Configuration items and CI data
A configuration item (CI) is any component of an IT environment meant to be under the control of configuration management and is therefore subject to change control. A discovery tool is used to collect and save configuration data about these CIs.
CI type data
Configuration item type data, or CI type data, describes the classifications of CIs defined in the Tivoli® Common Data Model. The classification, or type, of a configuration item indicates what IT artifact the CI represents and is a key part of the CI definition. You use these types to specify the kinds of actual CIs that you want:
- to import into Maximo IT.
- to manage in the configuration management and change management processes.
Integration Composer uses the CI type adapter to import and transform the Common Data Model definition from TADDM into the database. Later, it uses the actual CI adapter to import and transform the actual CI data instances.
The order in which you import the data is important. You have to import CI type data into the target database before you import any actual CI data.
Actual CI data
Actual configuration item data, or actual CI data, is data collected directly from components in the IT environment of your enterprise and can, therefore, be discovered. To gather this data, discovery tools scan the computers, network devices, and other information technology objects deployed in your enterprise. Information is then recorded about the hardware and software installed on them. You can then import this collected information into the target database.