Harman Patil (Editor)

UCMDB

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UCMDB is a CMDB and discovery (combining DDMA and DDMI technique) software product produced by Hewlett Packard supporting ITIL Configuration Management and which features a Configuration Management Database, as well as a mechanism for the automatic discovery of IT infrastructure components, such as computers, network devices and composing relationships between them.

Contents

UCMDB features prominently in HP ITSM, CCRM and SACM solutions supporting (ITIL based) change and configuration management processes.

UCMDB for IT Data Centre

Commonly IT has data barriers between organizations, sites and processes where management data stays segregated and thus limited in its value to IT. Another common issue is the ongoing maintenance of keeping management environment up and running and in sync. Especially in a multi vendor environment and / or in disparate upgrade cycles. Most IT departments do not have a single authoritative source for key data that is reconciled against available data in the IT environment making it hard to:

  • Predict effects of tactical and strategic decision.
  • Aggregate IT data to information and likewise aggregate IT information to business intelligence that drives IT decisions.

    • Many organizations have IT processes in place, but are looking to:

  • Standardize, centralize and automate
  • Looking for a common process enhancer to gain the level of efficiency they expected from the IT process

    • The key is to reduce costs and increase IT capability while solving these problems which makes the potential solution difficult

    UCMDB Key Benefits

  • Rapidly realize business value through purpose-driven CMDB adoption
  • Accelerate ITIL initiatives by rapidly populating the CMDB and federating with process management products
  • Improve Business Service delivery by creating complete cross tier-maps that link Business Services to IT infrastructure supporting those services
  • Ensure success of data center consolidation and disaster recovery initiatives by automatically maintaining current documentation of business service infrastructure
  • Enable effective decisions by enterprise architects and planners by providing accurate and near real-time visibility

    • DDMA

    The DDMa component (Discovery and Dependency mapping Advanced) of UCMDB works by scanning ranges of IP addresses within pre-set probe IP ranges, using ping, ICMP echo requests and Nmap to locate live IP addresses and open ports, and IP address harvesting techniques by querying ARP/Cache tables of level 3 network devices. Resulting current IP addresses are then translated into CI's which function as input for higher (deeper) level discovery. The pyramid model makes sure only relevant sources are being queried, resulting in lower network and node load.

    DDMI

    The DDMi component (Discovery and Dependency mapping Inventory) of UD (Universal Discovery, part of UCMDB) works by using agents to deploy scanners on a node, letting it collect software, hardware and asset data, and then converting it to CI's to be created or updated in UCMDB. The agent based way of collecting data is ideally suited for collecting data from client devices and servers. DDMI is using native API's to collect in depth information.

    Combination of DDMA and DDMI

    The combination of DDMA and DDMi gives you a perfect way to connect to both devices with fixed IP addresses and dynamic IP addresses.

    Just in time Discover

    The combination of HP RUM (Real User Monitor) and UD (Universal Discovery) enables you to discover changes in your cloud environment at the moment it changes, resulting in real time updated views and CI's.

    More information about HP software, and in particular HP UCMDB software, is available at The Hewlett Packard Live Network.

    Application Mapping

    How the Infra Layer and Business Layer are connected and simulating Impact Analaysis in UCMDB, enables quick understanding of any Business Service and Application before doing any maintenance

    Impact Analysis simulation

    Universal CMDB impact analysis capability leverages the CMDB model and dependency information. For example, if one were to change a database component or restart the database server it is possible to see the impact of that event across the IT infrastructure and the business services it supports.

    UCMDB Capabilities

    Core Capabilities

  • Host Discovery – Accurate & current information with automated discoveries
  • Access Control – Provide right information to right people
  • Base Federation & Reconciliation – support for existing HP ITSM offerings and data
  • Mapping & Visualization – Service views and maps to help break down silos
  • Configuration Change Tracking – Improve MTTR and enforce standards

    • Advanced Capabilities – optional add on to Universal CMDB

  • Enterprise Discovery – Comprehensive application and service discovery
  • Impact Analysis – Proactively analyze impact of changes on Business Services
  • Reporting Services – Transform data into actionable information
  • Federation & Reconciliation – Enterprise federation (3rd party sources)
  • Service Modeling - Predefined Application and Service Modeling capabilities
  • Management Services – Improve operational flexibility and reduce costs

    • References

    UCMDB Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA