Single CI v/s Multiple CI

[AshishM]

Hi All,

Looking for advise with respect to Performance.

I want to model different network equipment types like Switches, Routers, Firewall, Nodes and many mores (around hundreds). 

There are single CI class called "Network Gear" or "Telco Equipment" and also there are specialized class of each equipment types. 

Query is should i go with single CI class or different CI class.

1. What is performance impact in CMDB during ticketing.

2. What is performance impact during Dependency view.

3. Will it impact data loading process if I need to load data from legacy inventory system via one time and delta load.

Thanks.

[Maik Skoddow]

Your question cannot be answered as many details are missing from your side. Furthermore, the answer depends on additional aspects on your individual instance which have to be investigated first. I recommend engaging an implementation partner that can do the job and create the required recommendations for you.

[Sohail Khilji]

Hi @AshishM ,

Hard to understand your question , but still...

Query is should i go with single CI class or different CI class:

It will depends on the attributes which your CI holds. If all the Attributes suites in 1 ci class then 1 class should be fine.

1. What is performance impact in CMDB during ticketing.

I dont see any performance impact here during ticketing, it must be smooth. 

2. What is performance impact during Dependency view.

You will need to establish the realtionship as needed.

3. Will it impact data loading process if I need to load data from legacy inventory system via one time and delta load.

if your data is clear and in accepeted format then there should not be any issues..

I hope it helps..

[Ashok Sasidhara]

Based on the limited information given, I would suggest the following recommendations:

1. It is always better to use specific classes for switches, routers, firewalls etc. Use the parent 'Network gear' class directly only for any other types of network gear which does not have a specific class identified. This is the recommended practice for all CI types and not just network gears. This is because the child classes will have all the attributes inherited from the parent class + some additional attributes specific to the child class (in most cases). 

2. Ideally there should not be any performance impact due to choice of the CI classes which you are using. Huge volume of data in certain tables may lead to performance impact while opening those tables sometimes. It is anyways recommended to avoid populating any data in the CMDB which does not serve any business objectives. So any CI class and any attribute which you populate should have a purpose.

3. For any one time loads, the main consideration while loading to multiple CI classes will be to ensure that you are loading data separately into specific classes like cmdb_ci_ip_switch, cmdb_ci_ip_router etc. Make sure to first review identification rules for all the classes which you plan to populate, modify them if needed based on unique attributes present in your source data and then load them via integration hub ETL (this is important as manual data loads will consider the identification rules only through this method)