Normalization Engine to Manage Configuration Management Database Integrity
First Claim
1. A computer system programmed to perform a data normalization method, the method comprising:
- selecting one or more Configuration Items (CIs) to be normalized;
selecting one or more normalization rules from one or more knowledge bases;
applying the one or more selected normalization rules to determine if there are any inconsistencies between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules; and
for at least one of the one or more selected CIs wherein there is an inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules, taking an appropriate remedial action.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Data is often populated into Configuration Management Databases (CMDBs) from different sources. Because the data can come from a variety of sources, it may have inconsistencies—and may even be incomplete. A Normalization Engine (NE) may be able to automatically clean up the incoming data based on certain rules and knowledge. In one embodiment, the NE takes each Configuration Item (CI) or group of CIs that are to be normalized and applies a rule or a set of rules to see if the data may be cleaned up, and, if so, updates the CI or group of CIs accordingly. In particular, one embodiment may allow for the CI'"'"'s data to be normalized by doing a look up against a Product Catalog and/or an Alias Catalog. In another embodiment, the NE architecture could be fully extensible, allowing for the creation of custom, rules-based plug-ins by users and/or third parties.
31 Citations
43 Claims
-
1. A computer system programmed to perform a data normalization method, the method comprising:
-
selecting one or more Configuration Items (CIs) to be normalized; selecting one or more normalization rules from one or more knowledge bases; applying the one or more selected normalization rules to determine if there are any inconsistencies between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules; and for at least one of the one or more selected CIs wherein there is an inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules, taking an appropriate remedial action. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 19)
-
-
12. A computer system programmed to perform a data normalization method, the method comprising:
-
defining selection criteria for the data normalization method, wherein the defined selection criteria comprise; the selection of one or more classes of Configuration Item (CI); and the selection of one or more attributes from each of the one or more selected classes of CI; selecting one or more CIs that meet the defined selection criteria; and for at least one of the one or more selected CIs that meet the defined selection criteria; comparing a value for at least one of the one or more selected attributes to a corresponding specified attribute value stored in a first data store; and replacing the value of each compared attribute with the corresponding specified attribute value if the value of the compared attribute does not equal the corresponding specified attribute value. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
20. A program storage device, readable by a programmable control device, comprising instructions stored on the program storage device for causing the programmable control device to:
-
select one or more Configuration Items (CIs) to be normalized; select one or more normalization rules from one or more knowledge bases; apply the one or more selected normalization rules to determine if there are any inconsistencies between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules; and for at least one of the one or more selected CIs wherein there is an inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules, taking an appropriate remedial action. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
-
27. A data normalization method, the method comprising:
-
selecting one or more Configuration Items (CIs) to be normalized; selecting one or more normalization rules from one or more knowledge bases; applying the one or more selected normalization rules to determine if there are any inconsistencies between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules; and for at least one of the one or more selected CIs wherein there is an inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules, taking an appropriate remedial action. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
-
Specification