Govern · Topic 3 of 6
CMDB Data Manager Policies
CIS-DF CMDB Data Manager: purpose and prerequisites, retire, archive, delete, attestation and certification policies, tasks, approvals and setup.
- 5 min
- Data Manager acts on CIs that match a policy's class and condition.
- Retire, Archive and Delete need an active life cycle rule for the class; Attestation does not.
- Retire first; Archive and Delete only target retired CIs.
What it is
CMDB Data Manager manages the end of a CI's life and the confirmation of CI data through policies. A policy names a class and a condition, and the platform acts on every CI that matches: retire it, archive it, delete it, or send it to someone to confirm.
It replaces ad hoc cleanup with a governed, repeatable process: each run creates tasks for the groups that manage the CIs, with optional approval.
How it works
Purpose and requirements
Data Manager exists so that CI life cycle and data cleanup follow agreed rules rather than one person's judgement. Before you use it, a few requirements apply:
- Policies apply only to classes that extend the Configuration Item [cmdb_ci] table.
- Retire, Archive and Delete policies need an active life cycle rule (retirement definition) for each targeted class, which defines what "retired" means for that class.
- Archive and Delete policies only target CIs that are already retired. The normal order is retire first, then archive or delete.
- Data Manager is administered from the Management view of CMDB Workspace, which requires the sn_cmdb_admin role.
- CIs need a Managed By Group, because tasks are routed by that field.
Policy types
| Policy type | What it does | Pick it when the scenario says |
|---|---|---|
| Retire | Marks CIs retired while keeping them in list views and processes such as CMDB Health | "Mark old CIs as no longer in use but keep the record" |
| Archive | Moves CIs out of their table into an archive table; they can be restored during the retention period, then are deleted | "Remove from the live CMDB but be able to bring it back" |
| Delete | Removes CIs from their table with no option to restore them to an active state | "Permanently remove retired CIs" |
| Attestation | Assigns tasks that ask owners to confirm the CIs still exist in the real infrastructure | "Have owners confirm these servers are real" |
| Certification | Checks that specific attributes hold the values the business requires | "Confirm these attributes have the expected values" |
| Delete CMDB Related Entry | Cleans irrelevant or stale data from related tables that reference CIs | "Clear leftover related records for CIs" |
Attestation does not need a retirement definition, and attestation tasks are worked in CMDB Workspace. The set of policy types listed can differ slightly between releases, so read the scenario's goal and match it to the action.
Tasks and approvals
When a policy runs, its subflow creates policy tasks: one task for each unique Managed By Group among the target CIs. Each task lists its target CIs.
- Approval is set per policy. If approval is required, the action runs only after a group member approves the task.
- If approval is not required, tasks are approved automatically.
- A rejected task, or a CI with an empty Managed By Group, needs an administrator to resolve it manually.
Configuring Data Manager
The setup follows a fixed order:
- Confirm the class has an active life cycle rule if the policy retires, archives or deletes.
- In CMDB Workspace, open Management and then Data Manager, and create a policy.
- Choose the policy type, the class and the condition that selects the CIs, such as CIs not updated for a set period.
- Decide whether approval is required.
- Publish the policy; only published policies are processed.
A daily scheduled job processes all published policies. Archive policies batch target CIs in groups of 1,000, and the first archive run is slower because it creates an archive table for each CMDB class.
Choosing between Data Manager and other features
| Need | Best fit |
|---|---|
| Act on CIs that match a condition, on a schedule | Data Manager policy |
| Measure how many CIs are stale | CMDB Health stale metric |
| Merge two records for the same server | De-duplication task |
| Confirm a CI still exists | Attestation policy |
How the exam asks about this
- "Servers retired over a year ago should leave the live CMDB but stay restorable." Use an Archive policy on retired CIs.
- "Owners must confirm their network devices still exist." Use an Attestation policy; tasks are worked in CMDB Workspace.
- "A retire policy is not finding CIs for a custom class." Check that the class has an active life cycle rule (retirement definition).
What to remember for the exam
- Data Manager acts on CIs that match a policy's class and condition.
- Retire, Archive and Delete need an active life cycle rule for the class; Attestation does not.
- Retire first; Archive and Delete only target retired CIs.
- Archive is restorable during retention; Delete is not.
- One policy task is created per Managed By Group; approval is optional per policy.
- Policies are created in the CMDB Workspace Management view with sn_cmdb_admin.
Delete is the only option with no way back to an active state. When a scenario mentions keeping the ability to restore, the answer is Archive, not Delete.
Common mistakes
Choosing Delete for "remove but keep history". Retire keeps the CI visible, Archive moves it out and keeps it restorable for a period. Delete does neither.
Expecting Data Manager to measure quality. It acts on CIs; it does not score them. Use CMDB Health to find stale CIs and Data Manager to act on them.
Ignoring Managed By Group. Tasks are routed by it. CIs without it produce tasks that an administrator must handle by hand.
Check yourself
Which policy types need an active life cycle rule for the class?
Retire, Archive and Delete; Attestation does not.
How many policy tasks does a run create?
One task for each unique Managed By Group value among the CIs the policy targets.
What is the difference between Archive and Delete?
Archive moves CIs to an archive table where they can be restored during the retention period; Delete removes them with no option to restore.
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