The CMDB Imperative: How to Realize the Dream and Avoid the Nightmares

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 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

實施能夠快速回報投資回報率並提供持續商業價值的配置管理資料庫

實施企業級配置管理資料庫（CMDB）是IT組織可以採取的最具影響力的行動之一，可以改善服務交付，並彌合技術和業務之間的差距。擁有一個設計良好的CMDB，公司能夠更好地管理和優化IT基礎設施、應用程序和服務；自動化更多的IT管理任務；並控制不斷增長的成本。現在，有一本客觀的、供應商獨立的指南，可以幫助您在組織中建立一個有效的CMDB。《CMDB Imperative》提供了一個從頭到尾的實施方法論，並描述了CMDB如何轉變為更優越的配置管理系統（CMS）。

專家CMDB行業分析師Glenn O'Donnell和領先的架構師和實踐者Carlos Casanova首先回顧了CMDB背後的驅動因素以及實現成功所面臨的技術、經濟、文化和政治障礙。他們根據數百個組織的經驗，提供了關於如何為您的特定環境架構和定制CMDB解決方案的不可或缺的指導。他們將引導您進行計劃、實施、轉入生產、日常運營和維護等方面。內容包括：

- 定義與配置管理相關的任務和活動
- 了解CMDB在ITIL中的角色以及CMDB與ITIL v3的CMS之間的關係
- 建立準確代表IT環境中每個實體的軟件模型
- 通過變更管理和自動發現確保信息的準確性
- 了解CMDB市場的現狀，並在組織內推銷CMDB
- 創建成功平衡自治和集中控制的聯邦CMDB架構
- 計劃部署策略，確定適當的優先順序，並反映對組織成熟度的現實觀點
- 整合系統並利用已建立和新興的標準
- 預覽CMDB/CMS的未來，以及虛擬化、SOA、移動性、融合和“靈活外包”等關鍵趨勢對其的影響

前言 xi
序言 xiii

第1章：需要流程紀律 1
第2章：什麼是CMDB？ 25
第3章：為CMS進行規劃 57
第4章：聯邦CMS架構 91
第5章：CMS部署策略 133
第6章：整合-這是無法避免的！ 177
第7章：CMS的未來 197
第8章：CMS的持續改進 241
第9章：利用CMS 265
第10章：享受成功的果實 297

詞彙表 313