By IT Brew Staff
less than 3 min read
Definition:
A configuration management database (CMDB) is a database that contains all relevant information about the IT assets within an organization’s IT infrastructure, including hardware and software, as well as how these assets (known as “configuration items,” or CIs), relate to one another.
Key takeaways
A CMDB allows IT professionals within an organization to track all aspects of their IT infrastructure, including the current states and interdependencies of assets plugged into that infrastructure. Thanks to that context, IT pros can more easily accomplish critical tasks such as root cause analysis, disaster recovery, or change management. For example, they can see how servers and other network devices relate to one another, and thus will be impacted by any kind of alteration.
Critical elements
CMDBs are considered critical elements of IT service management processes and the tracking of IT services, meaning any IT pro who wants to interact with IT infrastructure will likely need to become familiar with how they work and how to consult it when performing an update or similar function. Although the actual form of CMDBs can vary, many include vital metrics about various configuration items, including past incidents; given how many companies operate in a hybrid-cloud environment, it may also include configuration data about cloud resources such as databases.
From a cybersecurity perspective, CMDBs are also valuable because they allow IT pros to quickly isolate unauthorized devices or software running on the system.
Management headaches
It takes continual effort for an IT department to maintain, update, and double-check its CMDB. Without accurate data, the database quickly becomes useless. In a similar spirit, the CMDB must contain relevant, granular information about the IT stack, with minimal cluster—a difficult task for IT teams to manage when they’re trying to manage time and resources across multiple projects.
