CMDB

Product Architecture

Speaker Name
Asset: 0002024
September 2023
Product Architecture

1 Product Description

2 Process and Data Architecture

3 Data Source Ingestion

4 Fact Sheet

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CMDB
Architecture

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CMDB and a Common Data Model

Larger digital product and services

Made up from a collection of CIs and Foundational Data

Business Applications
Business Technical Service
Business Relationships Technical Services Offerings
Service Services
Offerings Common Service Data
Application Services
Foundation Data Infrastructure Data
References

Groups Product Models Users Relationships Network Gear Applications Printers

Contracts Company Processes Servers Application Service End Points
Business Units Databases Cloud Resources
Departments
Locations Dynamic CI groups

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Populating the CMDB
Logical CIs MANAGEM
• Business Applications
Wizard Driven ENT TOOLS
• Application Services
• Services CMDB Workspace
• Service Offerings

CI Class Manager
Discoverable CIs
CMDB/CSDM
CMDB
3rd-party data sources IntegrationHub Dashboards

CMDB Health View

Application Service to CI
Service Mapping
mappings
Dependency
Servers, network gear, IRE Engine Views
applications, cloud resources, etc Discovery
Query Builder

Computers Agent Client

Collector Foundation data Data Manager
• LDAP
3rd party API Service Graph • Active Directory
Connectors • 3rd party

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Data Source and IRE Engine Process Flow
Checks the reconciliation rule
to see if the current data source
is allowed to update the
attributes/fields of that CI

Does it Match the YES

name in the CMDB, Update the CI
NO exact match not
FQDN?
Identification and Identify – Does it
NO
Data Source Reconciliation match on Serial
Engine number?
Does it match on IP
YES and MAC?
Update the CI

Create the CI

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Foundational Data
Common data tables which are shared across ServiceNow applications, processes or use cases
Location
cmn_location
• Refers to Users, Groups, Parent

Locations, Business Units

• Not stored in CMDB Parent
Building Cost Center Company
Cost Center
cmn_cost_center
• Foundation data is often used for cmn_building
cmn_cost_center Parent
cmn_company

approvals – if this data is missing

the workflow fails Group
Department User Group
sys_user_group
Department sys_user sys_user_group
• Location, Company, Cost Center, cmn_department
cmn_department Parent
Role, Group, User, Building
Department, Company
Group Member
sys_user_grmember
Roles
sys_user_role Group Roles
sys_user_group

Roles
sys_user_has_role

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CMDB Base Table

• CMDB CI schema sys_user sys_user_group core_company cmn_cost_center cmn_location

related to common
core and non-core Assign_to Assignment_group Company
Manufacturer Department Location
tables Owned_by Change_control
Vendor
Managed_by Support group
• CMDB [cmdb_ci] Supported_by

base table and

references to cmdb_ci
foundational or
“core data”
Maintenance
Model ID Asset
• Non-core tables are Schedule

referenced against
other ServiceNow cmdb_model alm_asset cmn_schedule
applications

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CMDB Class Structure

Child Class
The core Configuration Item [cmdb_ci]
IP Router
table, which stores the basic attributes of Child Class [cmdb_ci_ip_router]
all the CIs Network Gear
[cmdb_ci_netgear] Child Class
IP Switch
Hardware [cmdb_ci_ip_switch]
cmdb_ci
[cmdb_ci_hardware] Child Classes
Parent Class Child Class Child Class Windows Server
[cmdb_ci_win_server]
Computer Server
[cmdb_ci_computer] [cmdb_ci_server]
Linux Server
[cmdb_ci_linux_server]
Support Group
Notes:
• A table that extends another table is a
Location
child class
• Class refers to actual table name in the
instance database.

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Model Data Hierarchy

Every CI should reference a Product

Model Windows
Server
Application Model Model Category
[cmdb_application_product_model]

Software Model
Dell PowerEdge
[cmdb_software_product_model] PowerEdge R940xa
T140

Hardware Model Model Model

[cmdb_hardware_product_model]

Consumable Model
[cmdb_consumable_product_model] DC1-Win-App01 Dal-Win-File01

Service Model CI Only Asset and CI

cmdb_service_product_model

Virtual Servers or Workstations/VDIs are not assets

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CI Relationships
CMDB helps track both the CI and their relationships to other CIs

The relationships between CIs can be

Installed App
automatically discovered. If you
use Discovery, many relationships Runs on::Runs
can be automatically loaded into the Connected::Connects
system through automated Discovery
Windows Server Network gear
process.
Depends on::Depends Virtualized by::Virtualizes
If you import your data from another
system, you get some form of
relationships. Database ESX host

A relationship in the CMDB consists of two CIs and a relationship type:​

Parent CI​
Child CI​
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Common Service
Data Model

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Common Service Data Model Foundation
Business Process: A method of related steps that stakeholders take to
achieve a business goal.
CMDB Group: A collection of CIs based on the results of saved Query
Builder queries, encoded queries, or manual entries.
Product Models: Specific versions or configurations of products used for
managing and tracking through various ServiceNow platform
applications.
Contracts: Contracts contain detailed information such as contract
number, start and end dates, active status, terms and conditions
statements, documents, renewal information, and financial terms.
Common Data: Shared data that is prevalent throughout the Now
Platform.
Lifecycle: The Life Cycles are standard fields and values for tracking life
cycle stages and stage statuses for Products, Assets, Contracts, CIs,
Locations, and more.

Design
Business Capability: A high level capability required by the organization
to execute its business model.
Business Application: A purchased, or internally developed application
used to support a business capability.
Information Object: Describes the type of data that is being interchanged
between the business application and the database serving it.

Build
SDLC Component: The SDLC Component is a configuration item that
represents a unique development effort.

Manage Technical Services Sell / Consume

Application Service: Logical representation of a deployed system or application stack. Service Portfolio: Hierarchical categorization of business services (Products & Services) that define strategic business value
Technical Service: Published to service owners and typically underpins one or more business services. A Technical Service and facilitate the management of their life cycle.
may have an operational view made up of one or more Technical Service Offerings. Business Service: Published to business users and it typically underpins one or more business capabilities. Business
Technical Service Offering: Stratification of the Technical Service into options, including localization/geography, services are often orderable by business users. Business users are able to select the desired offering and service
environment, pricing, availability, capability, support group (INCIDENT), technical approval group (CHANGE) and commitment levels via a Service Catalog.
packaging options. Business Service Offering: Stratification of the Business Service into options, including localization/geography, pricing,
Dynamic CI Group: a dynamic grouping of configuration items (Cis), based on results of CMDB Groups queries. availability, capability, criticality, business approval group (CHANGE), and packaging options.
Configuration Item (CI): Physical and logical components of an infrastructure that are currently, or soon will be, under Request Catalogue: Consumable catalogue view of available business & technical products, services, service commitment
configuration management. options, and offerings.
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The Common Service Data Model

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Fact Sheet

Name Configuration Management Database

The Configuration Management (CMDB) application provides core functionality

Short description for the configuration management database, including modules for hardware and
configuration items

Product family IT Workflow

Dependencies

How to get it CMDB Plugin is automatically active for all instances

License information Part of core platform

Further information Product documentation

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