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logical, relationships and
dependencies, as well as their
criticality to the business, where each
entry in the database is referred to as
a configuration item (Ci). the
information technology infrastructure
library (itil) treats the CMdb as the
central source of data for
Configuration Management process
to understand how the data center
assets are composed and services
delivered to end users.
while it seems that CMdb is an
integral part of any bsM solution, it is
also used by other processes such as
Change Management and incident
Management. thus, the decision
whether to treat it as part of the bsM
or decouple it is very important. that
said, by understanding the
demanding work associated with
populating and maintaining the
CMdb, it becomes more practical to
decouple the CMdb related activities
from the bsM framework.
by decoupling the CMdb from the
bsM, we can utilize more advanced
and specialized CMdb solutions, such
as bMC atrium CMdb and
puppetlabs’ configuration
management system - puppet. this
approach addresses the challenges
associated with controlling the CMdb
system, and maintaining data
integrity, validity and consistency. in
addition, it allows for further
development of the CMdb by
including the data into the CMdb
from other sources, such as asset
Management. this process, referred
to as federation, transforms the
CMdb into a federated CMdb such
that the source of the data retains
control of the data. this has become
a common practice in today’s
complex computing environments.
utilizing an independent CMdb as
the source of data for all of the it
assets for the bsM is more practical. it
allows the bsM solution to focus on
what it should, while ensuring the
availability of a reliable source of data.
furthermore, it leads to a less
complex solution architecture for the
bsM.
J. OPEN SOURCE APPROACH:
OFFERINGS AND LIMITATIONS
in recent years, the open source
software industry has gained a huge
popularity and been a key competitor
to market leaders, who have been
driving the industry for years, as
shown in figure 3. similarly, open
source bsM tools and solutions have
been popular and widely adopted at
the enterprise level.
they aim to associate the concepts of
both open source and propriety
software together. that said, they
offer the flexibility of open source
solutions. users can access the source
code and customize the solution to
the business needs. they can also
integrate with third party solutions, at
no additional cost, to expand their
capabilities. often times, these
integrations are provided as an out-
of-the-box feature utilizing generic
Table 3: Main Differences between Fragmented and Unified BSM Solutions.
DetaiLs
administration overhead higher for fragmented solutions.
installation requirements Generally, fragmented solutions tend to
need more components.
cost Generally, higher for the fragmented
solutions.
functionality offerings More capabilities are usually offered by
fragmented solutions.
Figure 3: Gartner’s DC Audience Current and Future Monitoring Platforms.