2. CA NSM
3. CA DSM
Registration
CORA
Is the method that the CA CMDB uses to register CIs
Is shared by multiple applications
Helps ensure the integrity of information between applications across shared tables
Is used for new registrations and changes to existing data contained in tables
Not Found
F
o
u
n
d

CORA Return Not Found
CMDB
Return Found
Transaction

Name
Serial Number
Mac Address
DNS Name
System Name
Alt Asset ID
Identification Methods
When an asset is registered, CORA generates the asset UUID (ca_asset) by applying a
black-box logic to the following six fields:
Serial Number
Asset Tag (appearing as Alt Asset ID)
Host Name
Mac Address
DNS Name
Asset Label (Name)
When CORA has a UUID for an asset or a legitimate federated asset ID is presented, the
six fields become irrelevant.
Identification Methods Continued
Serial Number Asset Tag Host Name DNS Name MAC Address Asset Label Results
Unique Unique Unique Unique Unique Unique, Duplicate, or Null New Asset
Unique Null Null Null Null Unique, Duplicate, or Null New Asset
Null Unique Null Null Null Unique, Duplicate, or Null New Asset
Null Null Unique Null Null Unique, Duplicate, or Null New Asset
Null Null Null Unique Null Unique, Duplicate, or Null New Asset
Null Null Null Null Unique Unique, Duplicate, or Null New Asset
Null Null Null Null Null Unique New Asset
Null Null Null Null Null Duplicate Duplicate
Null Null Null Unique Duplicate Unique, Duplicate, or Null Duplicate
Null Null Null Duplicate Unique Unique, Duplicate, or Null Duplicate
Null Null Null Unique Unique Unique, Duplicate, or Null New Asset
Unique Duplicate Duplicate Duplicate Duplicate Unique, Duplicate, or Null New Asset
Duplicate Unique Duplicate Duplicate Duplicate Unique, Duplicate, or Null New Asset
Duplicate Duplicate Unique Duplicate Duplicate Unique, Duplicate, or Null New Asset
Duplicate Duplicate Duplicate Unique Duplicate Unique, Duplicate, or Null Duplicate
Duplicate Duplicate Duplicate Duplicate Unique Unique, Duplicate, or Null Duplicate
Duplicate Duplicate Duplicate Unique Unique Unique, Duplicate, or Null Duplicate
Duplicate Duplicate Duplicate Duplicate Duplicate Unique, Duplicate, or Null Duplicate
The following table shows the results of applying CORA rules.
General Data Population
In CA CMDB, owned assets are registered through CORA based on how they
are submitted:
Created manually using the CA Service Desk or CA CMDB web interface
Created using GRLoader with the CA CMDB transaction work area (TWA) and
federation adapters
Shared with CA APM
Created and linked to discovered computers using the Discover Assets page on the
CA CMDB or CA Service Desk web interface

Data Federation
Data Federation
A commonly accepted definition for data federation is a central master repository with several feeder repositories.
For example, one central federating CMDB and several federated data sources that are often referred to as MDRs
It involves designing all read/write mechanisms and processes to provide accurate and timely reconciliation when required. This
is absolutely critical to maintaining the integrity of the CMDB.
CORA
To address some data maintenance challenges, several CA products, including CA CMDB, use CORA to register assets in the CA
MDB shared by the products to enforce predefined rules for uniqueness and referential integrity.
Data Population - Federation
The Universal Federation adapters are a set of utilities provided with the CA CMDB to
enable a federation of data from multiple sources.
Data
Source
ADT
CORA
CA
CMDB
TWA
GRLoader
MDB
XML
Data Mapping
New CI or Update Existing?
Transaction Work Area
The TWA is used as a holding area for CMDB transactions.
It can be manipulated using SQL instead of or in addition to XML.
MDR Provides Data
in XML Format

