Configuration management cm is a systems engineering process for establishing and maintaining consistency of a products performance, functional, and physical attributes with its requirements, design, and operational information throughout its life. Maintaining and troubleshooting office hardware and software can be time consuming, frustrating, and costly. To understand software configuration management, you might find it easier to look first at configuration management in a hardware development environment. What is configuration management and how does it work. Hardware configurations and asset management information. The deadline is rapidly approaching and the team is assembled, ready to implement the recent revision changes made to both the system hardware and software. Recommended hardware configuration manager microsoft docs.
What is configuration management and why is it important. Configuration management identifies what is required, designed, and produced. Configuration management is focused on managing asset information that can be managed and controlled. Configuration management cm is a systems engineering process for. A configuration item, on the other hand, is subject to change control, which is baselinedand thats not true for every asset. Hardware configuration references the details and system resource settings allotted for a specific device. The list of the most popular software configuration management tools top scm tools in 2020 in software engineering software configuration management is the task of tracking and controlling changes in the software part of the larger disciplinary field of configuration management. Software configuration management is the discipline of identifying the configuration of software at distinct points in time for the purpose of systematically controlling changes to the.
Configuration management cm usually includes the updates and the versions that have been applied to software packages, as well as locations and network addresses of hardware devices. Oct 11, 2019 though it does not have its own major, hardware configuration is a topic taught in information technology programs. Understand how to define scm and discuss how to accomplish it. Guide to software configuration management prepared by. Special configuration management software is available, such as bmc software s atrium and hewlett packard enterprises universal configuration management database. Hardware and software management hardware management perspectiv automatically compiles an inventory of hardware installed in the store chain and actively monitors changes to the hardware configuration, as well as changes to the software that undergoes monitoring. Configuration manager current branch the following recommendations are guidelines to help you scale your configuration manager environment to support more than a very basic deployment of sites, site systems, and clients. Software configuration management helps to limit this. Lets start with configuration management, as that has a smaller scope. May 19, 2017 this document is uncontrolled when printed check the master list at. Configuration and change management ccm is the process of maintaining the integrity of hardware, software, firmware, and documentation related to the configuration and. On friday i talked with srinath anantharaman by phone to gain some perspective on hardware configuration management hcm versus software configuration management scm, especially as it applies to the ic design flows in use today.
The following are minimum requirements for windowsbased computers that you manage by using configuration manager, including embedded operating systems. This topic shows example hardware software configurations for different labkey server installations. Slightly more formally, software configuration management scm is a software engineering discipline comprising the tools and techniques processes or methodology that a company uses to manage change to its software assets. The extra value provided is the rich source of support information that it provides to all interested parties. In the 1990s we both worked at viewlogic in fremont, ca and in 1997. By building and maintaining configuration management bestpractices, you can expect several benefits such as improved network availability and lower costs. May 19, 2017 this document is uncontrolled when printed. The cm process for both hardware and softwareconfiguration items comprises five distinct disciplines as established in the milhdbk. This is sometimes referred to as secure configuration management scm. Uncontrolled and undirected, imagination can quickly give rise to nightmare. Early software had a physical footprint, such as cards, tapes, and other media. Effective maintenance and support of assets provides longer life, higher employee productivity, and increased user satisfaction. That is especially true for those users who are managing the configuration of.
The sut represents an enterprise content management ecm system consisting of ibm filenet p8 core components. This configuration management plan cmp applies to all software, hardware, commercial off the shelf cots products, documentation, physical media, and physical parts used by era and the era contractor development team to support various development activities, including engineering, implementation, testing, and configuration management. Configuration management control reduces risks of viruses, wrong software, fraud, theft, and so on. Hardware configuration management and why its different than. Jun 21, 2017 hardware configuration references the details and system resource settings allotted for a specific device. Rather than selecting specific automated cm tools, mitre ses need to begin with requirements that take into consideration and address the roles of the technical and nontechnical elements of cm, including documentation and the traditional software configuration management elements of hardware and software.
