Configuration Management Database

A Configuration Management Database (CMDB) stores records of Configuration Items (CIs) — servers, network devices, software, services and their interdependencies — and the relationships between them. It is the authoritative source of what infrastructure exists, how it is configured and what it depends on.

In data centre operations, a CMDB is typically federated with DCIM (for physical assets), the ITSM platform (for change and incident workflows) and monitoring systems. Keeping a CMDB accurate requires rigorous change management — a CMDB that is not maintained quickly becomes a liability rather than an asset. Discovery tools that auto-populate the CMDB from network scans and agent data are common in large enterprises.