Microsoft Exchange 2000 Operation Manual page 54

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Microsoft Exchange 2000 Operations Guide — Version 1.0
Service Packs
Hot fixes
Anti-virus software
Fax/voice mail Gateways
Monitoring software
Backup software
Network equipment connecting the servers
Processes and procedures
Documentation
Exchange users
RFCs
Each configuration item will have attributes associated with it. Take as an example the
Exchange software. It will have the following attributes associated with it:
A software identifier
The RFC identifier that led to the current software version
The name of the application (for example, Exchange 2000 or Exchange 2000 Server
Enterprise Edition)
The version number of the software
The date the current version was installed
The latest Service Pack installed
The latest hot fix installed
The vendor who supplied the current software (for example, Microsoft Corporation)
The documentation required to support the current version of the software
The number of configuration items depends on the level of granularity you choose when
defining them. It is, of course pointless to store configuration items that you will never use.
A simple configuration management database will give you much less data to store and so
will be much less work to store. However, if you do not have data at a sufficiently granular
level, you will limit the effectiveness of the configuration management database.
You can always add more detailed information at a later date, if you want. However,
despite the initial pain, you will generally find it better to set your granularity of configura-
tion items at the level of the lowest replaceable unit. In terms of servers running Exchange,
this would be, for example at the RAID Controller, or network adapter level. For example,
this allows you to change every network adapter in every server running Exchange in your
organization, and effectively monitor and manage that change.