How are people tracking APIs, Services, Websites in their CMDB?

Eric_Gauthier · ‎02-14-2022

How are people tracking APIs, Services, Websites in their CMDB? These are for internally (to our company) created. Did you create a custom class or use an OOB class?

If you created a custom class, what did you name it and what kind of things are you tracking?

I am having a hard time finding information for this, and this seems like information a lot of people would be tracking.

Thanks,

-Eric

Eric Gauthier, CSPO
BECU
ServiceNow Operations Engineer

CMDB Whisperer · ‎02-14-2022

The best way to answer this is probably to look at it from the perspective of the Common Service Data Model (CSDM), and specifically CSDM 4.0. Let's take them one at a time.

First, the basics. A Business Application represents software that was developed or purchased to meet a particular business need or capability. And an Application Service is a deployed instance of a Business Application. Let's say you choose to use a Business Application called MyReservations to handle your corporate resource scheduling. You deploy two Application Services, one called MyReservations - PROD and one called MyReservations - TEST. Both of these are instances of MyReservations.

Now let's say that there is a distinct piece of software that handles the API layer so that other applications can integrate with your resource scheduling, and this is called MyReservations API. It is hosted on a separate server so that it can handle API calls from consumers. We can break down the Business Application into two separate component Business Applications: MyReservationsWeb, and MyReservationsAPI. So that's three Business Application CIs related to one another. And likewise, we would break down the Application Services in a similar fashion. MyReservationsWeb - PROD and MyReservationsWeb - TEST for the Web tier, and MyReservationsAPI - PROD and MyReservationsAPI - TEST for the API component. Because these are all different instances of different component application services, each has its own service map and dependencies to the underlying infrastructure (Applications, Databases, Servers, etc.)

Within each Application Service in the the Web tier, we have distinct Application CIs (i.e. installed software that runs as a process) on dedicated Servers, and which connect to specific Database Instances, which in tern may run on the same Server or a separate Server. Within the API tier, we have a similar model -- but the main difference here is that the Application CI that runs in order to accept incoming API calls uses a different Application (or Web Site). And rather than connecting to a Database, it is probably just sending data to the main Application Server that is running on the Web tier. Still, at this level, within the Application Service (the instance of MyReservations), we're talking about the same basic thing. An Application CI of one kind or another, running on a Server.

The last component of this is brand new to CSDM 4.0, which describes the application development component of the Application. Each component, the Web Server and the API, also can have a respective SDLC component which represents a uniquely developed, tested, versions, and released piece of software, represented as a Software Model. It can also be tied back to the specific source code, version control, system requirements, and even go all the way to the projects, and the demands that drove the development. This is in line with a move towards integrating DevOps into the CSDM.

Note here that even if you deployed your API by compiling it to a library so that it can be installed on individual computers, you can still start from the same SDLC component. The only difference is how it is deployed and accessed. In the first scenario you run the API as a Service on a specific Server where it can accept incoming API calls; in the second scenario, you compile the code as a software library and install it on individual computers, where it can be Discovered (e.g. by Discovery or SCCM) as a Software Installation, and mapped to the same versioned Software Model.

I hope this helps paint a full picture.

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View solution in original post

Chris Yang · ‎10-25-2023

CMDB CI Class v1.49 has new CI classes, see helpful post here.