Deletion strategy for CMDB CI

[Sudharshan Mohi]

We have a requirement to delete CMDB CI records (windows) if they are not discovered after 90 days. This is not applicable for all but differes for few - Unix and ESX CI which comes with 60 days deletion period.

Where to set Deletion CI configuration in Discovery.

[Mahak2]

Hello,

Why do want to delete CI's? Is there any specific reason?

The best way to handle inactivation of CIs is to use the Status (install_status) field. The default value of "Installed" means that the CI is active. The choice of "Retired" is used as inactive.

Also ,another way of achieving the same result without writing any scheduled jobs or business rules is - create a data refresh rule for the data source 'ServiceNow' using CI class manager for the CI class you want and specify the duration you need.

The CI will be set to stale in the Status field if the CI is not updated within the duration specified. You will also be able to see these CIs as stale in the CMDB Health Dashboard as well. On periodic basis, you can review these stale CIs and verify whether they are retired or is there any other issue preventing them to be discovered.

Please mark as Helpful and consider setting the reply as the Correct Answer to the question, thanks!

[User511834 · Accepted solution]

To accomplish this you will need to do three things:

1. Set the Staleness Rule for the Windows Server CI Class to 90 days as below:

2. Create a workflow to delete the Windows Server CI if it's stale

3. Create a CMDB Remediation Rule

Also, make sure that the Create Task option below is turned on for staleness rule, otherwise the remediation task will not be created:

Instead of deleting the CI you could also change the CI to Non-Operational and its status to retired, that would be preferable rather than deleting things via workflow, you can then review these retired CIs and delete them as needed:

[Prashant Ahire]

@User511834 

- How is this Staleness Rule Triggered?

- How can we test this process

[Michael de Boer]

Hi @Prashant Ahire,

The Staleness Rules are part of the CMDB Health.
The CMDB Health jobs run daily (when activated). The jobs names start with "CMDB Health Dashboard".

But why do you want to delete CI's?
It's best practice to set the status to retired. 
When you delete the record you don't have any history anymore or any relations with incident for example.