What is the resonable size for CMDB?

[User673510]

For a large orginization, it is easily to accumulated millions records in CMDB. I am wondering what should be the resonable size for a CMDB, because I can see the huge comuting power is waste on the data sorting, queries on huge CMDB data set.   Whenever we increase the capacity, it's occupied to more CUID (mostly inquery) operations, no efficency and not organized. 

[Tanushree Maiti]

Hi @User673510 

To the best of my knowledge, there is no specific technical limit on the size of the CMDB.

However, I agree with your point that having millions of records in the CMDB can potentially impact performance if the data is not managed effectively.

To proactively address this, I would recommend the following best practices:

1. Use IRE for Data Ingestion: Always use the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) rules for data ingestion instead of performing direct database inserts. This helps prevent duplicate Configuration Items (CIs), which can contribute significantly to unnecessary data growth and table bloat.
2. Implement Data Retention Policies: Based on your business-defined retention requirements, leverage CMDB Data Manager to automate data archival and deletion workflows, ensuring that obsolete or unnecessary records are removed in a controlled manner.
3. Maintain Relevant CMDB Data: Avoid populating the CMDB simply because a discovery tool can identify an item. Focus on maintaining only those CI classes and attributes that support specific business objectives, such as Incident Management, Change Management, and Asset Management.

By following these practices, you can maintain a well-governed, optimized CMDB while minimizing unnecessary data growth and potential performance issues.

You can check this community article : Best practices for CMDB Data Management

[stefanvgarc]

One thing ServiceNow has been focusing on lately is making sure your CMDB is "outcome-driven" - in other words, there is no "reasonable" size - it should be big enough to enable the outcomes defined by your business. Are you able to identify the critical services that matter to your business, and the infrastructure that enables those critical services? If it feels like your CMDB is too big and not producing any value, it may not be focusing on the right configuration items.