Can we create Service Maps for SaaS applications?

[504mohammedali]

Hi,

Hope you all doing good.

Could you please let me know if it is possible to do Service Mapping for SaaS or PaaS applications?

1) Need inputs if infra/app services are managed by client

2) Need inputs if infra/app services are managed by 3rd party vendor

Looking forward for your reply.

[Rahul Priyadars]

Even for Tags based Service Mapping  Pre-Req is CLoud and Horizontal Discovery. SAAS applications Can not be modelled using discovery/mapping. How can we reach App Servers, DB Servers and all for mapping.

Now Other Aspect of It-  Why do you want to discover a SaaS application? The added value of SaaS is, that you do not have to manage the infrastructure. So what would you like to achieve with the discovery of it? URL of SAAS should be UP and running as per Your Contractual SLA.

In my understanding you just create application services and map it to your business/technical services+offerings and to your business application. But a discovery of underlying infrastructure wouldn't make sense, because you do not have the ownership and responsibility for such.

Regards

RP

[CMDB Whisperer]

I generally agree with both points.  You probably won't get access to the information you need to understand the infrastructure dependencies, and generally you shouldn't need to worry about them, by definition, because it is SaaS.  On the other hand, depending on the specific software, some logical configuration items may be exposed to the consumer of those services through APIs accessible to them, and in hybrid deployments some of those CIs may even point back to customer owned devices such as on-premises servers or network devices which enable connectivity or provide caching or other capabilities, so this information could be useful to capture in theory.  It's an edge case worth considering. 

But that said, yes, in general, discovering SaaS services is something you shouldn't generally be expected to do, nor should you need to.  However, it is still valuable to have them as empty Application Services in your CMDB as a logical representation of the deployed application, even if they are not actually discoverable.