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CIs on Incidents, Problems and Changes

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In this lesson, you will learn:

  • The CI field
  • Affected CIs
  • Impacted services
  • How SNWR uses them on each record

🔁 Quick look back: Last time: What CSDM Data Does SNWR’s Go-Live Need?. You learned which CSDM records SNWR needs on day one, and what can wait.

1 “Which server was it?”

Grace studies the VPN problem.

  • Half the incidents say “VPN” in the text.
  • The rest name no CI at all.
  • She can’t tell if one gateway is the cause.

🎯 The problem: Records without CIs can’t show patterns or impact.

👉 The fix: put the CI on every record, and list affected CIs and services.

2 Three ways records point to the CMDB

Key term: Configuration item (CI) field

The main CI a record is about, like snwr-vpn-gw-01.

Key term: Affected CIs

A list of every CI the record touches, for records that hit more than one.

Key term: Impacted services

The services affected, worked out from the CIs.

How SNWR records use CIs. INC0010101, Sam's VPN incident: CI snwr-vpn-gw-01. INC0010150, the email outage: CI snwr-mail-01, impacted service SNWR Email. PRB0040012, recurring VPN drops: CI snwr-vpn-gw-01. CHG0030045, replace VPN gateway certificate: CI snwr-vpn-gw-01, impacted service SNWR Network.
Figure 1. Every SNWR record points to a CI.

3 SNWR’s rules

  • Incidents: set the CI when known. Required at Resolve.
  • Problems: always set the CI.
  • Changes: always set the CI, and list every affected CI.

💡 Good to know: When the same CI shows on incident, problem and change, you can follow the whole story in one click.

4 Let’s try it: put CIs on records

  1. Open INC0010101 (or your copy). Set the CI to snwr-vpn-gw-01.
  2. Open PRB0040012 and set the same CI.
  3. Open CHG0030045. Set the CI, then open the Affected CIs list and check it’s there.
  4. Open the CI snwr-vpn-gw-01. Look at its related lists: can you see all three records?
  5. Write SNWR’s CI rules into the design decisions log.

5 Quick recap

  • The CI field names the main CI
  • Affected CIs lists every CI touched
  • Impacted services come from the CIs
  • SNWR: CIs always on problems and changes
  • The same CI links the whole story

6 Check yourself

Think of your answer first. Then tap to check.

1 Which CI is on Sam’s VPN incident? Show answer

snwr-vpn-gw-01.

2 A change touches three servers. Where do you list them? Show answer

In Affected CIs.

3 Where do impacted services come from? Show answer

From the CIs on the record.

4 How can Grace see all records for one CI? Show answer

Open the CI and look at its related lists.

Nice work! SNWR’s records now point to their CIs. 🎉
Next up: Support Groups and CI Ownership

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