Model creation for the actual model versus appliances

brukasmj · ‎09-22-2023

Hi all,

We have a model record created in the Hardware Models table. So far so good.

But when checking this hyperlink, the question is rising should a new model be created for each appliance ?

From my operational background i still think an appliance is running on the specified model and is nothing more then

pre-installed software.

So question is should we create 4 hardware models including the one mentioned underneath hardware specifications or just the one mentioned in the specifications ?

I still think it is the last option.

If the subject matter experts can share certain idea's that would be great.

thanks in advance

John

DavidWallace1 · ‎09-22-2023

So a model is a pre-defined 'specification of a machine' in this scenario.

Each physical asset will be an instance of a model.

If I'm understanding correctly - each appliance is actually a physical machine with some pre-configured software on it. - depending on which version of the appliance software you want to run you need a different physical spec of machine to run it on.

So I think that if you want to have 1 server to be a Cisco SNS-3615-K9 appliance, then you need

- a model of server that meets the specs for that appliance as per the page

- a hardware asset record for the physical server that's running the appliance software (with the serial number etc)

- a configuration item matching that asset

- discovery would then pickup the Cisco SNS-3615-K9 software as running on that CI (that's related to the asset)

If you have more than one appliance, then you just get more assets and CIs of the same model.

If you want to have different versions of the appliance then I think that you would then have an additional model - with the different specs. That model would then have the specific assets as instances of that model.

The rule seems to be - if you have to quote a different model number to your supplier when you order the hardware to get the different configurations, then it is a different model. This is more straightforward for laptops etc, though it can lead to a large number of different models in your system - you need to be careful to only create the ones you actually have and want to have, don't create a model for every possible combination of options!

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brukasmj · ‎09-25-2023

Thanks David, so for each 3600 appliance (there are 3 in the hyperlink, having Cisco UCS C220 MT as the hardware), you would create 3 models ?

I agree with what you said, we need to be careful when creating models taking the appliance into account. I don't want to overcomplicate and want to keep it maintainable and of course understandable. As we have only 12 of these Cisco UCS C220 MT boxes worldwide.

However i like the rule you explained. Again i appreciate the efforts and explanation.

thanks in advance