CMDB – Configuration Management Database

What is a CMDB used for?

A CMDB - or Configuration Management Database - is a central database that contains all important information about your IT assets and forms the basis for your IT service management.

The CMDB software not only maps your entire IT infrastructure with networks, applications, hardware and services, it also shows the relationships and dependencies between them. This enables IT service processes to be automated, IT-Infrastructure-Management and planning to be simplified and the expense required for the operation and administration of the IT infrastructure to be reduced.

What role do CMDB tools play today?

Especially with advancing digitalisation, IT landscapes are becoming more and more complex and with them the requirements of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud applications, virtualisation or edge computing. This makes it all the more important to maintain an overview and map the object dependencies of IT assets in order to take advantage of the opportunity for automation.

CMDBs are ideally suited for this purpose because they are not limited, as other reporting and monitoring solutions are, to the inventory of their own products without sufficiently capturing the structures and processes. Instead of mapping just a part of the IT infrastructure without the relationship level of the assets, a Configuration Management Database software does exactly the opposite and includes all information of your IT assets. It, therefore, ensures stable applications and systems, high-quality customer service and a controlled IT infrastructure.

What requirements must Configuration Management Databases fulfil?

CMDBs are designed to meet the strong demand for automation while responding to resource bottlenecks. To do this, the systems must be particularly intelligent and be able to represent complex IT infrastructures both for clouds and on-premise. In addition, they must be applicable for every industry and map all the necessary information in the service processes of an IT CMDB. Only by doing so, can they provide a comprehensive overview and support the automation of various processes.

Since IT-Service-Management and ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) processes such as service delivery, service support or even IT security management, change and problem management depend on the Configuration Management Database, the ITIL CMDB must function smoothly and provide data that is always up-to-date and correct.

What are the benefits of a CMDB software solution from FNT?

Instead of storing data in different databases, FNT's CMDB tool eliminates the need for multiple systems and instead combines the available data into one easily accessible software.

FNT's CMDB solutions provide a centralised and transparent view of your IT asset relationships. This easier access to your IT makes it straightforward to identify critical relationships and processes, and thus makes it easier to identify redundancies and errors. This facilitates troubleshooting in the event of problems and the adaptation to changes in various service processes.

It also enables you to define standards that apply to your entire IT infrastructure. This standardisation of business services supports your business processes and is simultaneously perceived by your customers. Due to the importance of this, the focus is increasingly being placed upon it, also in the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which recommends the introduction of asset CMDBs for this reason.

Transparency for your security

As soon as a malfunction occurs somewhere in your IT, you need to have a transparent view of your IT infrastructure with all its dependencies and relationships in order to be able to react quickly and prevent damage. This is because different areas that are connected via servers, databases or networks often use the same server application, for example, which may be business-critical.

Even in crisis situations, it is crucial to react quickly to changing conditions, to make important decisions reliably and to implement changes in a structured manner. In both cases, FNT's CMDB solution is a dependable choice because of its transparency. Just like DC Inventory Management specifically for data centre networks, it provides the necessary overview of the entire IT infrastructure and ensures systems and applications are stable.

Easy connection to other systems

FNT's CMDB solution serves as the data source for each system and asset. At the same time, the database can also be connected to other data systems, so that the FNT IT CMDB can be enriched with the information it contains. For example, it supports Product Portfolio and Service Management, thus creating accelerated IT service management. The data exchange works via interfaces and ensures that the information is always up-to-date. The simple connection to other systems and the overall view with all links and dependencies of your assets significantly reduces the work for your IT management and ensures more effective processes.

Automation of your service processes

Do you want to combine technical blueprints, order catalogues or other services with your CMDB to speed up your service processes? This is also possible with these effective IT management tools from FNT. You always have access to the latest data that feeds your services. This allows you to automate recurring tasks without any effort and creates a decisive added value for your business.

Conclusion: Reduce the administration for your IT infrastructure

To standardise and automate your IT service processes, a Configuration Management Database tool from FNT is just the right solution. It minimises the effort required to administer your IT assets and at the same time reduces your operating costs. This allows you to provide faster, automated services to your customers as part of IT customer service, increasing their customer satisfaction. In addition, you yourself benefit from the overall view of your IT because in crisis situations you can react more specifically and also correct errors more quickly. This makes your business even more efficient and successful. Another advantage: The more complex your infrastructure is, the more ROI you can gain by using CMDB software - so it's worth it!

Are you unsure whether CMDB asset management is right for your company? A data centre, enterprise IT or energy supplier - we will be happy to advise you and show you demos of our software packages. Individual modules enable CMDBs to be ideally tailored to the requirements of your company, so the CMDB database exactly meets your needs.