Hardware management hardware and software management. Scope this procedure is applicable to all of epas enterprise hardware, software, and. Esa board for software standardisation and control bssc. This article lists the top 10 free and open source tools that can help you carry out configuration management with ease. While our standard configurations meet the needs of most users, we also recognize that some users may require a more customized configuration. This enables you to effectively build a multistage ecosystem, with production, development, and testing servers. Cisco is also developing more comprehensive media and protocol audits that will report inconsistency with ip, dlsw, frame relay and atm. A configuration item is an aggregation of hardware, software, or communications equipment, that satisfies a discrete end use function and is designated for separate configuration management. A ci is an aggregation of hardware, software or both that is designated as a unit for configuration management, and treated as a single entity in the configuration management process. Cisco rme is a configuration management tool that can audit and report on hardware versions, modules and software versions. Read a description of hardware configuration management.
Configuration management makes it trivial to replicate environments with the exact same software and configurations. Hardware systems have physical characteristics that make the problems caused by the lack of sound configuration management easier to see. Hardware, software, and firmware buckley, fletcher j. Jan 25, 2018 software configuration management scm is a set of processes, policies, and tools that organize the development process. Environment management managing the software and hardware that host the system. This is the configuration management plan, document number xyz004, for the system z project. Secure configuration for hardware and software on mobile devices, laptops, workstations and servers. When a system needs a software or hardware upgrade, the user can access the cm program and database to see what is currently installed and then make a more. Nov 23, 2011 read a description of hardware configuration management. It includes four procedures that should be defined for each software project to ensure that a reliable software configuration management process is utilized. Feb 27, 2019 the purpose of configuration management is to establish and maintain the integrity of the products of the software project throughout the projects software life cycle. And not only is it easy to change, but it is unconstrained by the physical laws that serve as the guardrails of what is possible with hardware systems. This chapter is the updated version of the software configuration management scm generally accepted knowledge to be used as a consistent view of this software engineering topic worldwide.
The goal of scm is to improve the speed of and quality by catching errors early and enabling quick fixes when they occur. Software configuration management in software engineering. Secure configuration for hardware and software on mobile. The next generation series, joe farah recently noticed an increasing level of discussion on cm communities discussing software configuration management scm versus hardware configuration management hcm. Configuration management is a systems development discipline that promotes the proper identification of the configuration, control of changes, and records the change implementation status of the physical and functional characteristics of the interim c2c system. In the context of information assurance, configuration management is the management of security features and assurances through the control of changes made to hardware, software, firmware, documentation, and tests throughout the life cycle of an information system 12. Remember that there are many similarities between hardware and software, but there are certain differences that significantly impact your ability to develop and manage.
This database acts as a data warehouse for the organization and also stores information regarding the relationships among its assets. These are intended as guidelines only your own configuration should be. These are intended as guidelines only your own configuration should be adjusted to suit your particular requirements. Sep 12, 2019 configuration management is an increasingly important foundation for a successful tech platform. The system is set up as a three tier architecture including a. If something goes wrong, scm can determine what was changed and who changed it. Software is bounded only by the limits of the human imagination. The history of software configuration management scm in computing can be traced back as early as the 1950s, when cm for configuration management, originally for hardware development and production control, was being applied to software development. Many computer specialists improve hardware performance by adjusting configurations, which may also include settings for the motherboard and the bios, as well as the bus speeds. Software and hardware configuration management ivv 10 version. A baseline is a configuration of a hardware, software, or system at a discrete point in its life cycle. The management of hardware and software assets has become much more complex since the days when the corporate user had one pc on the corporate lan running a small number of applications. Hardware configuration education and training program info. Hardware and software configuration this section describes the software and hardware configurations for the system under test sut.
Hardware inventory configuration manager microsoft docs. Asset and configuration item ci management refers to creating assets, setting appropriate states and substates, synchronizing assets and cis, managing consumables, and retiring assets. What is the real difference between software configuration. Configuration management tools the mitre corporation. While a regular windchill part is used to manage hardware components, software parts are used to manage software deliverables in the product structure. Hardware and software management domain computer services. A configuration management process and its supporting repository, cmdb or cms, face the challenge of overlapping and contradicting data from sources across the enterprise. Hardware configurations and asset management hardware configurations. Hardware configuration management software solutions are used to establish and maintain consistency and traceability between product requirements, the actual product as manufactured and serviced, and all product data for creators and users of this information. To be successful, it is essential to understand cm.
