A Configuration Management Database (CMDB) contains all relevant information about the hardware and software components used across an organization’s IT environment. Even more important, a CMDB defines the relationships and interdependencies between those assets. This makes it easy to understand, manage and report on the service being delivered.

Back in the late 1980s, the UK government’s Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) developed a set of recommendations to govern the way private and public sector organizations manage IT with a set of standard practices.