Configuration Management

- Premanand Lotlikar

Agenda

• Introduction• Objective of CM• Benefits• Basic Concepts• Relationship with other processes• Activities in CM• Process Control• Key Performance Indicators• Cost• Possible Problems

Introduction

• Every IT organization has information about its IT infrastructure

• Art is to keep the information up-to-date

• Information includes not only about individual component but how they relate to one another

• If implemented properly, it can provide information about:

Product Policy

• Which IT components are we currently using? How many of each version? How long have we had them?

• What are the current trends in the various product groups?

• Which IT components can be phased out and which require upgrading?

• What licenses do we have and are they adequate?

• Which maintenance contracts should be reviewed?

Troubleshooting information & Impact assessment

• Which IT components are affected by a change?• Which RFCs are under consideration for IT

components?• What IT components are responsible for known

errors?• Will the disaster recovery plan still be effective if

the configurations are modified?

Objectives of CM

• Managing the economic value of IT services by maintaining logical model of the IT infrastructure

• Provide accurate information on configurations and their documentation to support all the other Service Management processes

• Verify the configuration records against the infrastructure and correct any exceptions

Benefits

• Managing IT components• High quality IT services (localizing CIs, reducing cost &

time)• Effective problem solving (trends and previous records)• More rapid processing of changes (impact analysis)• Better control of s/w & h/w (rollout of packages)• Improved security (authorization, licensing)• Compliance with legal requirements• More precise expenditure planning (maintenance cost,

contracts, licenses & expiration dates)• Solid foundation for IT service Continuity Mgmt (back-up

of CMDB helps restoration after any disaster)

Basic Concepts

• Configuration Items (CI’s)– Every distinct entity that is part of the

infrastructure can be denoted as a Configuration Item (CI)

CI classification

• Tangible, discrete items (e.g. hardware, software, technical documentation)

• Entities which provide the same functions as physical CIs but do not have a physical form (E.g. virtual machines in a server cluster environment)

• Policies, standards, contracts that bind two or more entities

• Roles played by persons or groups (e.g. users, service providers, support groups)

• Events that occur at specific times (e.g. service failures/ interruptions, scheduled maintenance)

CI example

•Source: OGC

CI example

Basic Concepts

• Configuration Mgmt Database (CMDB)– Keeps track of all IT components, their

versions and status and the relationships between them.

•Several applications storing their own data

•Accounting of IT assets and services possible

Isolated CMDBs

•Different processes sharing data•Lot of resources to maintain integration•Someone unfamiliar with the system might not know where to look for a given piece of data

Integrated CMDBs

• Single, all encompassing CMDB to hold configuration data• Accessible by all applications that need the data• Single point of entry• Requires a large capacity in one place• Creates a bottleneck because all requests for and updates to data pass through the same path• Requires a massive migration to get all of your data into the single database

Centralized CMDB

Basic Concepts

• Definitive Software Library (DSL)– Library storing all definitive authorized

versions of all software CIs– Physical library storing master copies of

software– Only authorized software should be accepted– Strictly controlled by Change Mgmt

Relationship with other processes

• Incident Mgmt needs information across the whole infrastructure

• Configuration Mgmt helps to:– To determine the CI’s location and owner– To determine if there is a problem or a known

error with work around– To know which customers and services are

impacted– To know the relevant SLA

Relationship with other processes

• Problem Mgmt needs information about the complexity of the infrastructure.

• Configuration Mgmt helps to:– To link problems & known errors to CI’s– To use CMDB data to analyze incidents and

problems– To identify the deviation b/w the authorized

configuration and the actual configuration

Relationship with other processes

• Change Mgmt uses CMDB to identify the impact of the changes done.

• Configuration Mgmt helps to:– To associate changes with the relevant CI’s

• Change Mgmt provides major input for updating the CMDB by recording RFC.

Relationship with other processes

• Service Level Mgmt (SLM) needs information about services along with the relationships b/w services and the underlying infrastructure CI’s.

• SLM data can be stored in the CMDB and related to appropriate CI.

• Service levels (gold, silver, bronze) can be recorded against the CI’s

Relationship with other processes

• Availability Mgmt uses CMDB for Component Failure Impact Analysis (CFIA).

• It uses CMDB to identify the weakest CI in the chain of CI’s providing a service.

Relationship with other processes

• Capacity Mgmt uses CMDB – To plan optimization of IT infrastructure– To allocate workload– To develop a capacity plan

Relationship with other processes

Activities in CM

• Planning

• Identification

• Status Accounting

• Verification and Audit

Planning

• The aim, scope, and priorities of Configuration Mgmt have to be defined within Service Management and should be aligned with the business objective.

Identification

• Relates to defining and maintaining naming conventions & version numbers of CIs along with documentation, attributes & relationships.

