In this whitepaper, you will learn how configuration audit and control can be used effectively to ensure system management productivity, and help reduce costs and sustain configuration viability within the bounds of operational, security and regulatory standards.
Configuration Audit and Control:
10 Critical Factors to CCM Success
July 2007Table of Contents
Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................................................................1
Configuration Audit and Control Overview...................................................................................................................................1
What is Configuration Audit and Control?................................................................................................................................1
The Value of Configuration Audit and Control.......................................................................................................................1
A Component of Change and Configuration Management..................................................................................................1
Benefits of Implementing a Configuration and Audit Control Solution.............................................................................1
10 Key Elements of a Configuration and Audit Control Solution............................................................................................2
EMA's Perspective................................................................................................................................................................................5Configuration Audit and Control:
10 Critical Factors to CCM Success
Executive Summary complex to manage by purely manual methods, and so a Change and Configuration Management (CCM) tools gap has been created between Change and Configuration and processes have become rather commonplace in Management requirements and IT operation's ability to today's business community as an effective way to gain meet those needs.control of dynamic IT environments. However, tradi- Configuration Audit and Control fills this gap in IT en-tional change management and configuration manage- terprise management by providing the tools necessary ment tools do not comprehensively address all aspects to collect accurate configuration data, monitor change of the vast configuration details inherent in complex IT in real time, promptly remediate problems, and ensure a infrastructures. Changes can be instigated from a variety stable and productive IT service stack.of sources, and each tool is restricted to only understating its particular discipline. Failure to identify critical chang- A Component of Change and es can result in security breaches, inefficient IT perfor- Configuration Managementmance, loss of productivity and unexpected downtime. The comprehensive process of ensuring appropriate Worse, remediation of a failure is significantly delayed if configurations and managing change of all components IT operations do not have the detailed forensics data to of an entire IT Infrastructure is today broadly referred quickly identify the cause of the problem and promptly to as Change and Configuration Management (CCM). determine a path to resolution. Although there is significant cross-over in functionality As businesses have instituted internal, industry, and gov- between the components that comprise CCM, there are ernment mandated regulatory compliance, the need for really three distinct disciplines:audit data to prove conformity has also become a neces- . Configuration Management - the process for making sity. Configuration audit and control provides a single, changes to the IT infrastructure. This includes independent source for enforcing and reporting on a deployment of new releases, patches, configuration change policy across an organization. updates, etc.. Change Management - the workflow/approval Configuration Audit and process for managing changes. This is commonly Control Overview performed with a change ticketing system that What is Configuration Audit and Control? provides a strict process for scheduling, identifying In short, configuration audit and control is the process resources and tracking management approval of establishing that infrastructure components are for an intended change to an IT infrastructure maintained in a known and trusted state. This is done by component.ensuring all changes are detected and analyzed to verify . Configuration Audit and Control - the function that the change was authorized and ... [download for more]
