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 The itSMF ITIL v3 framework is a set of best practices that describes what you need to do in order to implement excellent IT Service Management. The ITIL v3 framework is also very much focused on implementing excellent Configuration Management processes. I have personally been very impressed with ITIL - especially two of its key tools. The first is the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and the second is the Configuration Management System (CMS). CM practitioners need to take the deep dive into ITIL and all of its CM related best practices. Here is a brief explanation of the CMS and the CMDB to get you started.The CMDB is generally used to manage the Configuration Management dependencies of all of the component in your system. There are often specialized CMDBs that "discover" information about a particular component (e.g. ports in use). The CMDBs typically feed their information to the Configuration Management System (CMS) that has a wider focus of tracking all of the Configuration Items (CIs) in any particular release. Keeping a CMS updated is no small task and one of the reasons why some of these best practices have fallen short of their goals. Now don't be confused by the terminology here. The CMDB and the CMS are not the tools used to store source code. The Version Control System (VCS) or Source Code Management (SCM) tool is used to track all of the source code and create baselines to track Releases. You might (and should) have information flowing from your SCM to the CMS (see the terminology is very confusing here). I would like to hear about your experiences with implementing CMSs and CMDBs in your organization! Oh and don't forget to catch our related articles on tips for creating CMDBs!!! Bob Aiello is the Editor-in-Chief for CM Crossroads and a software engineer specializing in Software Process Improvement including Software Configuration and Release Management. Mr. Aiello has over 25 years experience as a technical manager in several top NYC Financial Services firms where he had had company-wide responsibility for CM, often providing hands-on technical support for enterprise Source Code Management tools, SOX/Cobit compliance, build engineering, continuous integration and automated application deployment. Bob is a long standing member of the Steering Committee of the NYC Software Process Improvement Network (CitySPIN), where he serves as the chair of the CM SIG. Mr. Aiello holds a Masters in Industrial Psychology from NYU and a B.S. in Computer Science and Math from Hofstra University. You may contact Mr. Aiello at raiello@acm.org or link with him at http://www.linkedin.com/in/bobaiello .
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... There is a serious disconnect between the tools used between configuration management, software configuration management and change event management. While ITIL has documented sound practices for these practices and processes that certainly improve change to infrastructure and technology and have certified tools that can support the ITIL processes as they have defined it. The big problem in our industry is the inability of a great many of these tools to work in concert to support the entire life cycle and change process as a whole. There is no magic bullet to cure the challenges that change to infrastructure or applications present but there are methods which one can architect. Having designed processes and automation between Change Event Management, CM, SCM and Change Control tools for mainframe, midrange, distributed hardware, applications and other technology is in itself a great challenge which many firms tend to ignore. By thinking that the tool or tools they have chosen do enough to get the job done they usually still miss the mark which is to connect all these different tools making them work together for total change harmony. |
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