| OverviewThis is the Safari online edition of the printed book.
Implement Configuration Management
Databases that Deliver Rapid ROI and Sustained Business
Value
Implementing an enterprise-wide
Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is one of the most
powerful things an IT organization can do to improve service
delivery and bridge the gap between technology and the business.
With a working CMDB in place, companies are better positioned to
manage and optimize IT infrastructure, automate more IT management
tasks, and restrain burgeoning costs. Now, there's an
objective, vendor-independent guide to making CMDB work in your
organization. The CMDB Imperative thoroughly demystifies
CMDBs, and presents a start-to-finish implementation methodology
that works.
Expert CMDB consultant Glenn O'Donnell
and leading-edge implementer Carlos Casanova first review the
drivers behind CMDB, and the technical, economic, cultural, and
"political" obstacles to success. Drawing on the
experiences of hundreds of organizations, they present
indispensable guidance on architecting and customizing CMDB
solutions to your specific environment. One step at a time,
you'll walk through planning, implementation, transitioning
into production, day-to-day operation and maintenance, and much
more. Along the way, the authors offer best-practice solutions for
knotty issues that complicate implementation, including data
ownership. Coverage includes
Defining the tasks and activities associated with configuration
management Understanding CMDB's role in ITIL, and the relationship
between CMDBs and Configuration Management Systems Building software models that accurately represent each entity
in your IT environment Understanding the state of the CMDB market, and selling CMDB
within your organization Creating federated CMDB architectures that successfully balance
autonomy with centralized control Planning a deployment strategy that sets appropriate priorities
and reflects a realistic view of your organization's
maturity Integrating systems and leveraging standards Previewing the future of CMDBs, and how they will be impacted
by key trends such as virtualization, SOA, mobility, convergence,
and "flexi-sourcing" Continuously improving the CMDB you've already
deployed
Whatever your role in planning,
architecting, delivering, or managing configuration management,
this book will help you drive maximum business value from
CMDB—now, and for years to come.
Foreword
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Need for Process
Discipline
Chapter 2: What is a CMDB?
Chapter 3: Planning for the Configuration
Management System
Chapter 4: The Federated CMS
Architecture
Chapter 5: CMS Deployment Strategy
Chapter 6: Integration–There's
No Way Around It!
Chapter 7: The Future of the CMS
Chapter 8: Continuous Improvement for the
CMS
Chapter 9: Leveraging the CMS
Chapter 10: Enjoy the Fruits of Success
Glossary Editorial ReviewsProduct DescriptionImplement Configuration Management Databases that Deliver Rapid ROI and Sustained Business Value Implementing an enterprise-wide Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is one of the most influential actions an IT organization can take to improve service delivery and bridge the gap between technology and the business. With a well-designed CMDB in place, companies are better positioned to manage and optimize IT infrastructure, applications, and services; automate more IT management tasks; and restrain burgeoning costs. Now, there’s an objective, vendor-independent guide to making a CMDB work in your organization. The CMDB Imperative presents a start-to-finish implementation methodology that works and describes how the CMDB is shifting to the superior Configuration Management System (CMS). Expert CMDB industry analyst Glenn O’Donnell and leading-edge architect and practitioner Carlos Casanova first review the drivers behind a CMDB and the technical, economic, cultural, and political obstacles to success. Drawing on the experiences of hundreds of organizations, they present indispensable guidance on architecting and customizing CMDB solutions to your specific environment. They’ll guide you through planning, implementation, transitioning into production, day-to-day operation and maintenance, and much more. Coverage includes -
Defining the tasks and activities associated with configuration management -
Understanding the CMDB’s role in ITIL and the relationship between CMDBs and ITIL v3’s CMS -
Building software models that accurately represent each entity in your IT environment -
Ensuring information accuracy via change management and automated discovery -
Understanding the state of the CMDB market and selling the CMDB within your organization -
Creating federated CMDB architectures that successfully balance autonomy with centralized control -
Planning a deployment strategy that sets appropriate priorities and reflects a realistic view of your organization’s maturity -
Integrating systems and leveraging established and emerging standards -
Previewing the future of the CMDB/CMS and how it will be impacted by key trends such as virtualization, SOA, mobility, convergence, and “flexi-sourcing” Foreword xi Prologue xiii Chapter 1: The Need for Process Discipline 1 Chapter 2: What Is a CMDB? 25 Chapter 3: Planning for the CMS 57 Chapter 4: The Federated CMS Architecture 91 Chapter 5: CMS Deployment Strategy 133 Chapter 6: Integration—There’s No Way Around It! 177 Chapter 7: The Future of the CMS 197 Chapter 8: Continual Improvement for the CMS 241 Chapter 9: Leveraging the CMS 265 Chapter 10: Enjoy the Fruits of Success 297 Glossary 313 |
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Reader Reviews From Amazon (Ranked by 'Helpfulness') Average Customer Rating: based on 2 reviews. Good Strategy, 2009-05-08 Reviewer rating: I have had this book since early March 2009 and am not complete with it yet...but... what I have read is great. If you are looking for deep technical guidance on setting up a CMDB, buy another book on VSS, Serena, ClearCase, Subversion or whatever you plan on using.
However, ODonnell/Casanova's book covers configuration management at an enterprise and strategic level and how critical CM and a CMS is to support development methodolgies and support methodologies (al la.. ITIL/ITSM). It also stretches the common concept that a CMDB is for code version control and management, ODonnell/Casanova suggest that a HR system contains a partition of the CMDB for those configuration items we refer to as "employees" (perm and contract and outsourced...), and that other systems are also forms of CMDBs because they manage other assets of an enterprise that have potential to be changed in status, location, cost, or relationships.
There ARE some basic architecture guidelines in the book that cover various federation schemes and other considerations - these will be useful for a CM Manager, Chief Data Officer, VP of Data, or architect supporting the development, testing, and code & document management environments.
Again, this is a book very useful for IT management to develop their strategy for implementing a CMS or enterprise CMDB, esp for organizations with distributed locations, esp. mutli-nationals or those relying on offshore development or support.
Overall a very good book... | the need for CMDB, 2009-03-28 Reviewer rating: Have you, the IT manager, ever wondered what exactly you manage? Not so much the people, but the hardware and software. The book explains that you need a Configuration Management Database, and what it does or should do. At the simplest level of implementation, it is a database of an inventory of hardware. Nowadays, this usually means machines on a network. Here, things are pretty mature. There are software packages called network monitors that use Simple Network Management Protocol to query every object on the network supporting the protocol. From this automated discovery, you can easily get a list of active network devices and some information about each.
But the book shows how a CMDB is much more. Given the hardware, what software is installed or, and this is often more pertinent, what is currently running? To some limited extent, a standard network monitor can poll the various ports on each machine and make an inventory of which are active, along with a guess as to what is listening of those ports. But the guess only works with commonly used ports. In general, a CMDB has application discovery tools that you need to give access to the servers. Here the problem is much harder than for network devices, because there is no analog of SNMP for a general application to conform to. So the discovery tool might scan the server's disk to see what is installed, and to look up the process table for what is active.
All this is for automated discovery. As the book points out, this is far easier and more robust than manual discovery.
The book also touches upon the increasing use of SOA applications. The interrelated nature of these is another level of complexity beyond what more discovery tools currently handle. Yet if SOA really takes off, you need an awareness of the interdependencies between your SOA applications.
An ongoing process of CMDB improvement. The book makes you aware of the need for CMDB as well as its current limitations. |
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