Operations · Asset Management
CMDB
A configuration management database recording configuration items and, critically, the relationships between them.
AdvancedUpdated 2026-09-01
Overview
A CMDB exists to answer dependency questions: what does this service rely on, what breaks if this host is rebooted, which business processes are affected. Its value comes from relationships, not from attribute count.
Scope it to the questions you will actually ask. Over broad CMDBs decay because nothing maintains them; narrow, automated, service mapped CMDBs stay accurate and get used.
Security considerations
- Use the CMDB to establish blast radius during incidents and to identify systems affected by a vulnerability.
- Restrict write access and audit changes, an inaccurate CMDB misleads decisions during outages.