Article: AN0002419Updated: 27.01.2024
Network layer describes communication relationships between configuration items. At the initial implementation we may consider sufficient to keep records of IP addresses at the level of Machine (OS server) - see below. However, later on it will be useful to keep information about other relationships by means of network layer entities.
These entities describe network segments, IP address used by servers, records in routing tables of servers, cabling, translation of DNS names to IP address and communication of application components. Classes of this layer have relationships also to entities from other layers (entities highlighted with a colored stripe). These are:
Because classes of the network layer are configuration items (in the below scheme only the class of Network segment is showing relationship to the class of Configuration items), they have a relationship also to other layers - service, process, operations and project layer.
Below scheme represents only the major entities of the ObjectGears Configuration database network layer. In your particular case it may be suitable to adapt the scheme
| Entity |
Description |
| Network segment |
Contains records of particular network segments, e.g. VLAN with a relationship to locality / building and firewall object. |
| Machine (OS server) - IP |
IP addresses of servers. |
| Machine (OS server) |
The main entity of the the system layer itself contains basic information relating to network - primary IP address, IP address in the back-up center, address of the card for remote management (this applies to physical servers), DHCP reservation...
|
| Routing table |
Records from routing tables will enable you to check communication rules set at the server level. |
| Cabling |
Records of cabling including cable number, port, MAC address, user, locality and network segment. |
| IP - MAC - DNS hostname |
Table showing translation of DNS names to IP addresses and their relationship to MAC addresses. |
| Appl. component communication |
Records of application components communication with ISO-OSI layer classification. |
Configuration database (CMDB) and process Configuration management are introduced also in the ObjectGears website.