eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Implementing a true Configuration Management Database is not for the faint of heart. But business services management provider Managed Objects on June 14 stepped in to try to help IT streamline the process.
The McLean, Va., company on June 14 introduced its new CMDB360 offering along with version 4 of its namesake software that makes it possible to implement a federated CMDB in weeks, rather than months or years.
The new federated CMDB360 can speed implementation time because it can be dynamically generated from existing IT configuration data and service models.
The configuration data can originate from multiple vendor sources, and the offering automates reconciliation of duplicate configuration items.
It also automates synchronization, which ensures the same version of what configurations truly exist across integrated systems.
“This is a brand new way to approach the CMDB. For it to be a corporate asset, it has to be a special purpose database that has very specific characteristics,” said Siki Giunta, CEO of Managed Objects.
Those characteristics, according to Gartner, include federation, reconciliation, synchronization, visualization and mapping. But federation means different things to different vendors, Giunta said.
“For some vendors, federation means only within their own products. I call that proprietary federation. Non-proprietary federates with all sources of data,” she said.
CMDB360 has 60 integration points for drawing configuration data from multiple vendor products.
It automates reconciliation to remove duplicate configuration items, and it automates synchronization to insure a single source of truth.
Managed Objects also created a customizable graphical interface for CMDB360 that can be adapted to different users with different roles.
Managed Objects CMDB360 is unique in incorporating a service catalog, which is key to gaining a full understanding of the IT infrastructure and the services it affects.
“There is a strong synergy between the CMDB and the service catalog. A CMDB is hard to use without it. Its like having a phone book without the ability to sort by alphabetical order,” said Giunta.
CMDB360 is due by August.
Editors Note: This story was updated to correct the number of integration points.