Normalization engine to manage configuration management database integrity

• US 8,554,750 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2010
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Rangarajan, Govindarajan, Wallace, Darius, Kumar, Narayan, Mueller, Douglas
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Jung
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wilcox, James J
• Application Number:
  US12/685,096
• Publication Number:
  US 20100179945A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,366 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/694
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/215 Improving data quality; Data cleansing, e.g. de-duplication, removing invalid entries or correcting typographical errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity

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.

Claims

1. A computer system including instructions tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer useable medium, and executable by at least one processor, the system comprising:

one or more knowledge bases configured to store one or more normalization rules; and

a normalization engine in communication with the knowledge bases and configured to cause the at least one processor to;

select one or more Configuration Items (CIs) from one or more external data providers to be automatically normalized including identifying one or more duplicate CIs from the one or more external data providers through a discovery process;

after selecting the one or more CIs to be automatically normalized, select one or more normalization rules from the one or more knowledge bases;

after selecting the one or more normalization rules from the one or more knowledge bases, apply the one or more selected normalization rules to the one or more selected CIs 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, when there is an inconsistency determined between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules, automatically normalize incoming data related to the one or more selected CIs from the one or more external data providers by taking an appropriate remedial action including cleaning the incoming data to remove the inconsistency and reconcile the one or more duplicate CIs before storing the at least one of the one or more selected CIs in a data repository.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the normalization engine is configured to perform data normalization before the one or more CIs have been stored in a configuration management database.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the normalization engine is configured to perform data normalization after the one or more CIs have been stored in a configuration management database.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the normalization engine is further configured to cause the at least one processor to perform data normalization at specified intervals.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the normalization engine is configured to use rules-based plug-ins.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the one or more CIs comprise a plurality of related CIs.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the one or more CIs comprise one or more relationship CIs.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein taking an appropriate remedial action comprises:

updating at least one of the one or more selected CIs according to the one or more selected normalization rules so as to remove at least one inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules to thereby reconcile the duplicate CIs.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the programmed act of taking an appropriate remedial action comprises:

creating a report of at least one inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules.

10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the programmed act of taking an appropriate remedial action comprises:

warning a user of at least one inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules.

11. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the one or more knowledge bases comprise one or more of the following:

a Product Catalog, an Alias Catalog, a Rules Catalog, and a Relationship Catalog.

12. A computer system including instructions tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer useable medium, and executable by at least one processor, the system comprising:

a first data store; and

a normalization engine in communication with the first data store and configured to cause the at least one processor to;

define selection criteria for automatic data normalization, wherein the defined selection criteria comprise;

the selection of one or more classes of Configuration Items (CIs) including duplicate CIs;

the selection of one or more attributes from each of the one or more selected classes of CIs including the duplicate CIs; and

the selection of one or more normalization rules from one or more knowledge bases;

select one or more CIs that meet the defined selection criteria from one or more external data providers through a discovery process including applying the one or more selected normalization rules to the one or more selected CIs to determine if there are any inconsistencies between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules; and

before storing at least one of the one or more selected CIs that meet the defined selection criteria in the first data store;

compare a value for at least one of the one or more selected attributes to a corresponding specified attribute value stored in the first data store; and

automatically normalize incoming data related to the one or more selected CIs from the one or more external data providers by cleaning the incoming data related to the selected CIs including the duplicate CIs by 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 to thereby remove inconsistencies of the incoming data and reconcile the duplicate CIs.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the normalization engine is configured to data normalization in response to a creation or modification of a CI.

14. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the normalization engine is configured to cause the at least one processor to perform data normalization at specified intervals.

15. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the first data store comprises a product catalog.

16. The computer system of claim 12 further comprising:

a second data store, wherein the normalization engine is in communication with the second data store and is further configured to cause the at least one processor to;

compare a name value for at least one of the one or more CIs that meet the defined selection criteria to values stored in the second data store; and

for each of the one or more CIs whose name value matches a value stored in the second data store, replace the name value of the CI with a corresponding preferred name value stored in the second data store,

wherein comparing and replacing values in the second data store are programmed to occur before comparing and replacing values in the first data store.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the second data store comprises an alias catalog.

18. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the selected attributes comprise one or more of the following:

product categorization;

manufacturer name;

product name;

version number;

access control information; and

patch number.

19. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the normalization engine is configured to use rules-based plug-ins.

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) from one or more external data providers to be automatically normalized by including identifying one or more duplicate CIs from the one or more external data providers through a discovery process;

after selecting the one or more CIs to be automatically normalized, select one or more normalization rules from one or more knowledge bases;

after selecting the one or more normalization rules from the one or more knowledge bases, apply the one or more selected normalization rules to the one or more selected CIs 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, when there is an inconsistency determined between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules, automatically normalize incoming data related to the one or more selected CIs from the one or more external data providers by taking take an appropriate remedial action including cleaning the incoming data to remove the inconsistency and reconcile the one or more duplicate CIs before storing the at least one of the one or more selected CIs in a data repository.

21. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the instructions comprising the normalization rules are extensible via the use of rules-based plug-ins.

22. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the one or more CIs comprise a plurality of related CIs.

23. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the one or more CIs comprise one or more relationship CIs.

24. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the instructions to take an appropriate remedial action comprise instructions to:

update at least one of the one or more selected CIs according to the one or more selected normalization rules so as to remove at least one inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules to thereby reconcile the duplicate CIs.

25. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the instructions to take an appropriate remedial action comprise instructions to:

create a report of at least one inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules.

26. The program storage device of claim 20, wherein the instructions to take an appropriate remedial action comprise instructions to:

warn a user of at least one inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules.

27. A computer-implemented data normalization method, the method comprising:

selecting one or more Configuration Items (CIs) from one or more external data providers to be automatically normalized by including identifying one or more duplicate CIs from the one or more external data providers through a discovery process;

after selecting the one or more CIs to be automatically normalized, selecting one or more normalization rules from one or more knowledge bases;

after selecting the one or more normalization rules from the one or more knowledge bases, applying the one or more selected normalization rules to the one or more selected CIs 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, when there is an inconsistency determined between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules, automatically normalizing incoming data related to the one or more selected CIs from the one or more external data providers by taking take an appropriate remedial action including cleaning the incoming data to remove the inconsistency and reconciling the one or more duplicate CIs before storing the at least one of the one or more selected CIs in a data repository.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of data normalization occurs before the one or more CIs have been stored in the CMDB.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of data normalization occurs after the one or more CIs have been stored in the CMDB.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of data normalization is configured to occur at specified intervals.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of data normalization is extensible via the use of rules-based plug-ins.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein the one or more CIs comprise a plurality of related CIs.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein the one or more CIs comprise one or more relationship CIs.

34. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of taking an appropriate remedial action comprises:

updating at least one of the one or more selected CIs according to the one or more selected normalization rules so as to remove at least one inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules to thereby reconcile the duplicate CIs.

35. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of taking an appropriate remedial action comprises:

creating a report of at least one inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules.

36. The method of claim 27, wherein the act of taking an appropriate remedial action comprises:

warning a user of at least one inconsistency between the one or more selected CIs and the one or more selected normalization rules.

37. The method of claim 27, wherein the one or more knowledge bases comprise one or more of the following:

a Product Catalog, an Alias Catalog, a Rules Catalog, and a Relationship Catalog.

38. A computer network executing the computer-implemented data normalization method of claim 27, the computer network comprising:

one or more non-volatile storage devices for maintaining configuration management information; and

one or more computer systems communicatively coupled to the network, at least one of the one or more computer systems programmed to perform at least a portion of the method of claim 27,

wherein the entire method of claim 27 is performed collectively by the one or more computer systems communicatively coupled to the network.

39. The computer network of claim 38, further comprising:

one or more knowledge bases that contain information relating to preferred attribute values, configurations, or rules.

40. The computer network of claim 38, further comprising a normalization engine, wherein the normalization engine is configured to initiate the data normalization method.

41. The computer network of claim 38, wherein the data normalization method is configured to be executed in response to a creation or modification of a Cl.

42. The computer network of claim 38, wherein the data normalization method is configured to be executed at specified intervals.

43. The computer network of claim 38, wherein the data normalization method is extensible via the use of rules-based plug-ins.