Configuration Management: Getting Started

1. Configuration Management:Getting Started Presented By: Tony Iannetta, Evergreen Systems

2. Overview • What is Configuration Management • Why Configuration Management • The Scope of Configuration Management • What You Can Learn • Getting Started • Q&A

3. What is Configuration Management: 3 Legs Three major components of the configuration management system • Configuration management (CM) is a set of policies, processes and disciplines for effectively identifying, controlling, auditing and managing configuration data • Configuration Management Data Base (CMDB) the data repositories for the identification of all configured items (CI’s), their attributes and their relationships to other CIs and the related IT data that supports the service management processes • Configuration Management Automation (CMA) the body of technologies necessary to effectively execute the auditing, controlling, visualizing and managing of all configuration data.

4. What is Configuration Management In some sense, it is the natural progression of an IT Asset Management Database…. Configuration Management Asset Management Inventory Management

5. Why Configuration Management: Reason 1 Regulatory Compliance – The Y2K of IT Regulatory compliance includes configuration integrity of the production environment • The three pillars of configuration integrity: • Configuration Management and CM automation • Change Management disciplines and automation • Identity and access management (IAM) • Implications • Reduce IT audit and compliance efforts by 60-80% • 80-90% fewer penalties 2005 Gartner, Inc. 29 November 2005/ID number G00131741

6. Why Configuration Management: Reason 2 Improving service quality Configuration management contributes to improving quality of service by • maintaining the information necessary to ensure IT changes do no harm – 87 % of all IT incidents are caused by poor change management. • Increase speed and responsiveness to changes in the business AND Lowering cost of service delivery Configuration management contributes to lowering the cost of service by: • Increasing utilization of existing IT resources • reducing the investment in IT infrastructure 2005 Gartner, Inc. 29 November 2005/ID number G00131741

7. Why Configuration Management: Reason 3 Aligning IT with the business Configuration management contributes to improving alignment of IT with the business by • Enabling service level uptime agreements • Enabling rapid development of new services or changes to existing services as the market dictates • Demonstrating the same rigor in IT that the business puts toward it’s customer. Business Service Management (BSM) the real end game Stages of BSM of global $1B+ companies • Chaotic – 35% - limited formal processes for managing IT • Reactive – 44% - IT inventory management implemented project by project with some basic ITIL processes • Stable – 14% - Integrated service delivery. IT asset management integrated with ITIL • Proactive – 7% - Business service framework • Predictive – 1 % - Resource allocation to business need 2005 Gartner, Inc. 28 September 2005/ID number G00131333 Forester Research Inc. “IT Asset Management, ITIL and the CMDB Paving the Way for BSM”, October 2005

8. Why Configuration Management: Reason 4 It’s the Center of a System… Innovation Improvement Change Build/ Buy Change Management (Plan) RFC’s Corrective Measures White Spaces White Spaces Problem Management (Act) Configuration Management (Register) Release Management (Do) White Spaces White Spaces Incident Management (Check) Analysis/ Evaluate Install

9. IT Service Continuity Management Use standard configurations from the CMDB (baselines) to specify disaster recovery requirements and check that these configurations are available at the disaster recovery site. Service Level Management Needs information about services and the relationships between services and the underlying infrastructure CIs. Capacity and Availability Management Use the CMDB to identify the CIs that contribute to a service and for Component Failure Impact Analysis (CFIA). Use data from the CMDB to plan the optimization of the IT infrastructure, to allocate the workload, and to develop a capacity plan. Financial Management for IT Services Needs information about the use of services and CIs. Why Configuration Management: Reason 5 …and Not Just the Support System

10. The Scope of Configuration Management: The Process a set of policies, processes and disciplines for effectively identifying, controlling, auditing and managing configuration data Determine Policy, Strategy and Objectives for available information. Identify tools, resources and how information should be shared Selection and identification of CI structures into the CMDB including data “owners”, relationships and documentation. Support reporting requirements from ITIL process areas in support of process function and CMDB data integrity. Ensure only authorized CI’s are captured “receipt to disposal”. Also ensures no CI’s are added or modified within the CMDB without appropriate control documentation. (example-an approved Change Request). Collects and monitor CI history and current status for completeness and accuracy. Perform physical audits and reviews to ensure data is complete and accurate

11. The Scope of Configuration Management: The Control Process

12. The Scope of Configuration Management: The Control Process Linking the Process to the Data Data Capture Server Receive to Deploy Deploy – Install Deploy – Operational Operations Break/fix upgrade/ modify Receive Decommission Rename/ Inventory/ retire Deploy – Stage

13. The Scope of Configuration Management: The Control Process Linking the Process to the Data Data Capture Application Design to Deploy Deploy Deploy – Operational Operations Patch/upgrade Design Optimize Rename/ Inventory/ retire Build

