Simply put, a ci is an instance of an entity that is part of your environment and has configurable attributes specific to that instance. Configuration identification configuration management. Configuration items help in identifying the components of a system. Configmgr configuration baselines a beginners guide. Explaining configuration item ci, cmdb, cms and dml. The unique identify of the configuration item is the combination of the attributes authoringscopeid, logicalname and version.
What are hardware configuration items and how are they. Other documents that serve to identify the configuration of the product or service, such as test results, may also be included. Itil v3 describes configuration item ci as a subset of service asset that has a direct impact on service delivery and needs to be managed in order to deliver an it service in itil, configuration items cis are those service assets which are configurable and can be managed through change management. Cscis are selected based on tradeoffs among software function, size, host or target computers, developer, support concept, plans for reuse, criticality, interface considerations, need to be separately. A configuration item is a software entity that shows up on planning timelines and which requires a certain amount of documentation.
Without a clear definition of what qualifies as a ci, you will constantly struggle with deciding whether to put certain kinds of data into the cmdb. Different types of assetsconfiguration items in freshservice. A toplevel configuration item is a ci used as the starting point for organizing and promoting a set of related configuration items an example of a toplevel ci is a computer system. Configuration management represents the one true source of the configuration items. What are examples of configuration items in project. Compliance is evaluated against the baseline and reported back to configmgr. It is a fundamental operations technique that captures valuable information for processes such as incident management, problem management, change management, maintenance, safety and risk management. The configuration management system oversees the life of the cis through a combination of processes and tools by implementing and enabling the fundamental elements of identification, change. For the remainder of this post i will now refer to configuration items as cis and. Each element in the it environment is an individual entity requiring accurate capture of its attributes.
Each of these configuration items are evaluated upon a defined schedule for the purpose of reporting on compliance and for auditing purposes. All configuration items cis are uniquely identified by ci registration codes and version numbers. The following application configuration item instance example determines whether the configuration manager client is installed on the system by using microsoft windows installerbased detection. A ci is a software model that contains the attributes of the represented entity. Configuration items have specific attributes as well as relationships that are often unique for configuration items underneath them in the particular system. Configuration baseline remediation configuration item. Definition an aggregation of hardware, software, or both, that is designated for configuration management and treated as a single entity in the configuration management process. Itil checklist cms cmdb, enhanced with many additions itil process. It services are typically made up of a bunch of individual components things like servers, software and middleware, and unique configuration information. Examples of configuration items include software and applications, locations and offices, employees and customers, documentation, hardware and companies, and even your incidents, changes and customers. Googling the words configuration items or the acronym ci will result in approximately 26,300,000 results. Configuration items can include hardware, equipment, and tangible assets as well as software and documentation. This is where instead of just saving your code to your desktop where you might lose it, or at least forget what it looked like yesterday before you decided to refactor everything and break everythin.
Configuration item an overview sciencedirect topics. Keep all other settings as the default and then click on the. Many projects require components to be integrated for example the development of a new phone handset would involve screen, case, software drivers and apps, battery, marketing materials, user guides and so on. There has been much discussion regarding configuration management and the use of configuration items in online forums and other online articles recently. Checklist configuration item ci record it process wiki. Noncompliance can be remediated to bring devices back into a compliant state super cool, super powerful and really easy to set up. These attributes are recorded in configuration documentation and baselined. Documentation can include requirements specifications and interface documents. In the sccm current branch console, under the assets and compliance workspace, expand compliance settings and select configuration items.
Use configuration items and configuration management. A configuration item, or ci, is anything uniquely identifiable that can be changed independently. Software updates configuration item a configuration item to determine compliance of software updates using the software updates feature in configuration manager. This digest defines an application configuration item. Hardware software documentation personnel the cmdb can be comprised of a multitude of different types of configuration items, each containing various attributes, and is used to document configuration item relationships and.
Note though software update is a configuration settings it cannot be configured from level 1 and can only be added from level 2 up directly to configuration baseline. The configuration data list displays all configuration items or configuration baselines that are included in this configuration baseline. The representations of these entities in the cmdb are configuration items cis. Click add to add a new configuration item or configuration baseline to the list. Configuration items are created, set to a configuration baseline cb which is then deployed to a collection. They are used in service management, change management, configuration management, incident management and a variety of other processes related to directing and controlling change. The term configuration item ci refers to the fundamental structural unit of a configuration management system. For example, source codes, property files, binaries, servers, and tools can all be configuration items for a software firm. Selected items of system hardware or software or combinations of hardware and software, in which the government or acquiring activity has configuration management concern, are designated as configuration items cis. Examples of cis include individual requirements documents, software, models, and plans.
Software configuration item an overview sciencedirect. A software baseline includes the source code for each software configuration item and a software baseline document that provides a listing of the software and any other pertinent information such as developer, version, or software libraries. Keep a configuration item register that describes the evolution of the software product. It can have many child cis, such as an operating system, application software, and hardware components. The goal of scm is to improve the speed of and quality by catching errors early and enabling quick fixes when they occur. The cmdbasset management module in freshservice shows you a complete list of all the assets and configuration items that have been linked within your it service desk. Software configuration items are placed under scm control at different times. Software configuration items software configuration. By default, freshservice comes with a set of assetci types that cover all the essentials for a typical it service desk. Example criteria for determining when to place work products under configuration management include. Every dcm digest must contain exactly one configuration item. Configuration items can overlap and exist at many levels. Note that this function is usually performed by a source code control system, however a manual record may have to be kept of the documents that describe various versions of hardware and software configuration items.
Configuration items cis are the focal point of a cmdb. Configuration item configuration management systems. This includes hardware items like laptops, workstations, network routers, etc. In this context, it is very important to remember that all cis are service assets. A configuration item to determine compliance for general settings and objects, where their existence does not depend on the operating system, an application, or a software update. All items that constitute the software while under the development e. Software configuration management scm is a set of processes, policies, and tools that organize the development process. Common configuration types include software, hardware, communications, location and documentation. A ci record within the cmdb contains the following data. Examples of software configuration items include a console display module for an air traffic control system, and an accounts receivable module for an accounting. Now add the configuration item to a configuration baseline and. Configuration items can overlap and exist at many levels of. The list of the most popular software configuration management tools top scm tools in 2020 in software engineering software configuration management is the task of tracking and controlling changes in the software part of the larger disciplinary field of configuration management the scm practices include vision controls in the establishment of baselines. A configuration baseline in configmgr is a collection of one or more conditional checks called configuration items.
A definition of configuration item with several examples. From the ribbon, click on create configuration item. In my example im calling it, enabledlinkedconnections. Configuration items vary widely, but include anything related to your account that you want to track. Application configuration item example 1 configuration. Specify when each configuration item is placed under configuration management.
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