BMC Atrium CMDB Data Model

This help system describes the classes present in your data model at the time the help was generated. It includes information about the Common Data Model (CDM), the base set of classes included with BMC Atrium CMDB. Depending on which products you have installed alongside BMC Atrium CMDB and when this help was generated, this help might also contain information about BMC extensions and other third-party extensions. For information about generating an updated version of this help system to capture changes you have made to your data model, see the BMC Atrium CMDB Administrator's Guide.

The CDM unifies the representation of configuration data. It is designed to store data about configuration items (CIs) and provide a mechanism for relating those CIs to provide a complete view of how all elements of a company are tied together and affect each other.

BMC Atrium CMDB uses an object framework API to define the data model. The following table defines some commonly used terms needed to understand the data model.

Term	Definition
Class	The definition of a type of CI or relationship. Each class equates to a database table or an AR System form, and each instance of the class equates to an entry in the form or record in the table.
Attribute	A property or characteristic of a class, such as the IP address of computer systems. An attribute equates to a column on a database table or a field on an AR System form.
Subclass	A class that is derived from another class, which is called its superclass. The subclass inherits all the attributes of its superclass and any superclasses above it in the hierarchy, and can also participate in relationships defined for all superclasses. For example, BMC.CORE:BMC_ComputerSystem has a subclass called BMC.CORE:BMC_MainFrame. BMC.CORE:BMC_MainFrame contains all of the attributes of BMC.CORE:BMC_ComputerSystem plus attributes that are specific to mainframes.
Configuration item (CI)	A physical, logical, or conceptual entity that is part of your IT environment and has configurable attributes. Examples include computer systems, buildings, employees, software, and business services. Each would be stored in BMC Atrium CMDB as an instance of a CI class.
Relationship	A connection between two CIs such as a dependency or membership. Each would be stored in BMC Atrium CMDB as an instance of a relationship class.