GRLoader i File
Name
Data Loaded into
the CMDB
Loading data without the TWA:
TWA Continued
MDR Provides Data
in XML Format
GRLoader Load to
TWA
Data Stored in TWA
Tables
Data Loaded into
the CMDB
Web UI
Manipulation of
Transactions
GRLoader Load
from TWA
SQL Manipulation
Loading data with the TWA:
CMDB Import Options to Control Updates
By knowing what the risks and trade-offs are in a gold standard, you can mitigate them and
help ensure that the gold standard is enforced.
Import Method Description Benefit
MDB Direct database update No control
Web service Direct Update Limited control
TWA with GRLoader Staging area Provides most control
GRLoader Direct CA CMDB; Federated adapters Limited control
Direct Updates are not supported externally and will affect data integrity.
Data Staging to Handle CI Exceptions
By using the TWA, you can:
Manage and view individual data sets from multiple sources in a single location before inserting into
the CMDB.
Consider any potential timing issues relating to updates on any overlapping fields.
Merge attributes from multiple sources and create relationships when forming a single CI record.
Have a greater depth of knowledge and vision of CIs and critical services.
CA SDM R12.7 CMDB Enhancements:
GRLoader - Newly Supported Input Formats
GRLoader Additional Input Formats
To reduce the dependency of CMDB customers on generating XML input, the GRLoader
is enhanced to support the below additional input formats.
Data import from spreadsheets
Data import from csv
Data import from JDBC/ODBC compliant database tables
66
CCA-CMDB integration via Catalyst
CA Configuration Automation

Discovery and dependency mapping
Discover applications & servers
Identify dependencies and relationships
Change management
Detect changes to applications & servers
Prevent and correct configuration drift
Compliance and auditing
Help enforce regulatory & security policies
Application best practice benchmarks
CA CMDB and CA Configuration Automation
CCA
CCA
Database
App. Servers
Other CIs
DB Servers
Component
Blueprints (~ 550)
Server discovery
Software discovery
Relationship discovery
CI attribute details
CA CMDB
CMDB
Repository
Export:
All Cis &
relationships
attributes
Manage
Infrastructure
Actions:MDR
back to CCA
View CI attributes
Refresh CI attributes
BOXI
CMDB
Export
CA Configuration Automation
Visualize Application Relationships
70
CCA CMDB integration via Catalyst
CCAs ability to detect changes from baseline or Gold Standard configurations
across applications and servers supports Change and Configuration Management
efforts in CMDB.
Automatically populate and maintain the CMDB with accurate CI attribute and
relationship information as-is or last known state
Ability to launch CCA details to view details of discovered CI attributes through
the MDR Launcher
The CCA CMDB integration is aimed at replacing the earlier version of the
integration solution between ACM and CMDB by using the Catalyst 3.1 as the
integration platform


Overview of functionality

CA Catalyst integrates the CMDB module of CA SDM r12.6 with CA Configuration Automation r12.6.
- Supports CMDB MDR Launch in Context
CI Versioning
Launch Contributing MDR UI
MDR Based reconciliation
Supports TWA (Transaction Work Area)
Staging area for unapproved changes
Keeps CMDB changes under control
Helps change verification process

Overview (SDM Connector) Cont
CCA has developed a new connector based on Catalyst 3.1 which provides the data
available from CCA using the USM data model
The CCA connector pulls the data from CCA using a core DB API layer of CCA which is
then transformed into USM objects by the catalyst framework using a policy file that
defines the mapping and transformations from CCA attributes, classes to USM
The CCA connector is a outbound connector which just provides the data for others to
consume




Overview ( CCA Connector)
Company Overview Slide
Text-only option
Catalyst Job wizard to create Catalyst CMDB integration job

Catalyst Integration tab within CCA Catalyst job
Finally you can choose to schedule the job and select the notification profile and save the job. You
can schedule the job or run the job to push the data from CCA to catalyst connector

Catalyst Integration tab within CCA Catalyst job
CIs in SDM TWA In Initial status
77
Move CIs to Ready state in SDM TWA
78
Execute GRLoader to Load CI to SDM
79
After Loading Data into CMDB
80
Education, webinars,
82
CMDB learning paths
CA CMDB r12.x: Planning, Analysis and Design 300
CA CMDB r12.5: TWA Integration and Reconciliation 300
83 Copyright 2012 CA. All rights reserved.
CA Education Configuration Management
84
Brighttalk.com
CA channel
questions

[email protected]