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Standard CMDB Best Practices Guide

Comprehensive guidance for implementing and managing the Standard CMDB Schema v2.0. This ITIL-aligned schema delivers a complete Configuration Management Database for mid-size IT organizations with 12 interconnected object types.

📖 45 min read 🖥️ Standard CMDB v2.0 💼 Paid Tier

Overview

The Standard CMDB Schema follows ITIL Configuration Management principles, organizing Configuration Items (CIs) into logical categories that support service management processes. With Schema Forge, you deploy this complete 12-object-type schema in under a minute - then focus on populating it with your data.

Who Is This For?

  • IT Operations Managers responsible for infrastructure and service delivery
  • Configuration Managers establishing CMDB governance and processes
  • Service Desk Teams resolving incidents with CI context
  • Change Managers assessing change impact and dependencies
  • Capacity Planners tracking resource utilization
  • IT Asset Managers managing hardware, software, and cloud resources

What You Get

  • Service dependency mapping for impact analysis
  • Infrastructure lifecycle management
  • Change impact analysis across 12 object types
  • Integration patterns with discovery tools and ITSM processes
  • Complete vendor and license tracking

Schema Architecture

ITIL CI Categories Covered

ITIL Category Schema Object Types
Hardware CIs Server, Network Device
Software CIs Application, Database, Software License
Service CIs Business Service
Documentation CIs Document
Organizational CIs Person, Team, Location, Vendor
Cloud CIs Cloud Resource

Three-Tier Object Hierarchy

Tier 1: Foundation

  • Location
  • Vendor
  • Team
  • Person

Organizational context and ownership for all other CIs

Tier 2: Infrastructure

  • Server
  • Database
  • Network Device
  • Cloud Resource

Physical and virtual infrastructure hosting services

Tier 3: Services

  • Business Service
  • Application
  • Software License
  • Document

Services and applications delivered to the business

Key Relationships

Relationship From To Purpose
Member Of Person Team Organizational structure
Located At Person, Server, Network Device Location Physical placement
Hosted On Database, Application Server Infrastructure dependencies
Uses Database Application Database Data dependencies
Part Of Service Application, Cloud Resource Business Service Service composition
Service Owner Business Service Person Service accountability

Foundation Objects

Location

Represents physical locations where IT assets are deployed. Critical for incident response, disaster recovery, and compliance.

Naming Convention: Use format [TYPE]-[REGION]-[ID] (e.g., DC-EAST-01, OFF-NYC-HQ, CLOUD-AWS-USE1)
Attribute Type Required Why It Matters
Location Name Text Yes Primary identifier for the location
Location Type Select Yes Data Center, Office, Branch, Warehouse, Cloud Region
Address Textarea No Physical street address for emergency response
City Text No Geographic reporting and time zone inference
Country Text No Regulatory compliance and data residency
Status Select Yes Active, Inactive, Planned

Vendor

Represents external suppliers providing hardware, software, cloud services, or professional services.

Attribute Type Required Why It Matters
Vendor Name Text Yes Official vendor name as used in contracts
Vendor Type Select Yes Hardware, Software, Cloud Provider, Service Provider, Consultant
Website URL No Quick reference for product documentation
Support Email Email No Critical for incident escalation
Support Phone Text No Support hotline number
Contract End Date Date No Drives renewal planning and alerts
Status Select Yes Active, Inactive, Under Review

Team

Represents IT teams and departments responsible for managing infrastructure, applications, and services.

Attribute Type Required Why It Matters
Team Name Text Yes Official team name matching HR records
Team Type Select Yes Development, Operations, Security, Support, Infrastructure, Management
Email Email No Team distribution list for notifications
Slack Channel Text No Team collaboration channel
On-Call Rotation URL No Link to PagerDuty/Opsgenie schedule

Person

Represents individuals who own, support, or manage Configuration Items. Establishes accountability for CIs.

Attribute Type Required Why It Matters
Full Name Text Yes Person's full name as used professionally
Email Email Yes Critical for notifications and approvals
Job Title Text No Provides context for ownership and expertise
Department Text No Enables department-level reporting
Phone Text No Important for urgent escalations
Member Of Reference No Links person to their primary team
Location Reference No Enables location-based filtering
Status Select Yes Active, Inactive, On Leave

Infrastructure Objects

Server

Represents physical and virtual compute infrastructure that hosts applications, databases, and services.

Hostname Convention: Use format [ENV]-[FUNCTION]-[SEQUENCE] (e.g., PROD-WEB-001, STG-DB-001)
Attribute Type Required
Hostname Text Yes
IP Address IP No
FQDN Text No
Server Type Select Yes
Operating System Text No
OS Version Text No
CPU Cores Number No
RAM (GB) Number No
Storage (GB) Number No
Environment Select Yes
Location Reference No
Vendor Reference No
Status Select Yes

Database

Represents database instances that store application data. Links data storage to servers and applications.

Attribute Type Required
Database Name Text Yes
Database Type Select Yes
Version Text No
Port Number No
Size (GB) Number No
Environment Select Yes
Hosted On Reference No
Backup Schedule Select No
Status Select Yes

Network Device

Represents network infrastructure including routers, switches, firewalls, and load balancers.

Attribute Type Required
Device Name Text Yes
Device Type Select Yes
IP Address IP No
MAC Address Text No
Manufacturer Text No
Model Text No
Firmware Version Text No
Location Reference No
Status Select Yes

Cloud Resource

Represents infrastructure components deployed in public cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP).

Attribute Type Required
Resource Name Text Yes
Resource ID Text No
Cloud Provider Select Yes
Resource Type Select Yes
Region Text No
Account/Subscription Text No
Monthly Cost Decimal No
Environment Select Yes
Part Of Service Reference No
Status Select Yes

Service Objects

Business Service

Represents services delivered to internal or external customers. The top-level CIs in the service hierarchy.

Attribute Type Required
Service Name Text Yes
Service ID Text No
Description Textarea No
Criticality Select Yes
Service Owner Reference No
Support Team Reference No
SLA Select No
Status Select Yes

Application

Represents software applications and services that deliver business functionality.

Attribute Type Required
Application Name Text Yes
Application ID Text No
Description Textarea No
Version Text No
Application Type Select Yes
Technology Stack Text No
Repository URL URL No
Environment Select Yes
Hosted On Reference No
Uses Database Reference No
Part Of Service Reference No
Status Select Yes

Software License

Represents software licenses and entitlements that authorize software usage.

Attribute Type Required
License Name Text Yes
License Key Text No
License Type Select Yes
Seats Number No
Seats Used Number No
Start Date Date No
Expiry Date Date No
Annual Cost Decimal No
Vendor Reference No
For Application Reference No
Status Select Yes

Document

Represents technical documentation, runbooks, and operational procedures that support CI management.

Attribute Type Required
Document Title Text Yes
Document Type Select Yes
URL URL Yes
Last Updated Date No
Related Service Reference No

Useful AQL Queries

Find all operational production servers

objectType = "Server" AND Status = "Operational" AND Environment = "Production"

Find services without owners

objectType = "Business Service" AND Status = "Operational" AND "Service Owner" IS EMPTY

Find applications without service linkage

objectType = "Application" AND Status = "Operational" AND Environment = "Production" AND "Part Of Service" IS EMPTY

Find licenses expiring in 90 days

objectType = "Software License" AND Status = "Active" AND "Expiry Date" < now(90d) AND "Expiry Date" > now()

Find databases on specific server

objectType = "Database" AND "Hosted On" = "PROD-DB-001"

Find high-cost cloud resources

objectType = "Cloud Resource" AND "Monthly Cost" > 1000 AND Status = "Running"
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