How to Configure a Configuration Management System - An Approach Based on Feature Modeling.
Sebastian Wenzel, Thorsten Berger, Thomas Riechert · 2009
Abstract—The accomplishment of an efficient IT service management is considered a significant success factor in large businesses. Configuration Management (CM) constitutes one of its core disciplines. Off-the-shelf CM systems support the maintenance of the IT by handling the lifecycle of so-called Configuration Items (CIs) and by establishing Change, Configuration and Release Management processes. However, due to the complexity of today’s IT infrastructure in large companies, the tailoring of these systems based on concrete stakeholder requirements can become a laborious and error-prone task. We present an approach that enables the configuration of a CM system by leveraging variability management techniques stemming from product line engineering. The synthesis and configuration of a feature model is driven by the Common Data Model, a large domain-specific model that describes CIs and their relationships. We show how our feature-based approach can improve the tailoring of CM systems. Furthermore, we expand on its prototypical realization, elaborate on the integration into the requirements engineering process and discuss its applicability based on experiences obtained from a first evaluation. IT service management; configuration management; feature modeling; requirements engineering I.