Configuration Item (CI)
A Configuration Item is any component you need to manage in order to deliver an IT service — a server, an application, a laptop, a service — stored on cmdb_ci or one of its extended class tables.
Also searched as: CI, cmdb_ci, configuration item ServiceNow.
In practice
CIs are the nouns of the CMDB. Their value comes from relationships and from being referenced by Incidents, Changes and Problems, which is what makes impact analysis possible. Attribute ownership across data sources is governed by the Identification and Reconciliation Engine.
Example
A Linux web server lives on cmdb_ci_linux_server with a 'Runs on::Runs' relationship to its hypervisor and a 'Depends on::Used by' relationship to the payment application.
What interviewers check
You will be asked how CIs avoid duplication, which is really a question about identification rules and reconciliation.
Practise this topic
Related CMDB terms
- CMDBThe CMDB (Configuration Management Database) is the set of related tables that record the CIs in your environment and the relationships between them, acting as the single source of truth for service context.
- DiscoveryDiscovery is ServiceNow's agentless process that scans networks through a MID Server, identifies devices and applications, and creates or updates the matching CIs in the CMDB.
- CSDMCSDM (Common Service Data Model) is ServiceNow's prescriptive blueprint for how to model services, applications and infrastructure so every product on the platform reads the same data the same way.