What is CMDB?

The ServiceNow Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is a centralized repository consisting of interconnected tables that store detailed information about a company’s managed assets and services. These include servers, network devices, applications, services, and more.

The CMDB supports various functions within IT, such as enabling the IT Service Desk to enhance incident management by understanding users’ equipment and software. It also helps network managers gain visibility into servers, applications, and network devices, including their interdependencies.

The benefits of the ServiceNow CMDB extend across the NOW Platform, improving Configuration Management capabilities in areas such as Service Management, Asset Management, Operations Management, Security Management, Cloud Operations, Event Management, and Compliance.

Youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE7AKgPU6oc

Configure the CMDB

CI Class Manager

The CI Class Manager offers several benefits for managing configuration items (CIs) and their classes within the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Here are some key benefits:

• Centralized Management: The CI Class Manager provides a centralized place to view and manage the CMDB class hierarchy in a tree-view format. This allows for easy navigation and management of CI classes
  • Class Definitions and Settings: Allows you to view, create, or edit basic class definitions and class settings for identification rules, reconciliation rules, and CMDB Health.
  • Hierarchy and Relationships: You can view the hierarchy of CI classes and their parent-child relationships. This helps in understanding the structure and dependencies of different CIs.
  • Attributes and Rules Management: The CI Class Manager enables you to manage attributes, identification rules, reconciliation rules, suggested relationships, and all relationships of a CI class.
  • Health and Compliance: It helps in maintaining the health of the CMDB by allowing you to create compliance audits, certification filters, and templates. You can also set CI fields to be recommended or mandatory.
  • Extensibility: The CI Class Manager supports the creation of new child classes or updating existing classes.
  • Improved Data Accuracy: By managing identification and reconciliation rules, the CI Class Manager helps in ensuring data accuracy and consistency within the CMDB

While it is possible to create new CMDB classes using the CI Class Manager in ServiceNow, this should be done with caution. There are potential license, governance, and insight implications, and you might inadvertently duplicate existing classes.

By avoiding the creation of new CMDB classes, you can maintain standardization, simplify maintenance and upgrades, ensure interoperability, preserve data quality and integrity, and take advantage of available support and community resources. This approach ultimately leads to a more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective CMDB.

Consulting the ServiceNow documentation and engaging with the ServiceNow Community can provide valuable guidance to achieve the best outcomes.

If a new class is needed, before creating a new class, be sure to first install the ServiceNow CMDB CI Class Models(opens in a new tab) store application which provides lots of additional classes that have been prescribed by ServiceNow. It is very possible that a base system class exists that your organization can leverage. If not, it is recommended to extend an existing class with the new class.

Be aware that only users with the following roles can create new classes:

• sn_cmdb_admin and personalize_dictionary
• admin

If you are planning to eliminate technical debt and want to remove a custom class, it recommended to do the following:

• Utilize CI Class Manager to identify a baseline class that a custom class can be moved into.