Resource Name Reconciliation in a Configuration Database

• US 20080021917A1
• Filed: 07/24/2006
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Baker, Ronald Bruce, Tai, Ling-Ching W., Nielsen, Robert Louis
• Granted Patent: US 8,290,949 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/08 Configuration management of networks or network elements address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5067 Customer-centric QoS measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications

Abstract

A Configuration Management DataBase (CMDB) is utilized to reconcile names of enterprise computer resources in a Configuration Management Database (CMDB). Steps taken include creating a resource that belongs to a class that has multiple naming rules; in response to determining that more than one set of naming attributes is provided by the multiple naming rules, generating a set of valid names, in a priority order, for the resource; and correlating different names for the resource by, in accordance with the priority order, assigning one name for the resource to be a master name and assigning all other names for the resource to be alias names.

Claims

1. A computer-implementable method comprising:

generating a list of all valid names for a resource that is managed by a resource configuration database, wherein the resource belongs to a class of resources that have multiple naming rules, and wherein the valid names have a validity priority order.

2. The computer-implementable method of claim 1, wherein the resource configuration database is a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) as defined by ITIL.

3. The computer-implementable method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning one of the valid names a status of being a master name for the resource.

4. The computer-implementable method of claim 3, further comprising:

assigning a status of alias name to each non-master name in the list of valid names.

5. The computer-implementable method of claim 4, further comprising:

reconstructing a name of any resource that has used an alias name by replacing an alias name with a master name.

6. The computer-implementable method of claim 5, further comprising:

deleting, from a duplicate name list in the CMDB, any name instances that had previously used an alias name.

7. A system comprising:

a processor;

a data bus coupled to the processor;

a memory coupled to the data bus; and

a computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, the computer program code comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured for;

generating a list of valid names for a resource that is managed by a resource configuration database, wherein the resource belongs to a class of resources that have multiple naming rules, and wherein the valid names have a validity priority order.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the resource configuration database is a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) as defined by ITIL.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructions are further configured for:

assigning one of the valid names a status of being a master name for the resource.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions are further configured for:

assigning a status of alias name to each non-master name in the list of valid names.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the instructions are further configured for:

reconstructing a name of any resource that has used an alias name by replacing an alias name with a master name.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions are further configured for:

deleting, from a duplicate name list in the CMDB, any name instances that had previously used an alias name.

13. A computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, the computer program code comprising computer-executable instructions configured for:

generating a list of valid names for a resource that is managed by a resource configuration database, wherein the resource belongs to a class of resources that have multiple naming rules, and wherein the valid names have a validity priority order.

14. The computer-usable medium of claim 13, wherein the resource configuration database is a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) as defined by ITIL.

15. The computer-usable medium of claim 13, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured for:

assigning one of the valid names a status of being a master name for the resource.

16. The computer-usable medium of claim 15, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured for:

assigning a status of alias name to each non-master name in the list of valid names.

17. The computer-usable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured for:

reconstructing a name of any resource that has used an alias name by replacing an alias name with a master name.

18. The computer-usable medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions are further configured for:

deleting, from a duplicate name list in the CMDB, any name instances that had previously used an alias name.

19. The computer-useable medium of claim 13, wherein the computer executable instructions are deployable to a client computer from a server at a remote location.

20. The computer-useable medium of claim 13, wherein the computer executable instructions are provided by a service provider to a customer on an on-demand basis.

21. A computer-implementable method for reconciling names of enterprise computer resources, said computer-implementable method comprising:

determining if a resource, which is managed by a resource configuration database, has multiple valid names; and

in response to determining that the resource has multiple valid names, delegating one of the valid names to be a master name for the resource, and delegating any remaining valid names to be alias names for the resource.

22. The computer-implementable method of claim 21, wherein the master name was derived using a higher rule that had a higher priority than any rule used to create the alias names.

23. The computer-implementable method of claim 22, wherein the resource is a hardware resource, and wherein the higher priority rule is based on a Manufacturer number, Model/Type number, and Serial number identifier (MMTS).

24. The computer-implementable method of claim 22, wherein the resource is a hardware resource, and wherein the higher priority rule is based on a Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) for the resource.

25. The computer-implementable method of claim 22, wherein the resource is a hardware resource, and wherein the higher priority rule is based on a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the resource.

26. The computer-implementable method of claim 21, further comprising:

identifying two computer resource name instances as having been created using two different naming rules; and

determining that the two computer resource names are for a same computer resource if one or more naming contexts in the two different naming rules have a same identification value.

27. A computer-implementable method for reconciling names, of enterprise computer resources, in a Configuration Management Database (CMDB), said computer-implementable method comprising:

creating a resource that belongs to a class that has multiple naming rules;

in response to determining that more than one set of naming attributes is provided by the multiple naming rules, generating a set of valid names, in a priority order, for the resource; and

correlating different names for the resource by, in accordance with the priority order, assigning one name for the resource to be a master name and assigning all other names for the resource to be alias names.

28. The computer-implementable method of claim 27, further comprising:

checking, in the CMDB, if multiple name instances of a same resource already exist in a CMDB database but have not been labeled as aliases of a master name for a same resource; and

in response to determining that the same resource has not been labeled as an alias of the master name, selecting one valid name for the resource to be a master name and selecting all other valid names to be alias names for the resource.

29. The computer-implementable method of claim 27, wherein a master name is a first name assigned to a resource.

30. The computer-implementable method of claim 27, wherein the master name is a name created by a rule that has been predetermined to have a higher priority over rules that created the alias names.

31. The computer-implementable method of claim 27, further comprising:

in response to determining that a duplicate name instance was a superior naming context of another resource stored in a CMDB table, constructing a valid name for said other resource using a newly selected master name.

32. The computer-implementable method of claim 31, further comprising:

cleaning up one or more CMDB databases by replacing all references to alias names with new master names.

33. The computer-implementable method of claim 32, further comprising:

removing all duplicate entries for resources from core tables in the CMDB.