Computer hardware configuration goes beyond the recording of computer hardware for the purpose of asset management, although it can be used to maintain asset information. This section describes the software and hardware configurations for the system under test sut. Configuration management cm comprises the detailed description and updating of information related to an enterprise s software and hardware. You can create hardware, software license, consumable, license, software entitlement, and. The configuration management plan provides details of how the system z team will manage the control of configuration items being developed under each phase. Software configuration management is a process to systematically manage, organize, and control the changes in the documents, codes, and. Hardware and software configuration management windchill integrations for embedded software allows you to integrate software deliverables in the windchill product structure, so you can manage both hardware and software components in one product structure throughout the. Configuration management cm is the detailed recording and updating of information that describes an enterprises computer systems and networks, including all hardware and software components. Hardware configuration management software manageengine deviceexpert network configuration management v. Free detailed reports on hardware configuration management are. Teamwork facilitate team interactions related to the process.
April 2, 20 this document is uncontrolled when printed check the master list at. Maintenance of hardware and software assets is part of a comprehensive management process to minimize disruptions, optimize costs, provide asset stewardship, and bring best practice to the organization. What configuration management is and where it originated from. A configuration item referred to as an object is a product hardware andor software that supports use by an end user. Hardware configuration management software free download. The university has equipment standards for laptops and desktops in order to provide each user with the best support possible. Software configuration management an overview sciencedirect. Because many of our programs place a significant amount of their configuration management effort on software configuration management and commercial hardware and software, that will be the focus of this discussion. This topic shows example hardwaresoftware configurations for different labkey server installations. Scm practices include revision control and the establishment of baselines.
Configuration and change management ccm is the process of maintaining the integrity of hardware, software, firmware, and documentation related to the configuration and change management process. This guide defines and explains what software configuration management is, provides guidelines on how to do it, and defines in detail what a software configuration management plan should contain. A configuration management database cmdb is an itil database used by an organization to store information about hardware and software assets commonly referred to as configuration items ci. Hardware configuration management software for aerospace. Hardware and software management from purchase, configuration and installation to lifecycle maintenance and ongoing support domain manages it all so you dont have to. Configuration management is the c from the fcaps fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security model 1. Hardware configuration management and why its different. Hardware vs software configuration management part 1 strategix. After hardware inventory is enabled and the client runs a hardware inventory cycle, the client sends the information to a management point in the clients site. The software configuration management process traces changes and verifies that the software has all of the planned changes that are supposed to be included in a new release. It defines the policies and procedures for configuration management cm and the infrastructure.
Configuration management is a collection of processes and tools that promote network consistency, track network change, and provide up to date network documentation and visibility. Configuration management is an increasingly important foundation for a successful tech platform. Configuration management is a key function of this model, and while many people think of each function of fcaps as being equal, the situation might look more like that illustrated in figure 1. Network configuration management high availability cisco. Software configuration management is how you control the evolution of a software project. Free detailed reports on hardware configuration management are also available. Establish, implement, and actively manage track, report on, correct the security configuration of mobile devices, laptops, servers, and workstations using a rigorous configuration management and change control process in order to prevent attackers from exploiting vulnerable services and settings.
Details configuration management cm for those in commercial and government environments, focusing on costeffective implementations of the process and tailoring implementations to specific organizational needs. In this first article of a multipart series on hardware configuration management software tools for the aerospace and defense industry we begin by summarizing the trends which have added so much complexity that can paralyze even the best defense contractors and their programs. Hardware management perspectiv automatically compiles an inventory of hardware installed in the store chain and actively monitors changes to the hardware configuration, as well as changes to the software that undergoes monitoring. Purpose the purpose of this procedure is to describe the process epa program offices and regions must follow to comply with the environmental protection agencys epa or agency configuration management policy.
When configuring a product, a product manager can select a version of the software build to include in the specific configuration of the product. The software configuration management process traces changes and verifies. Such information typically includes the versions and updates that have been applied to installed software packages and the locations and network. An introduction to configuration management digitalocean. This section provides recommended hardware configurations for computers that you manage by using configuration manager client software. On friday i talked with srinath anantharaman by phone to gain some perspective on hardware configuration management hcm versus software. The management point then forwards the inventory information to the configuration manager site server, which stores the inventory information in the site database. Good leaders in the tech space will want to know what it takes to implement it. In software engineering, software configuration management is the task of tracking and. Software configuration management scm is a set of processes, policies, and tools that organize the development process.