• The general questions for determining information to be recorded:– What resources are available for collecting information– Which components should have their status and status history

recorded?– What information do we require for changing purpose?– Which components may affect capacity/availability after change?– What requirements are associated with the provision of SLA?– What information do we require for charging purpose?

• Decision to be made on– Scope (breadth)– Level of Breakdown (depth)– Level of Detail (detail)

Detailing the Scope

• What part of the infrastructure be controlled by Configuration Mgmt?

• This scope affects the scope of:– Diagnoses by Problem Mgmt– Impact Analysis by Change Mgmt– Verifiability of SLA– Analysis & Planning by Availability Mgmt

IT Infrastructure

Application A

Module A

Module B

Service A

LAN 2

System 21

NIC 12

Modem 5

Service B

PABX

Line 1

Line 2

Line 3

CI # 1

CI # 2 CI # 3

CI # 4

CI # 5

CI # 6

CI # 7

CI # 8

Scope

Detailing the Scope

IT Infrastructure

Hardware Software Network Documentation

Business System 1 Business System 2

Application1-1 Application1-2 Application1-3

Module1-1 Module1-2

Depth – Level of Breakdown

Level of Detail (Attributes)ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION

CI number/label Unique identification of the CI.

Serial Number Supplier’s identification number in the form of serial number

Model Name Full model name E.g. PIV MMX 933 MHz

Manufacturer Manufacturer of the CI

Category Classification (H/W, S/W, Documentation)

Warranty expiry date Date when warranty expires

Version number Version number of CI

Location Location of CI

Owner responsible Name and designation of the owner or person responsible for the CI

Status Current state of the CI E.g. ‘under test’, ‘live’

Cost Cost of acquisition

Residual value Current value of CI after depreciation

Comment Other comments

RFC Number RFC number open for the CI

Relationships Relationship b/w the CI and other CIs

CI Relationships

• Relationship b/w CIs useful for:– Diagnosing errors– Predicting availability of services

• Relationships can be:– Logical

• Is a copy of: Copy of a standard model• Relates to: A procedure, SLA, customer area• Is used by: CI needed for providing a service

– Physical• Forms part of: FDD forms part of a PC• Is connected to: PC connected to LAN• Is needed for: H/w needed to run application

CI Relationships (example)

Baselines

• Snapshot of group of CI’s taken at a specific point in time

• Baseline can be used as:– For recording cost information– Starting point for development and testing of new

configurations– Back-out if there is are problems with new

configuration after change– Standard for supplying configurations (E.g. standard

workstation)

Status Accounting

• The process of recording state changes to a CI• Most common states:

– On order – Received, pending testing – Under test – Installed to production, Operational– Under repair – Disposed

• This information is also useful for problem management, especially for detecting devices with high incidents of repair or long repair periods

Example CI status monitoring

•Source: OGC

Verification and Audit

• Used to verify if the current situation still reflects the details in CMDB

• Audits may be carried out in following situations:– After implementing a new CMDB– Before and after major changes– After disaster recovery– At any convenient time

Verification and Audit

• Following questions are asked during audit:– Are all RFCs recorded in CMDB?– Is the CMDB still up-to-date? If not, why?– What is the impact on Change Mgmt?– Are baseline configurations recorded

correctly?– Does naming of the new CI’s comply with

naming convention?

Control of CIs

• Only authorized CIs should be recorded in the CMDB

• The following actions are monitored:– CI is added– CI status changes– CI owner changes– CI relationship changes– CI is removed– CI license renewed or modified– CI details updated after audit

Process Control

• Critical Success Factors:– Information in the CMDB should be up-to-date

• Change Mgmt must be strictly enforced• Stakeholder for information

– Implementation of CMDB must be divided into correct stages

• Extensive scopes of CM at once generally fails

– Recording must be given to person having not only the reqd skill but the right attitude!

Key Performance Indicators

• Number of deltas• No of occasions when configuration was found

unauthorized• No of occasions when recorded configuration could

not be found• Time needed to process a request for recording

information• List of CI’s where more than a given no of

incidents/changes were recorded• Statistical information about the structure and

composition of IT infrastructure• Growth data about IT infrastructure

Cost

• Largely depends on the scope and level of the detail

• Cost include H/w, S/w and personnel cost• H/w, S/w cost depend on:

– Additional H/w & S/w required and its configuration– Application and DB design, population, customization

& implementation– DB maintenance

• Personnel cost depends on the size of the organization and level of detail of CMDB

Possible Problems

• Wrong CMDB scope or CI level of detail (too little or too much)

• Inadequate manual systems (paper systems)

• Affect of urgent changes

• Over ambitious schedules (no time to update CMDB)

• Management acceptance (cost concerns)

• Bypassing the process

Thank you!