14. The Scope of the Configuration Management: The Data • CMDB – Configuration Management Data Base Ideally defines what we have, who uses it, how CIs interact with and impact other CIs, which services and business processes the CIs support • CI – Configuration Item (a category, type or family of IT components such as ‘servers’ or ‘applications’) – IT Asset management is a good source of CI’s but not all assets are CI’s and not all CI’s are assets. • Logical CI – The logical grouping of physical entities. The top tiers of a hierarchy • Physical CI – A physical, tangible IT component that performs a specific function. The lower tiers of a hierarchy • Virtual CI – Performs the same function as a physical CI but does not have a physical form • Attribute – a data field associated with the CI • System of Record – the official owner of an attribute (accountable for accuracy)

15. Hierarchical/Logical Relationships Company Adapted from “Modeling the Enterprise IT Infrastructure, A Service Management Approach”, by David Chiu and D.L. Tsui, BMO Financial, 2004

16. Functional Relationships Company Owns Belongs to Adapted from “Modeling the Enterprise IT Infrastructure, A Service Management Approach”, by David Chiu and D.L. Tsui, BMO Financial, 2004

17. The Scope of the Configuration Management: The Technology The Vendor Landscape is everchanging…… Charles Betz, ERP4IT

18. The Scope of the Configuration Management: The Technology A Successful Configuration Management Technology Platforms should…. • Act to federate (Integrate) key vendors and tools • Support reconciliation of CIs – real time discovery • Application and infrastructure discovery • Support/Enable automated mapping of CI relationships • Relationship visualization • Correlates relationships back to the business service or process • Support/Enable synchronization of the environment

19. Agentless Passive Discovery & Mapping Intranet Server Server Router Switch Switch Server Server Server Server Collector Appliance Collector Appliance PROS Discovery & Mapping Aggregator CONS • No Network Bandwidth Needed • 24/7 Discovery • Discover What You Don’t Know • No Credentials or Agents to Install • No Deep Dive Server Discovery • Can only Read Header data if packets are Encrypted A B C D F E

20. Agentless Active Discovery & Mapping Server Server Server Login Credentials (WMI, SNMP, SSH) Discovery & Mapping Server PROS CONS • Deep Dive Data without Agents to Install • Simple Maintenance and Upgrades • Must Define IP Search Ranges • Security Risk • Network Bandwidth Impact A B C D F E

21. Agent Discovery & Mapping Agent Delta Results Server Results Results Agent Agent Server Server Results Manual & Sched Requests PROS Discovery & Mapping Server CONS • Deepest Data Detail Dive • No need for Security Credentials • Less Network Bandwidth Needed • Must install and Maintain Agents on Target Servers • Must Define IP Search Ranges • More Costly A B C D F E

22. Configuration Management Technologies and Integration Purchasing Discovery & Mapping Agent & Agentless Create Asset Create Change Asset Management Reconciliation Create Update CI Create Update Attributes Create Purchased CI CMDB Update Business Process & Application Portfolio Physical CI Logical CI

23. CMDB Types Federated Real-time/Virtual Centralized Service Mgmt System Service Mgmt System Service Mgmt System Application Access Forms CMDB Asset Mgmt System Asset Mgmt System Reconciliation Applic Mgmt System Applic Mgmt System Linking Logic Only Critical Attributes Stored and all Relationships Virtual CMDB Identity Mgmt System Identity Mgmt System CMDB Discovery & Mapping System Discovery & Mapping System Business Process Network Reconciliation Physically Store all CIs, Attributes, and Relationships Desktop Discovery & Mapping Etc…

24. Best Practices and Lessons Learned • Executive Commitment • Early, Continuous, Visible high-level sponsorship is critical • Scope and Charter • Start with “easy wins” and high-value efforts. • Fully define set of definitions of terms and concepts • Get assets under control first with policy adherence • Consider IT Governance Strategy when developing Configuration Management strategy • Marketing and Adoption • Include stakeholders in policy and process design for buy-in • Focus extra effort on cross-departmental processes and hand-off’s • Identify “your job will get harder” cases for extra training and support • Over-communicate with all stakeholders • Embrace conflict: it means people care and are paying attention • Process • CHANGE MANAGEMENT – CHANGE MANAGEMENT – CHANGE MANAGEMENT • Build policies and processes for ongoing development • Start with Asset Management (Receipt to Disposal) • Technology • Know what you have before you acquire more stuff • Develop configuration management disciplines before automating • Data • Use the processes to drive the data requirements (just enough data) • Data accuracy and control to ensure ongoing accuracy is critical • Reduce the number of repositories • Start with a wide and shallow approach for CI relationships

25. Getting Started Begin by….. • Establish a reasonable scope • Document terms and concepts • Documenting the current state of IT data and process • Develop a product portfolio of current technologies • Formulate the future state of IT data, process and technologies • Formulate a roadmap and break it into doable phases • Position for organizational change • Establish a comprehensive foundation • Establish data integrity • Integrate with the enterprise • Establish linkages • Perform audits

26. Configuration Management Questions?