Jul 26, 2010

ITIL - The CMDB - The central IT repository

The configuration management database (CMDB) is not a database in the technical sense but a
conceptual IT model, which is indispensable for efficient IT service management. All IT components and inventories are managed in the CMDB.

Configuration management exceeds asset management, often incorrectly used as a synonym, as it does not only document assets from a financial point of view, but captures information regarding the relationship between components, specifications or their location.

Thus IT support can quickly access information on the interdependence of IT services and the IT components (= configuration items = CIs) necessary for them.

According to ITIL, a CMDB must feature the following functionalities:
• manual and, where applicable, automatic recording and modification of configuration items
• description of the relationship and/or interdependence between CIs
• change of CI attributes (e.g. serial numbers)
• location and user management for CIs
• integration via the ITIL processes represented in the system