CI Relationships

CI relationships are a critical component of the CMDB. Without relationships, a CMDB is simply a collection of CIs added through scans, imports, or manual entries. With relationships in place, the CMDB provides valuable insights into how CIs are interconnected. This enables users to understand system dependencies and quickly assess the impact of failures across related CIs.

Contents:

• Define Relationships
• View Relationships
• Add Relationship from the Relationship Tab
• Delete Relationship

Role Required: SDCMDBAdmin, SDCMDBManager

Define Relationships   

To define CI relationships in your CMDB, the following are required:

• Base CI: The CI for which the relationship is created
• Relationship Type: The type of relationship denoting the inter-dependencies between the CIs
• Related CI: The dependent CI.

For example, consider ServiceDeskServer Depends on CentOS2Server. Here, ServiceDeskServer is the CI for which the relationship is created, Depends on denotes the nature of relationship, and CentOS2Server forms the dependent CI.    

Each CI in ServiceDesk Plus is represented with attributes and relationships. Attributes are data elements that describe the characteristics of the CIs. Relationships, on the other hand, help in understanding the inter-dependencies between the CIs.

View Relationships 

View a CI's relationships from the Relationships tab on the CI details page.

You can also view the CI relationship in the Relationship Map view. Learn more.

Add Relationship 

• Go to the Relationships tab on the CI details page and click Add Relationship.
• On the slider, you can choose from suggested relationships or add a new relationship for the CI.
• Suggested Relationships: Suggested relationships are relationships configured for the CI Type. These relationships will be displayed under Choose Relationship.
  • Select a relationship from the drop-down.
  • Select CIs from the list and click Associate.
  • For example, consider the CI Type Server. The default relationships configured for this CI Type are listed under Choose Relationship. When you select the relationship from the drop-down menu Runs - Software, the CIs under the CI Type Software are listed along with the configured relationship attributes.
  • Learn more about adding relationships for CI types.

• Add a New Relationship: Add a new relationship for the CI.
  • Select the Choose RelationshipType radio button.
  • In the drop-down, select a direct or inverse relationship type.
  • All CIs in the CMDB are listed. Select the CIs using the checkboxes, and click Associate.

• You can also search for a CI using .

Delete Relationship

On the CI details page, hover over the relationship added under the Relationships tab, and click .