Kaiser, An interesting source of info/opinion about CMDB. http://www.itskeptic.org/taxonomy/term/6
I also recommend for general ITSM/ITIL: http://www.itskeptic.org/ I like the itskeptic - as (whoever it is) the person has a very real world approach to the ITSM world. (And also calls out some companies bluffs/marketing). Email me offlist for comments. Thanks, -John On 6/27/07, Kaiser Norm E CIV USAF 96 CS/SCCE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Matt and everyone else: So for those of you who have a populated CMDB in a large enterprise--are you truly gleaning anything OF VALUE from it that you couldn't glean from the native auto-discovery DB itself? -----Original Message----- From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Carey Matthew Black Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 2:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Real-World Value of SMS & CMDB Norm, Part of the value of having monitoring (and discovery tools) is that you can bash "changes" in the availability and configuration against planed changes. (And you can discover unplanned, and uncontrolled changes.) Some of the most expensive problems are planned changes. However some of the more serious failures are normally unplanned. Automated process can run 100% of the time. Humans pounding on the keyboard generally are not as 100% available, or 100% consistent about how they do things. ("Microsoft" != "microsoft" in most programming languages.) Everything I have read and learned about a CMDB is that if your not discovering some (or most) of your data then you might as well not even start down that road. Even if the discovery process leads to some false negatives, it is a start to understanding your actually environment and processes. And that is the point of the Configuration Management DB. -- Carey Matthew Black Remedy Skilled Professional (RSP) ARS = Action Request System(Remedy) Love, then teach Solution = People + Process + Tools Fast, Accurate, Cheap.... Pick two. On 6/27/07, Kaiser Norm E CIV USAF 96 CS/SCCE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ** > > > > Well...what the auto-discovery tool can/can't do isn't really my concern here. > > > > Say I have a server on the network. My discovery tool discovers it. It > accordingly creates a record in its database. > > > > A few days go by. Someone shuts down the server for > maintenance...coincidentally during the next discovery poll. The discovery > tool now sees the server as "missing" from the network. > > > > Now consider an enterprise that consists of over 40,000 such machines > (servers, workstations, laptops, etc.) and imagine the problem. > > > > ________________________________ > > > From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Cook > Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 1:17 PM > > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Real-World Value of SMS & CMDB > > > > > Actually, your better discovery platforms (which may or may not include SMS) > can allow alarms to be set for things like differences in discovered > hardware. Consult your system documentation to see if that's available. I > remember that a really old version of LANDesk had that. > > > > > Rick > ________________________________ > > > From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kaiser Norm E CIV USAF 96 CS/SCCE > Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 11:11 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Real-World Value of SMS & CMDB > > ** > > Perhaps I'm oversimplifying it-but from a 10,000 foot perspective, if what > interests you is in SMS and what SMS can discover, why not just query SMS? > > > > In regard to your question, "...how will you know when something leaves the > company?" that's part of my point-SMS won't tell you that...at least not in > many big enterprises. > > > > ________________________________ > > > From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rick Cook > Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 12:56 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Real-World Value of SMS & CMDB > > > > Well, the component and related information (installed HW and SW), if that's > important to you, would be something discovery tools like SMS can give you. > Even if you only want to track the workstation, how will you know when > something leaves the company, or is added to the infrastructure (like an > unauthorized laptop)? > > > > > Rick > ________________________________ > > > From: Action Request System discussion list(ARSList) > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kaiser Norm E CIV USAF 96 CS/SCCE > Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 10:50 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Real-World Value of SMS & CMDB > > ** > > Hi everyone: > > > > I wanted to discuss the practicality issues of using SMS to populate the > CMDB. I understand all (or virtually all) of the theory, but now I want to > discuss the real-world practicality of it. > > > > By my estimation, the only real-world value I see in using SMS to populate > the CMDB is that it saves someone from having to pound the keyboard to get > system information into it. That's it. > > > > I've heard some folks talk about using SMS to identify deltas within the > hardware inventory. That is, on Day 1, Dell Workstation 1 was discovered by > SMS. On Day 9, Dell Workstation 1 is missing. That's a delta. An > inventory manager can then be notified of that delta so that he can go > figure out if Dell Workstation 1 got up and "walked away." > > > > But the way SMS is configured at most large sites, this would not work. In > some configurations, items do not get removed from the SMS database until > their machine account in the Active Directory is removed AND the machine > fails to respond to polls for X amount of time. This does the enterprise no > good in preventing, say, theft, as a thief does not request that the > computer's machine account be removed from the Active Directory before he > steals it! Theft prevention and loss prevention are two of the > justifications in the total cost of ownership calculation, according to > ITIL. > > > > But SMS alone won't get you there. You need something like RFID to truly > identify instances of missing hardware. > > > > So what does SMS get you other than not having to pound a keyboard? > > > > Thoughts? > > Norm > > __20060125_______________________This posting was submitted > with HTML in it___ > > __20060125_______________________This posting was submitted > with HTML in it___ __20060125_______________________This > posting was submitted with HTML in it___ > __20060125_______________________This posting was submitted > with HTML in it___ __20060125_______________________This > posting was submitted with HTML in it___ ________________________________________________________________________ _______ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are" _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are"
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