Overview

The ForsetiDesk CMDB (Configuration Management Database) treats each asset as a Configuration Item (CI) and maps the relationships between them. This gives you a real-time view of your infrastructure dependencies, helps predict the impact of changes, and supports root-cause analysis during incidents.

The CMDB Explorer is accessed via Assets → CMDB Topology and offers four visualization modes: Network Topology, Dependency Tree, Relationship Table, and Service Map.

CI Classes & Asset Types

Each asset belongs to an asset type, which is classified under one of five CI classes:

ForsetiDesk ships with 17 default asset types. Administrators can create custom asset types from Admin → Asset Types, assigning an icon and CI class.

Relationship Types

Relationships describe how CIs interact. Ten relationship types are available:

Adding Relationships

1. Open an asset and navigate to the CI Relationships section.
2. Click Add Relationship, search for the target asset, and select the relationship type.
3. Optionally add notes about the relationship.
4. Alternatively, use the Visual Relationship Editor in the Network Topology view — drag from one CI node to another to create a relationship.

Topology Views

Network Topology

A force-directed graph showing all CIs as nodes and relationships as edges. Click any node to open a slide-out panel with the full asset detail, relationships, and quick actions. Toggle between Dynamic (nodes move freely) and Static mode for a fixed layout. Use the location and organization filters to scope the view.

Dependency Tree

A hierarchical tree view rooted at a selected CI, showing what it depends on and what depends on it. Useful for impact analysis — "if this server goes down, what else breaks?"

Relationship Table

A flat tabular view of all CI relationships with sorting, filtering by relationship type, and export. Best for auditing and bulk review.

Service Map

A business-service-centric view. CIs classified as SERVICE are root nodes; the graph shows everything they depend on transitively. Displays service cost rollup (sum of purchase costs of all dependent CIs) and highlights CIs with active maintenance windows.

CMDB Health Dashboard

The health dashboard widget (available on the main Dashboard) shows:

• Completeness score — percentage of active assets with at least one relationship defined
• Orphan CIs — assets with no relationships at all
• Warranty expiry alerts — assets whose warranty expires within 90 days
• Unassigned CIs — assets with no assigned technician

Dependency Validation

Navigate to the CMDB Explorer and click Validate to run an automated analysis of your CI graph:

• Circular dependency detection — identifies DEPENDS_ON cycles that create logical impossibilities
• Single Point of Failure (SPOF) analysis — finds CIs that, if removed, would disconnect a business service from its dependencies
• Orphan service detection — SERVICE-class CIs with no supporting infrastructure relationships

Validation results are displayed as a report with severity ratings and specific CI references.

Maintenance Windows

Schedule planned downtime for CIs so impact assessments account for expected unavailability.

1. Open an asset and click the Maintenance tab, or use the Maintenance calendar in CMDB Explorer.
2. Click New Window and set the title, start/end time, and status (SCHEDULED / IN_PROGRESS).
3. Toggle Recurring and set a recurrence rule for regular maintenance (e.g., "every Sunday 02:00–04:00").
4. Active maintenance windows are indicated by a wrench icon on CI nodes in the topology view.

CI Groups

CI Groups let you organize assets into named collections for filtering and reporting.

Create groups from CMDB Explorer → Groups. In the topology view, enable the Group Overlay to color-code nodes by group membership.

Service SLA Tracking

Attach SLA targets to SERVICE-class CIs to track uptime commitments.

1. Open a Business Service asset and navigate to the Service SLA tab.
2. Set the Target Uptime % (e.g., 99.9%).
3. ForsetiDesk tracks outage events via maintenance window status transitions and incident ticket links, computing Current Uptime % over rolling periods.
4. Service SLA metrics are visible on the Service Map view alongside cost rollup.

Export & Import

Export and import the CMDB in JSON or CSV format for bulk editing, migration, or backup.

Exporting

1. Go to CMDB Explorer → Export / Import panel.
2. Select format (JSON for full fidelity including all relationship metadata, CSV for spreadsheet editing).
3. Click Export. A file download begins immediately.

Importing

1. Prepare your file. Use the exported format as a template.
2. Click Import and upload the file.
3. Click Dry Run to validate without making changes. The report shows what would be created, updated, or skipped.
4. If the dry run is clean, click Apply Import to commit the changes.

CI Audit Timeline

Every change to a CI is recorded in an append-only audit timeline. Open any asset and click the History tab to see a full timeline of:

• Field-level changes (old value → new value)
• Relationship additions and removals
• Status transitions
• Change requests applied to this CI

Each entry records the acting user and timestamp. The timeline cannot be edited or deleted.

Cross-Module CMDB Integrations

Ticket CI Auto-Suggest

When creating or editing a ticket, ForsetiDesk queries the Service Map for CIs relevant to the ticket's category and suggests them as linked assets. Techs can accept the suggestion with one click.

Problem Root Cause CI

On a Problem record, the Root Cause CI field links to the specific asset that caused the problem. This populates the CI's audit timeline with a PROBLEM_LINKED event for full traceability.

Change-to-CI Audit Trail

When a change request transitions to IMPLEMENTING or COMPLETED, all linked CIs receive a CHANGE_APPLIED entry in their audit timeline, automatically connecting the change record to the affected infrastructure.