We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Software

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

What is a Configuration Management Database?

By S.A. Keel
Updated: May 16, 2024
Views: 7,208
Share

A configuration management database (CMDB) is one or more databases used as a means for information technology (IT) managers to plan and organize every aspect of an organization's IT environment. Pretty much anything that comprises the IT workings of an organization can go into a CMDB, where each entry into the database becomes what's called a configuration item (CI). This includes not only computer hardware and software inventory and control, but also methods of operation, specific incidents and changes to the IT environment, even people.

The contents of a particular CMDB may vary by department or service. The CIs for an organization are collected into a CMDB, which becomes a central information repository for tracking them and their relationships with one another. With the help of a good CMDB implementation, an organization can make more informed decisions on IT planning, management, and necessary spending for maintaining the IT infrastructure.

The idea behind the configuration management database came about from the workings of the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency, which eventually became the Office of Government Commerce, a government agency in the United Kingdom (UK). The group maintains and publishes a series of books that describe what's known as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®). Part of the ITIL® involved the recommended use of databases for managing the elements of an IT environment and how they're configured.

As the ITIL® continued to garner popularity beyond UK government agencies and contracts, however, the configuration management database concept became somewhat confusing, and a bit of controversy emerged. Numerous companies raced to create actual database applications that were marketed as a single source for simplifying the management of IT departments. By the time version three of the ITIL® emerged, the idea behind the CMDB fell under a section that described a more general configuration management system (CMS) in order to better describe the idea behind the use of a CMDB. Under the new clarification, a CMS may contain one or more possible CMDBs.

Further developing the notion of the configuration management database, the idea was taken on by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF®), a coalition of technology industry companies. By approaching the CMDB as more of a federation of databases, using the CMS notion described in the new ITIL®, the concept proposes any number of databases, called management data repositories (MDR), and a means by which they communicate and share configuration items with one another. The DMTF® standard helps companies who wish to continue developing databases for use as MDRs to do so in a way that will work with MDRs created by others.

In essence, at the top of a hierarchy is the the primary configuration management database, which can be viewed as something of a meta-database. It doesn't need to contain all of the details regarding a particular IT environment, instead allowing other trusted sources to maintain that information. The various CMDBs of an organization then share the key data up to the primary CMDB that is then used for general decision making. Departmentalizing the CMDBs in this manner allows for better clarification and easier control of information about the entire IT environment altogether.

Share
EasyTechJunkie is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Discussion Comments
Share
https://www.easytechjunkie.com/what-is-a-configuration-management-database.htm
Copy this link
EasyTechJunkie, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

EasyTechJunkie, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.