Information Mining and the CMDB

CA Council for
Technical Excellence
Information
Mining and the
CMDB
CA Architects’
Conference
Presented By:
David A Messineo

CA Internal Confidential — Copyright © 2009 CA. All rights reserved. All trademarks, trade
names, services marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.
CA Architects’ Conference
April 20-22, 2009
The Challenge –
Find the Architectural Risks?

April 20-22, 2009
Using Your Intuition
E
F
D
A
H
G
J
B
K
L
M
C
Q
P
O
N
> Assume A, B, C are Services
> What questions would you ask?
> Without having additional information what risks might you
possibly assume exists?
> What led you to think that way?

April 20-22, 20094
What would Charlie do?
> Mathematics has an inner beauty but
only satisfies its true capabilities
when driven by interpretation by
novices and experts alike
> NUMB3RS – It’s not just a bunch of
actors acting like geniuses to
entertain you – it’s actually a true
model for how math is functional
> Using Math is all about identifying the
germ of an idea, making reasonable
assumptions, building a model, and
applying it to real life
> The CMDB is one such example using
the concept of “Network Algebra” (i.e
Graph Theory)

April 20-22, 20095
Automating Architecture – a possibility?
> Automate Root-Cause
Analysis
> Provide a portal to encourage
the building of “knowledge
rules” and role-based
interfaces
> Identify Architectural Flaws
> Automate policy-based
availability, capacity, and IT
continuity management
> Support a rigorous ever-
changing services model

April 20-22, 2009
Real – World Example(s)
E
F
D
A
H
G
J
B
K
L
M
C
Q
P
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> Example #1: Identify where there may be a high degree
of risk for making architectural changes
> Example #2: Identify where there may be an existing
architectural risks for IT Continuity

April 20-22, 20097
Data Collection
Strategies for “finding” evidence
> Instrumental relationships – how configuration items
support one another operationally through a hierarchy
> Communication relations – linkages between actors,
what channels they use and the messages between them
> Boundary relationships – how services & systems are
bounded through support of common goals (e.g. SLA)
> Authority / power relations – how the configuration of
a CI is managed through policy
> Transaction relations – how services & systems are
related through common transactions

April 20-22, 20098
Key Mathematical Terms
Part 1 – Core Terms
> Node (Point)
> Link (Line)
> Graph
> Network
> Path
> Length = # Links
 Yellow = 6
 Red = 2
> Distance = Min # Points
 Node A / Node Q = 5
Node
Link
Network
Graph
Path
Z

April 20-22, 20099
Part 2 – Common Terms
> Adjacent (adjacency)
> Degree = # Links
 Degree (E) = 1
 Degree (G) = 2
 Degree (A) = 5
> Neighborhood
> Inclusiveness
 = Linked – Not Linked
 Graph = 16 – 1 = 15
> Density
 # of Links / Possible Links
Node
Link
Network
Graph
Path
Adjacent
Z
Neighborhood

April 20-22, 2009
Density
No. of connected
points
0 2 3 4 4 4
Inclusiveness 0 0.5 0.7 1.0 1.0 1.0
Sum of Degrees 0 2 4 6 8 12
No of lines 0 1 2 3 4 6
Density 0 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 1.0

April 20-22, 200911
Part 3 – Advanced Terms
> Local Centrality (Absolute)
> Local Centrality (Relative)
> Global Centrality
Node
Link
Network
Graph
Path
Adjacent
Z
Neighborhood

April 20-22, 2009
Centality
E
F
D
A
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G
J
B
K
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C
Q
P
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N
A,C B G,M J, K, L All
other
points
5 5 2 1 1
.33 .33 .13 .07 .07
43 33 37 48 57Global Centrality
Local
Centrality
Absolute
Relative
<
J

April 20-22, 2009
Applying Your Intuition
Centrality and Density
> Example #1: Identify where there may be a high degree
of risk for making architectural changes
 Change Risk Analysis
– Centrality: Identifies areas where a “small” change may
have huge impacts
– Density: Identifies areas where the planning for a change
may become complicated
> Example #2: Identify where there may be an
architectural risks for IT Continuity
 IT Continuity / Availability
– Centrality: Identifies architectural points where IT
Continuity may require additional attention
– Density: Identifies where there may too much money or
resources be dedicated to Continuity

April 20-22, 2009
Network Views – Image 1 (Pajek)
15

April 20-22, 2009
Network Views – Image 2 (Pajek)
16

April 20-22, 2009
Network Mathematics (Pajek)
17

April 20-22, 2009
Building Your Own Sandbox
> The Simple Way
 Download Pajek, Text2Pajek, Excel2Pakek
 Use Excel to Model Data
 Convert to Pajek format from Excel and load into Pajek
> Using CA Technology
 Setup the CA CMDB
 Place Sample Data into the CA CMDB
 Run SQL Extraction Script & BCP Script (contact me)
 Convert to Pajek format from CSV txt and load into Pajek
> Ultra Cool
 Download MAGE and enter the world of 3-D Visualization

Information Mining and the CMDB

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