Tracking OS compatibility on application CIs in CMDB

[changeman]

We’re interested in tracking operating system compatibility with our applications to assess their readiness to migrate or upgrade the OS when needed. The current use case is to obtain and record Windows 11 compatibility information for the applications we support but similar concepts and ideas could apply to server or network gear OS compatibility.

One approach could be to add columns to application CI tables to track that info (currently installed version, compatible versions (slush bucket), OS requirements for the install, etc.). Some of these columns could be throwaway and used to record current assessment status (instead of tracking in Excel). While the installed OS type and version is tracked at the infrastructure CI level (workstations, servers, network gear) and they can be linked to application CIs (via "Runs on" relationship), only the currently installed OS version is tracked in this fashion. Also, in the case of the application being installed on a significant number of infrastructure CIs, like workstations, you'd need to decide which you'll consider as the main indicator of the application-OS relationship.

Another approach could be to create CIs for different OS types and versions using cmdb_ci_spkg (Software Package) table (or another table if more suitable), then link them to application CIs via “Runs on” and “Compatible with” relationships (the latter may not be canonical). This may not be what the Software Package CIs is intended for (it looks like it’s meant to be used with Software Asset Management) but I can’t think of a more suitable CI.

Has anybody attempted to achieve something like this, and if so, how did you go about it?

Thanks.