SCM can highlight changes between hierarchies for production and proposed infrastructure. This can produce a type of drift reporting view that allows isolating the elements that have changed.
Figure 12-1 illustrates changes between hierarchies for production and proposed infrastructure are highlighted (colored) in this view:
Figure 12-1 Network View
This scenario creates a view that shows only the elements that have changed between production and proposed views.
Use SCM to analyze the two hierarchies, production (
) and proposed ( ), and use the configuration to run an inverse match to highlight the delta (change).This scenario uses:
A
hierarchy that shows key business services and the technology that supports themIt is created by a service configuration that is scheduled to update on a regular basis.
A
hierarchy that shows a baseline state for key business services and the technology that supports themIt is a baseline snapshot created by a service configuration that takes a “copy” of the
hierarchy at a certain point in time. It is not scheduled to run on a regular basis, but is generated manually when there is a need to do so.To use SCM to review the changes between a production and proposed hierarchy:
In the Explorer pane, create an element that is the parent of the new tree.
In this example, the new element is named
:Right-click the element, then select
> to open the Service Configuration Editor.Define the Structures for the element by identifying an existing hierarchy that drives the shape of the new tree:
Because this scenario requires multiple Service Configuration definitions, we named the default definition Drift Report.
Create a Structure definition that adds the
element as the , as shown in the illustration below.Section 12.1, Lifecycle Support: Time-Based Snapshots to Manage Changes.
is a hierarchy that shows a baseline state for key business services and the technology that supports them. For more information how this hierarchy was created, see Step 2 inTo see all elements contained in the
hierarchy, leave and at 0.Use the default Matching Rule to apply a simple name match to select elements.
Define the Sources for the configuration by identifying an existing hierarchy to compare with the Structure. Normally sources are defined to provide state calculations but in this scenario, we are using it as another structure for comparison to the actual structure.
NOTE:Because this scenario uses the
option in the Source join rule AND copies properties from the Structure elements, we need to create a new definition to define Sources.Create a new Service Configuration definition and name it Drift Report Sources. Make sure it is listed below the Drift Report definition.
Create a Source definition that adds the
element as the .For more information how this hierarchy was created, see Step 1 in Section 12.1, Lifecycle Support: Time-Based Snapshots to Manage Changes.
Note that because of the selected
policies, the does not actually provide state to the configuration. In this example, it is used as another structure for comparison to the actual structure ( ):Modify the default join rule to match source elements to structure elements using a simple name match by selecting the
check box.A specific and accurate match is important to this configuration in order to determine the specific changes between the two trees:
To define
and policy rules to further define how the configuration is generated and elements are correlated:In the left pane, expand
, then click or .The right pane updates.
To see all new elements after the baseline was run, select the
check box in policies.All new elements in the
tree is selected (over what is found in the ).To compare against the
tree, select the check box in policies.It is assumed that state calculations, normally provided by the
tree ( ), can be ignored.Because the focus is on the items that are different (have changed) between the
and the trees, select the radio button in policies.Only the elements that are not matched (not the same) are shown in the new configuration tree.
Click Save on the toolbar to save configuration settings.
Click
to generate the new tree.The new hierarchy tree is built under the
element. The generated configuration now found under the element shows only the items that are different between the and trees.If the resulting configuration shows no elements (as shown in the previous illustration), then no drift (or change) in the production tree occurred after the last snapshot was taken.
After the configuration is run and results are verified, create a schedule to generate the service configuration on a routine basis.
Assume that a decision is made not to schedule the automatic generation of the Drift Report. This configuration is run manually when you want to promote change into the baseline (the
view).