1. Building a Comprehensive CMDB with System Center Service Manager
Marcel Zehner
@marcelzehner
Travis
MMS Minnesota 2014

2. Introducing Travis Travis Wright, United States
Partner, Director of Product Cireson
Cloud & Datacenter Management MVP
11 year Principal Program Manager on System Center
MMS Minnesota 2014

3. Introducing Marcel Marcel Zehner, Switzerland
Cloud & Datacenter Management Lead, itnetx
Cloud & Datacenter MVP
Focus on Service Management
Provisioning
Management
Monitoring
Billing
Head of System Center Universe Europe
MMS Minnesota 2014

4. What You Can Expect If You Stay Here
What we will NOT cover
System Center Service Manager product overview
ITIL and processes
What we WILL cover
How the Service Manager CMDB works
Techniques to build a custom, dynamic CMDB
MMS Minnesota 2014

5. Introduction to CMDB
MMS Minnesota 2014

6. Purpose/Value of a CMDB
Unified Database
What do you have?
What are the inconsistencies?
Manage Configuration
What’s right/wrong?
What needs to change?
Relate to Work Items
What is broken?
What is being changed?
What is involved in a release?
Process
MMS Minnesota 2014

7. Populate the CMDB to Create Unified DB
Out of Box Connectors
Operations Manager
Configuration Manager
Active Directory
Custom Sources
Custom Connectors
CSV Import
Manual Data Import
3rd Party Tools
MMS Minnesota 2014

8. Extending the CMDB
MMS Minnesota 2014

9. Extending the Model: Management Packs
Management Packs are used to
extend Service Manager with new content and behavior
capture customizations
Management Packs are self-contained and transportable
Microsoft/Partners -> Customers
Pre-production -> Production
Management Pack schema and data model is shared between SM & OM
MMS Minnesota 2014

10. Management Pack Content
.mp file (XML)
Resources
Templates
MP Templates
Object Templates
Presentation
Form Types
Forms*
View Types*
Views
Images
UI Pages*
Folders
Console Tasks*
Web Pages*
Data Warehouse
Facts
Dimensions
Outriggers
Warehouse Modules
Measures
Connectors*
Language Packs
Manifest
Identity
MP References
Type Definitions
Classes
Relationships
Lists
Type Projections
Categories
Groups/Queues
Monitoring
Module Types*
Rules/Workflows
Monitors
Diagnostics
Recoveries
Tasks*
Reports*
Linked Reports
Overrides
Form Assemblies
Workflow Assemblies
Web Parts
Reports
View Assemblies
UI Page Assemblies
Module Assemblies
Connector Assemblies
* = referenced resources

11. Modeling Using Classes
Class: The definition of an object type stored in the CMDB, including a description, the properties and default values stored for that object type. E.g. “Computer”, “User”.
Classes are defined in an inheritance hierarchy with optional relationships:
System.Entity
Configuration Item
Computer
User
Operating System
Work Item
Incident
Extension
Projection
MMS Minnesota 2014

12. Modeling Using Lists
New classes can be defined by inheriting from the core model. For example, we can define a new “Projector” class for the overhead projector objects :
List – An enumeration of values (optionally hierarchical) used to constrain value choices for a given class property.
Example : a List used in the “Condition” projector property:
ProjectorCondition {New, Working, Broken, Being repaired}
Lists can be further customized :
Change value names and add/remove values in existing lists
Add new lists for custom properties
Configuration Item
Computer
User
Operating System
Projector
Projector
Serial Number (key)
Make
Model
Location
Condition (ProjectorCondition List)
MMS Minnesota 2014

13. Packaging Best Practices
Sealed MPs
MPs holding type definitions should be sealed
Allows references from other MPs
Contents cannot be changed in the SCSM console
Unsealed MPs
Easy changes and extensions possible
Used for templates, list values etc.
MMS Minnesota 2014

14. CMDB Data Model Relationships Relationship between 2 classes
Source class
Target class
Different types of relationships
Reference
Hosting
Containment
Relationships can have additional properties
MMS Minnesota 2014

15. DEMO: Extending the Data Model
Visio of Out of Box Data Model Authoring Tool Visual Studio Authoring Extensions (VSAE)
MMS Minnesota 2014

16. Custom Forms
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17. CMDB Forms Used to display information about objects Generic forms
Loaded when a CMDB object is edited
Microsoft delivers forms for the most important classes
Users, Computers, Business Services etc.
Generic forms
Used for classes with no assigned forms
Cannot display all information, e.g. Specific relationships are not visible
OK for some classes but useless for other classes
MMS Minnesota 2014

