Distributed cross-domain configuration management

Abstract

Applications make extensive use of services offered by distributed platforms ranging from software services to application platforms or mere computational resources. In these cross-domain environments applications may have dependencies on services or resources provided by different domains. A service management solution based on a centrally managed configuration management database (CMDB) is not viable in these environments since CMDB federation does not scale well to many domains. In this paper we propose a distributed configuration management approach by applying standard technologies (e.g., REST services, ATOM feeds) to provide access to and distribution of configuration information. A domain exposes individual configuration items as RESTful web service resources that can be referred to and read by other domains in the context of service management processes. Using this distributed approach, organizations can engage in effective service management practices avoiding the tight integration of CMDBs with their service providers and customers. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.