CMDB
In my previous blog, CMDB System Use Cases - Part One, I discussed use cases such as Change Impact Management and Change Automation, and Asset Management and Financial Optimization. In this follow-up blog I cover two more CMDB use cases ...
The least effective way to begin a CMDB deployment is to simply assume that by having the software in place and feeding it with assorted data you're building a system that will magically bring you value. That's why I like to stress "relevance" and "use case" when planning a CMDB initiative. The following is a summary of CMDB/CMS-related use-cases based on observations from real deployments ...
In Part 2 of this article series, we will look at the rising popularity of Application Performance Monitoring (APM), the resurgence of BSM, and how APM and BSM are converging to achieve the goal of IT and business alignment ...
In spite of the array of confusing opinions, bad press, and general contentiousness that has recently surrounded Configuration Management Database (CMDB) deployments, EMA is seeing a resurgence of interest in both the CMDB and the more federated Configuration Management System (CMS) ...
The first step in making any system more automatic (and thus more reliable) is to dramatically reduce the amount of manual maintenance required ...
The Configuration Management Database, or CMDB, was conceived a few years back as a way to discover and maintain a repository of all components on which an application is dependent, along with information about their relationships. The thought was that combining the CMDB with real-time monitoring metrics obtained from the underlying components could provide insight into the health state of complex applications, with early warning of incipient problems, and guidance to root cause when incidents do occur. Sounds like a really great idea. Why then, has the CMDB seen only limited adoption and little commercial success?
In my last column, I discussed the importance of Application Discovery and Dependency Mapping (ADDM) as a tremendously valuable resource for managing and optimizing application and business services, as well as the IT infrastructures, and supporting them, in the age of cloud, agile, and consumer-driven IT. In this column, I'm going to delve more closely into our evaluation criteria — as they applied to the radar, but also as they might apply to you in making an investment choice in ADDM ...
Application Discovery and Dependency Mapping (ADDM) may sound arcane — and sadly to some extent it still remains so. The notion of actively discovering application and infrastructure interdependencies for their impacts on service delivery, is still sometimes a combination of technological wizardry, domain expertise and sheer force of will. But the capabilities for doing this are evolving to become far more dynamic and varied in design and value than was true even two or three years ago ...
The EMA report Ecosystem Cloud: Managing and Optimizing IT Services Across the Full Cloud Mosaic is complete. In mid May I wrote a column making predictions about the results, which were just then beginning to come in. I made eleven bets about the results. Here is the list as I assessed it ...
With its just-launched “Ecosystem Cloud” research, EMA is trying to understand how different sized IT organizations are managing applications and other services with options for internal cloud, external cloud, hybrid, and traditional infrastructure ...
The more effectively we can integrate management tools at every level and the more effectively we can manage the delivery of IT as a service to our constituents, the more value we add to the enterprise and its mission. At the same time, the further we enlarge those circles to encompass and integrate infrastructures that were previously disconnected, the greater the number of elements we need to incorporate, monitor and manage. We need something that ties all these disparate pieces together. That’s where the configuration management database (CMDB) fits in ...
EMA VP Dennis Drogseth and EMA Director Torsten Volk discuss recent EMA research such as The Service Desk in the Age of Cloud and Agile and Demystifying Cloud as well as prior EMA research on cloud adoptions as they impact strategic management requirements ...
When you think about it, we’re not just focusing on application and network performance solely for the sake of performance. In today’s business environment, we’re focusing on performance because IT has become a service — and ultimately, we are the ones in charge of the delivery of that service. Given that reality, does it make any sense to treat IT operations management and IT service management as distinct and separate activities? I submit that it does not ...
Enterprise IT staffs spend significant time struggling to keep up with change management, as well as trying to improve overall end-user service quality. To address these issues, IT managers have implemented service modeling projects, which have helped make some progress but there is still far from universal satisfaction, according to a new survey by Neebula Systems ...
Will Cappelli, Gartner Research VP in Enterprise Management, talks about the future of Analytics and Application Performance Management ...
Industry experts - from analysts and consultants to users and the top vendors - offer thoughtful, insightful, and sometimes controversial and contradictory predictions on how APM will change and impact business in 2013 ...
If you are considering implementing an ITIL-based ITSM solution for your IT Organization, you may consider starting with the ITIL Lite bare essentials option. In today’s blog, I would like to talk about the 5 minimum components required to start an ITIL implementation ...
Dennis Drogseth, VP of Research at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), talks about the benefits of Advanced Performance Analytics (APA), and looks to the future of the technology ...
This is an epic list of mistakes. These are the top reasons why APM deployments fail, according to many of the industry's top experts – including consultants, analysts, vendors and users – and also some of the solutions that help you overcome these challenges ...
Efficient APM is all about giving insights into the inter-dependency of all devices and showing various business transactions that are taking place to realize what an end-user is experiencing ... At the end of the day, the ultimate goal is to create systems that are robust and can give real-time visibility into events and transactions ...
Last Fall, I wrote two blogs on BSM Analytics: What Are They? And Why Should You Care? This Summer I’m taking that idea several giant steps forward and developing what at EMA we call a “Radar” – our equivalent I suppose to a “Magic Quadrant” – to look at advanced performance analytics in context with vendor designs, deployment successes and use-case related strengths and weaknesses ...
Multisourced IT operating models are increasingly common and offer many potential benefits ... One way to address the challenges posed by multisourcing is through a discrete Service Integration and Management (SIAM) function. An effective SIAM function enables organizations to take advantage of the flexibility and innovation of multisourcing and standard services while delivering integrated services to the business ...
On May 8, 2012, EMA announced that it was combining my Business Service Management practice with Julie Craig’s Application Management practice – into the newly unified practice area Application and Business Services ...
As someone who might call himself a “humanist” who has worked 31 years in high technology as of this April – I’ve developed a few areas of persistent complaint that seem to reoccur without getting much better. And having spent thirty-one years in the industry, and therefore getting old — I guess I’ve come to feel entitled to a little orneriness from time to time.
On the one hand, many in the industry have begun to dismiss the CMDB as well past its prime, at least in terms of industry hype and attention. For this rather significant population, the CMDB has evolved into a complex and demanding data store with tangible but difficult-to-justify benefits, with questionable relationships to cloud computing and other more dynamic technologies and trends. On the other hand, there have been some significant improvements over the last three to four years ...
