CMDB Assessment

[Anish Reghu]

NOTE - I have already read this article, yet posting my question here.

I have a task at hand to do a CMDB assessment. I am in need of a list of parameters on which I can assess the current state of the CMDB. I have some parameters:

• The custom CMDB classes.
• The custom attributes defined in CMDB OOTB classes, if yes, at which level.
•  

Additionally, I have the following questions:

• Where do I navigate to, in order to understand how the current CMDB lifecycle is configured?
• How do I assess if something has been altered in the creation, modification and retiring of a CI?
• How do I assess the current data validation in the CMDB?
• How do I assess the current data verification in the CMDB?
• If a deduplication task has been employed to check for CI duplicates where should I navigate to track that?

Regards,

Anish

[Anish Reghu]

These are few observations until now.

Subtopic	Topic	Type	Observations	Proposals / Deliverables	Comments
Duplicates	Data Quality	OOB	IRE (Identification and Reconciliation Engine) Rules & De- duplication tasks are configured.	1. Ensure reconciliation rules are configured with the right conditions and in proper sequence. 2. Ensure that operations team completes the de-duplication tasks without fail. 3. Ensure that there are enough UI Actions on the Engine to support de-duplication.	Figure out IRE Configurations.
Certification Audits	CMDB Governance	OOB	Procedure - Certification audits on dashboards Frequency - Daily/Weekly	1. Find out all parameters on which the client wants CI data to be audited. 2. Ensure that the audits are in place (Scripted or condition) and the follow up tasks created are addressed wherever applicable.
CSDM	CMDB Framework	Custom	NEED_INPUTS		Design and propose the ServiceNow recommended CSDM model to build relationship between multiple CI classes.
Sources	Discovery	Custom	There are around 8 different sources of discovery: ACC-Visibility Duplicate Fortmonitor Other Automated ServiceNow SG-GCP Tanium Manual Entry	All discovery configurations are set to populate the CMDB by adhering to the Identification and Reconciliation rules.	How data consistency & data quality is maintained during manual entry is to be monitored.
Failures	Discovery	Custom	Discovery Failures: General Discovery Issues: ==================== Authentication failure with the local mid server service credential. Probe skipped due to failure of previous probe attempt. (SNMP) Adding target to blacklist. No valid credential found for types [SSH Password, SSH Private Key] Failed to insert classified application of type: cmdb_ci_nginx_web_server – Count. Failure(s) with available Windows credentials from the instance. Network Discovery Issues: ===================== (Unix Server): Failed to establish SSH connection (No Category): Host is not reachable Credentials: ========== (Unix Server): SSH authentication failed (Windows Server) : Windows authentication failed (Windows Server): Failed to establish connection	Group the commonality of errors in Discovery and address them in minimal fixes.
Sensitive data	Data Integrity	Custom	Protect sensitive information present on the CI's with Encryption.	1. Analyze if there is a CI which maintains info that should have limited visibility or be hidden. 2. List all such candidates and apply encryption. 3. Analyze if the encryption is encrypting the targeted data only.	Letting unauthorized users view or access sensitive data is a key security issue most of the organizations wish to address.
Custom Attributes	CMDB CI	Custom	Custom attributes found in CMDB CI.	1. Analyze each CI attribute against the logic behind creating it. 2. As we analyze, keep finding a OOTB class where this fits in. 3. And even we should focus on the positioning of the attribute at the right level so that unnecessary inheritance is avoided. 4. Wherever an attribute looks like a mandate, investigations should be done if the value could be sought from other existing tables in ServiceNow and if could be referenced or dot walked.	This is a key exercise in CMDB, a proper positioning of CI attributes and CI classes in the CMDB ensures a good CMDB health.
Frequency	Discovery	Custom	ServiceNow - Daily Once Tanium - 6hrs (Example)	1. Identify the frequency of other discovery sources. 2. Ensure the discovery schedules are configured to run during non-business hours. 3. Ensure the load balancer is configured for the MID Servers. 4. Also all schedules should not be run in a bulk manner rather it should be a sequential run.
Naming convention	Data Quality	Custom	Right Naming conventions are not applied across the CMDB system.	CI data across the platform should have uniform naming convention irrespective of CI class.
Validation and Verification	Data Quality	OOB	Observe the existing configuration for validation and verification of the CI data in the CMDB.	1. Based on data, proposals may differ. 2. Review and ensure best practices are followed in the scripts used for validation and verification.
CI Ownership	Data Quality	Custom	Missing CI Ownership	1. Ensure that all primary CI's have a CI owner populated in it. 2. Notifications are configured to stake holders to fill the missing ownership details.
Visualization	CMDB Operations	Custom	3C's: Compliance Correctness Completeness	Create PA reports and dashboards to bring the data compliance misses, incorrect data and incomplete data, so that they can be addressed by the concerned team.	Reference: https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0723079
Troubleshooting	CMDB Operations	Custom	Text analytics is commonly left unconfigured in customer instances.	Implement text analytics for remediating discovery issues.	Visualize the data in text analytics by using PA and other formats of reporting which would help to remediate the discovery issues
Certifications	Data Quality	OOB	Data Certifications - to ensure data quality.	1. Review all existing certifications. 2. Ensure there are enough certifications in place to maintain complete and correct data.
Custom Classes	CMDB CI	Custom	Custom CMDB Classes: 1. Unnecessary Custom tables that are created. 2. Positioning of the CI class on the CMDB hierarchy.	1. Do a proper analysis into why a custom CMDB class became so necessary. 2. Still do a OOTB feasibility check. 3. All custom classes must go through a strict governance and pass a policy test to make it's presence into CMDB.	This is a key exercise in CMDB, a proper positioning of CI attributes and CI classes in the CMDB ensures a good CMDB health.
Custom Relationships	CMDB CI	Custom	Custom relationships: 1. Identify and eliminate all custom relationships that has been created because ideally the OOTB CI relationships should suffice. 2. Strong business justification should back a custom relationship creation.	1. Do a proper analysis into why a custom CMDB relationship became so necessary. 2. Still do a OOTB feasibility check. 3. Eliminate the relationship and in worst case, go for a new one.

Appreciate improvements or additional inputs on what else should be assessed and the relevant parameters please.

Regards,

Anish