Overview
If you create an authorized configuration item (CI) and then later discover the item as an actual CI, you can link the authorized version of the CI to the actual CI using naming rules. This link enables you to include the CI in audits and other comparisons.
You might create authorized CIs through a process other than promotion from actual CIs. When creating an authorized CI by promoting an actual CI, a link is automatically created from the authorized CI to the actual CI. However, when the authorized CI is created by some other means (for example, created in the user interface), then you will need to link the authorized CI to the appropriate actual CI (in some cases the actual CI does not come on the network to be discovered until some time later).
As an example, you plan to deploy a number of new application and database servers in your data center. You create them as authorized configuration items so that you can specify their planned attributes and relationships. You might create them manually in the Configuration Items application, or programmatically. You put them into Not Ready status in their life cycles. You specify values for several key attributes, such as the vendor, model number, location, and so on.
If you wish, you can use a formal change process to make changes in the designs. Eventually, you have a set of authorized CIs that represent the servers in their designed state. You might want to create a CI baseline that includes these CIs, to create a benchmark of the design.
At some later time, some or all of these planned servers come on line in your data center. Soon they are discovered and brought into your database as actual CIs. At this point, no linkage exists between these actual CIs and the authorized CIs that you created earlier. You want to link the authorized CI records that you have designed to the actual CI records that have been discovered, to recognize that they refer to the same items in your environment. When they are linked, you can use the audit process, or your baseline if you created one, to compare the actual and authorized versions of the CIs and ensure that the items have been built to your specifications.
Naming rules define a set of criteria to uniquely identify a CI. You must create naming rules before you can successfully link authorized CIs with actual ones.
To see what links will be created, without actually creating them, you can use preview mode. When you use this mode, links are identified and listed, but they are not created. Check the links carefully to ensure that they are correct. This is particularly valuable when you plan to link a large number of CIs. If links are made incorrectly, you can change the selection criteria for which CIs you want to link or you can change naming rules to achieve the desired links.
You must specify an e-mail address to receive a summary of the links that have been made, or would have been made if you specified preview mode. In order to send e-mail notifications, you must have an SMTP server set up, and an e-mail address must be defined for the administrative user.
Notes:
- If naming rules change or CI data changes and then linking is performed again, the already linked authorized CIs are not affected.
- Similarly, if actual CIs are deleted and linking is performed again, the already linked authorized CIs are not affected. For an authorized CI, the link to the actual CI in the Configuration Items application is represented by the actual CI number in the Actual CI field for the CI. This link is maintained after actual CI deletion so that the change appears in reconciliation results and in reports. At that point, you can make note of which CIs are linked to deleted actual CIs, so that you can clear those links and do the CI linking again..