How to build a basic Configuration Management Database using SQL Server 2008's new Central Management Server feature.

1. Central Management Server:
The Poor Man’s CMDB
© 2008 Quest Software, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

2. About Me: Brent Ozar
• SQL Server Expert for
Quest Software
• Former SQL DBA
• Managed >80tb SAN,
Vmware
• Specializes in
performance tuning
• Like you, overworked
and underpaid

3. Today’s Agenda
• What’s a CMDB?
• What’s a CMS?
• Building a CMS
• Populating the CMDB
• Extending the CMDB
• Where to Go Next

4. Life as a DBA
• How many servers do I have?
• What versions/editions are they?
• What applications are they hosting?
• Who has permissions to log in?
• What isn’t configured correctly?
• What is “best practices” today?
• What changed recently?
• How does all this relate to the business?

5. Configuration Management DB
“A configuration management database (CMDB) is a
repository of information related to all the
components of an information system. Although
repositories similar to CMDBs have been used by IT
departments for many years, the term CMDB stems
from ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure
Library). In the ITIL context, a CMDB represents the
authorized configuration of the significant
components of the IT environment. A key goal of a
CMDB is to help an organization understand the
relationships between these components and track
their configuration. The CMDB is a fundamental
component of the ITIL framework's Configuration
Management process. CMDB implementations often
involve integration with other systems, such as Asset
Management Systems. These integrations may
make use of either a real-time, federated design or
an ETL (extract, transform, load) solution.”
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMDB
Photo Licensed with Creative Commons at http://www.flickr.com/photos/doodlemonger/2667917978/

6. Configuration Management DB
“A configuration management database (CMDB) is a
repository of information related to all the
components of an information system. Although
repositories similar to CMDBs have been used by IT
departments for many years, the term CMDB stems
from ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure
Library). In the ITIL context, a CMDB represents the
authorized configuration of the significant
components of the IT environment. A key goal of a
CMDB is to help an organization understand the
relationships between these components and track
their configuration. The CMDB is a fundamental
component of the ITIL framework's Configuration
Management process. CMDB implementations often
involve integration with other systems, such as Asset
Management Systems. These integrations may
make use of either a real-time, federated design or
an ETL (extract, transform, load) solution.”
From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMDB
Photo Licensed with Creative Commons at http://www.flickr.com/photos/doodlemonger/2667917978/

7. Why Isn’t Everyone Doing It?
Photo Licensed with Creative Commons at http://www.flickr.com/photos/acidpix/1531758457/

8. The Experts Say…

9. AllDBAs Really Want
• Servers
• Databases
• Applications
• Users & Contacts
• Configurations
• History

10. All DBAs Really Know

11. Our CMDB Will Be:
• Based on T-
SQL, SQL Server
2008
Technologies
• Easy to Pick Up
• Extendible
• Flexible
• Community-
Driven

12. My Lab Environment
P-SQL20051 P-SQL20052
P-SQL20081CMS
P-SQL20081 P-SQL20082
T-DISCOWHIZ
P-SQL20001 WKG-SQL20051

13. Central Management Server

14. Gotchas& Pitfalls
• Case Sensitivity
• Collations
• Servers That Disappear
• Consolidating Histories
• CMDB Schema Forks

15. Next Steps & Ideas
• More discovery queries
• Saving baselines & history
• Relating people & applications
• SSRS reports
• Getting the code

16. How to Get Started Today
• Today’s Scripts:
http://sqlserverpedia.com/wiki/CMDB
• Quest Discovery Wizard:
http://www.quest.com/
discovery-wizard-for-sql-server/
• My Blog on SQL Server:
http://www.BrentOzar.com