18. Forms A form is targeted to a class or projection
Form fields are bound to target class or projection properties
Forms can be further customized using graphical form designer :
Adjust look and feel of existing forms – change layout, labels, fonts etc.
Add/remove fields on forms to customize information displayed
Add new forms for new object types in the system, new custom controls
Projector
MMS Minnesota 2014

19. CMDB Forms Extend existing forms Create new forms
Add additional controls to the form
Can be done with the SCSM Authoring Tool
Generates much «code» in the MP
Tidy up the XML afterwards!
Create new forms
SCSM Authoring Tool, very basic with limited controls available
Visual Studio allows to build more complex forms
All SCSM controls available and usable, also custom controls
Complex logics with code behind
MMS Minnesota 2014

20. Demo: CMDB Forms
Extend/customize existing forms using the SCSM authoring tool Create forms using Visual Studio
MMS Minnesota 2014

21. Configuration Management
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22. Manage Data in the CMDB Some data is exclusively managed in the CMDB
Lives nowhere else
Create, update, delete etc.
Some data is imported into the CMDB
Surrounding Management Systems
Databases
Excel sheets
Etc.
MMS Minnesota 2014

23. Manage Data in the CMDB
Questions to ask when connecting the CMDB with other systems
One-time import?
Inbound-sync from surrounding system?
Outbound-sync to surrounding system?
2-way-sync with surrounding system?
MMS Minnesota 2014

24. Pump Data into the CMDB One-time imports
Import the data using CSV or Powershell
Once in the CMDB, destroy the data source 
MMS Minnesota 2014

25. Pump Data into the CMDB SCSM OOB connectors available
Active Directory
SCCM, SCVMM, SCORCH, SCOM CI, SCOM Alerts
Exchange (separate download)
Be careful when using connectors!
In the CMDB, every object has one or multiple sources
If imported by a connector, the source is the connector
Objects with no source are removed from the database
If you delete a connector your objects will go bye bye ...
... unless there is no other source (like another connector)
MMS Minnesota 2014

26. Pump Data into the CMDB Go beyond OOB connectors
Use SMA runbooks and Powershell scripts
Read data from other systems
Compare to data already stored in the CMDB
Create and/or update data in the CMDB
Develop a real connector
MMS Minnesota 2014

27. Demo: Pump Data into the CMDB
Default connectors SMA-based connector (runbooks)
MMS Minnesota 2014

28. Reporting
MMS Minnesota 2014

29. CMDB Reporting SCSM deliveres an optional DWH
Connect 1 or multiple SCSM environments
Can also be used to attach other data source
Used for long-term archiving
Data from the CMDB might get groomed
ETL jobs transforms and loads data into the DWH
Intervals can be configured
Reports are «only» near-realtime
Report-optimized data model
MMS Minnesota 2014

30. Reports from the DWH Classic approach SSRS reports delivered OOB
OLAP cubes delivered OOB
Based on SSAS
Calculated daily from the DWH DataMart
For a customized CMDB data model ...
Create dimensions, facts etc. to bring data to the DWH
MMS Minnesota 2014

31. Reports from the DWH Demo Create reports with SSRS
Create dimensions and facts to bring additional data to the DWH
Reporting using OLAP data cubes in Excel
MMS Minnesota 2014

32. Reports from the CMDB DWH downsides
Not very stable
MP mismatch possible if handling is not done correct
Data is not in real-time (1 hour+ old)
Alternative is to create reports directly from CMDB data
Data is not stored in a reporting-friendly way
Has negative impact on application performance
You need a good understanding of the data model and some SQL query skills
MMS Minnesota 2014

33. Reports from the CMDB Approach Access the data
Use a CMDB copy or a passive AlwaysOn-Cluster database copy
Transfer CMDB data to an Analysis Services tabular model
Use Excel as your Authoring Tool
PowerView, PowerPivot etc.
Create a nice and shiny report
If needed, use PowerBI or SharePoint BI for visualization
MMS Minnesota 2014

34. Reports from the CMDB Demo
Create a SQL query to get data from the CMDB
Access the data and reate a report with Excel
MMS Minnesota 2014

35. Q & A
MMS Minnesota 2014

36. Building a Comprehensive CMDB with System Center Service Manager
Marcel Zehner
Travis Wright