Having configuration data organized and added to a repository enables collaboration and visibility into the system’s configuration. The popular pull request workflow that software teams use to review and edit code can then be applied to configuration data files. Any changes applied to the configuration must be reviewed and accepted by the team. During the 1950s the United States Department of Defense developed a technical management discipline to track changes in the development of complex systems.

Authorized CIs can be chosen as targets of a change request or other process. You can run audits, or reconciliation reports, to check on the differences between actual and authorized versions of configuration items, and then take corrective actions as needed. The first action towards configuration management is information gathering. Configuration data should be aggregated and compiled from different application environments, development, staging, and production for all the components and services in use. Any secret data like passwords and keys should be identified and securely encrypted and stored. At this point configuration data should be organized into data files that can be pointed to as a central source of truth.

Development Assurance

A configuration management database is an ITIL term for a database used by an organization to store information about hardware and software assets . This database acts as a data warehouse for the organization and also stores information regarding the relationships among its assets. The CMDB provides a means of understanding the organization’s critical assets and their relationships, such as information systems, upstream sources or dependencies of assets, and the downstream targets of assets. An actual CI represents an item in the environment; its attributes reflect its condition as determined by the discovery process.

When not speaking or coding, you can find Ian indulging his passions in parsers, meta-programming, and domain-specific languages. After configuration data has been aggregated and organized a baseline can be established. A baseline configuration is a known state of configuration that will successfully operate the dependent software without error. This baseline is usually created by reviewing the configuration https://www.globalcloudteam.com/ of a functioning production environment and committing those configuration settings. Though configuration management may sound tedious, it is essential to successful and holistic ITSM. Understanding the value of CIs and the need to invest in CI management can go a long way in helping service providers meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders in more efficient and effective ways.

Verification and validation of flight control system airborne software

3.The external environment simulator completes the bus communication and hard-wired interface simulation between the flight control computer and the external system. 2.The flight control computer/simulator runs the airborne software of the flight control system under test. For example we have a scenario where if any semi finish or any material quantity changes based on that we want system to change the quantity of any other semi finish or other component.

The DML should include definitive copies of purchased software along with master copies of license documents and software documentation in electronic form. It may also contain source codes, object codes from controlled builds with official documentation. The Definitive Media Library is the secure repository in which the definitive authorized versions of all media, software, license CIs are stored and protected. For Example, service assets like a Printer, Workstations are CIs, but service assets like ink toners, or knowledge in mind of people are not CIs. According to ITIL v3, Service Assets are any resources or capabilities that could contribute to the delivery of services. A Configuration item, according to ITIL 4, is any component that must be managed to perform an IT service.

Configuration management

It also provides details about the important attributes of CIs and the relationships between them. In this context, it is very important to remember that all CIs are service assets, but all service assets are not configuration items . An item or aggregation of hardware or software or both that is designed to be managed as a single entity.

• ITIL v3 describes Configuration Item 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.
• Once a configuration management platform is in place, teams have visibility into the work required for configuration tasks.
• The software top-level design document describes how the top-level computer software components implement requirements allocated from the software requirements specification and, if applicable, interface requirements specification.
• We will consequently limit ourselves to citing some examples of articulation, and the use of Arcadia engineering models made.
• It may also contain source codes, object codes from controlled builds with official documentation.
• A complex hardware configuration item may have many levels of configuration items beneath its top level; each configuration item level must meet the same fundamental elements of the configuration management system.

In information technology, a configuration item is a component of a system that can be identified as a self-contained unit for purposes of change control and identification. In other words, version numbers and configuration item registration codes help in uniquely identifying configuration items. Configuration items play an important role in configuration management systems. The versions and changes of configuration items form a major part of any configuration audits. Git is the industry-leading version control system to track code changes.

Configuration item types

Configuration version control enables rollback or “undo” functionality to configuration, which helps avoid unexpected breakage. Version control applied to the configuration can be rapidly reverted to a last known stable state. With end of support for our Server products fast approaching, create a winning plan for your Cloud migration with the Atlassian Migration Program. Many may think that a configuration item is simply what its name seems to imply – an item of information about the configuration of an element of your IT estate.

Configuration items may vary widely in complexity, size and type, ranging from an entire system including all hardware, software and documentation, to a single module, a minor hardware component or a single software package. KnowledgeHut ITIL Foundation Certification trainingcourse for an in-depth idea of configuration items. Industry experts offer the course with high-quality training standards and regular assessments to review your knowledge, and the flexibility to suit your working schedule makes it an ideal choice. Contemplate utilizing changesets instead of single file updates to monitor changes connected to system setup and configuration management. Changesets are bundled commits that capture modifications to a collection of files, directory structure, explanations for change, unit test remarks, and environment changes in a single commit that is simple to handle. This enables build managers to identify which linked files have changed with each important update to your resources, making it easy to roll back undesirable changes or restore to a previous configuration if necessary.

Characteristics of Configuration Items

And their accompanying product configuration data versions and authorized updates. Joseph is a global best practice trainer and consultant with over 14 years corporate experience. His specialties are IT Service Management, Business Process Reengineering, Cyber Resilience and Project Management. Almost all organizations keep CI information in separate repositories and, as a result, getting a common view of this information is extremely challenging. Even though hosting all your applications on the cloud might provide easy visibility, the management of up-to-date information remains a significant hurdle when there are other pressing needs, such as incidents and projects.

Avoiding misconfiguration starts with configuration management, but it also requires administrators to regularly verify and validate the information stored in the organization’s configuration management system. For example, a set of components may be grouped into a single release. Based on these definitions, you might realize that there is no discernible difference between CIs and assets. However, it is important to note that while all CIs are assets, not all assets are CIs. Configuration items have an element of control required to deliver services, and this is not usually a preserve for all assets.

Actual and Authorized CIs

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