Identification and Reconciliation
90 seconds with ServiceNow's Identification and Reconciliation engine, a key tool to your complete CMDB.
Configuration data is spread enterprise-wide, spanning multiple systems and sources, each with its strengths and weaknesses. To create a centralized database that can be used confidently by all teams this cornucopia of data needs to be pruned, consolidated, and maintained.
After you realize the benefits of the framework, there is no turning back.
Johnny Walker, https://www.acorio.com/servicenow-cmdb-transforms/
CMDB Challenges
- Duplicate entries are distracting and unhelpful
- Multiple sources contribute to a single configuration item
- Data source quality can vary greatly
- Relationships should have some structure
Cue the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE). This out-of-the-box functionality can achieve all of the above with customizable settings to match your environment. To over-simplify configuration and functionality, we will pretend IRE is a new employee taking care of our CMDB, their instructions for SERVERS are below.
- To match information to the correct server:
- The FQDN must be identical, or
- The MAC address and Serial Number match, or
- A ServiceNow CI SysId works great too
- We like as much information as possible, however when updating CIs:
- Nothing should overwrite human-entered data
- SCCM or SolarWinds have the same priority, keep whichever is recent
- Active Directory data is more trusted than SCCM or SolarWinds
- Data from our scripts is the least trusted
- Server host many other items, when connecting them remember:
- Websites can't exist without a server
- A server can optionally contain SQL databases
- The server network should match a subnet we already have
Don't forget to tell IRE there are another 300 CI types after that...
Read more at the links below: