Questions About Using Dynamic CI Groups in CSDM

[Ravish Shetty]

Hello everyone,

I’m new to CSDM and have a couple of questions regarding the use of Dynamic CI groups in this context.

1. Do we typically use Dynamic CI groupings for Technical Service CIs, or is it more common for Application Services? Or is it used for both? My assumption is that it is used mostly for Technical Services. Currently, we are not using Discovery or Service Mapping.

2. Assuming that Technical Services use Dynamic CI groups, let's consider the following scenario:

   • We have a Technical Service for web servers (WS Tech Service) that includes 100 web servers.
   • There is an Application Service (My App Service) that depends on a specific web server (Web Server 1) within this Technical Service.

   In this case, should the relationship be defined as:

   • My App Service depends on Web Server 1
   • My App Service uses WS Tech Service

   Or would it simply be:

   • My App Service depends on Web Server 1

I’d appreciate any insights or best practices on this.

Thanks!

[SebastianKunzke]

Hello Ravish,

Welcome to CSDM 🙂

First question:

Based on my understanding and based on CSDM 4 a dynamic CI group is an Application Service (soon renaming to Service Instance) based on the table definition. In case you do not have discovery and service mapping it is workaround to cluster server to an application service. 

Second question:

The documentation describes the relationship for dynamic CI group quite good. It is important to follow the documentation to garantee, that the sync of group data to the single CI works.

However you ask about direct relationships between a Application Service/Service Instance. Here it is up to you, which relationship type works best for you. The OOTB suggested relationship model defines it as depends on

I hope my answer helps you a bit to get started. If you are a ServiceNow Partner or customer I highly recommed to check out NowCreate. There you can find a good slidedeck about HowTo start with CSDM

Kind regards

Sebastian

[Ravish Shetty]

Thank you, Sebastian

[CasperJT · Accepted solution]

Hi Ravish,

1. I prefer using Dynamic CI Groups for Technical Services and without service mapping creating the relations with my CI's manually (though you will need strict processes in place to ensure they do not get outdated).
2. Your App Service depends on the specific Web Server. The Web server is manages the Web server

This is also what you will see in the data model:

Your Web server is an application in the 'Configuration Items' box and has a referece from the Service Instance (formerly Application Service) and from the Dynamic CI Group.

Hope this helps.

//Casper

[Ravish Shetty]

Thank you, CasperJT