Sample 3- Using RapidCMDBModeler to generate a federated schema

Scenario:

Network device data is stored in different data sources. A database has the business related information owner, location, asset number and basic technical data such as IP address and snmp community string.
Detailed technical information is discovered and stored in the network management system database.
RapidCMDB will be configured to work with these datasources and the Device class will be modeled to provide seamless access to the Device data from the consumer (groovy) scripts and the web interface.

Note Step 1 and 2 are performed on RapidCMDB Admin UI whereas the rest of the steps are executed in RapidCMDBModeler UI.

Connections and datasources are created inRapidCMDB application. The models defined in RapidCMDBModeler refer to the datasources by their names. Therefore, the datasource names should also be defined in RapidCMDBModeler application. Once models are defined in RapidCMDBModeler, they are ready to be consumed in RapidCMDB application.

Step 1: Define the Connections
Connection layer handles how RapidCMDB connects, disconnects, reconnects etc. to a particular data source. For databases, the connection includes the JDBC information such as JDBC driver, url, etc.
Define two connections one for the asset database and another for the network management system database.

Step 2: Define the Datasources
Datasources are used to abstract the differences in data structures, APIs, access technologies etc. and provide a more consistent and easier to use interface to be used in higher layers.
Define two SingleTableDatabaseDatasources and associate with the Connection defined before

Step 3: Define Datasource Names
Datasource names rather than datasources are used while defining the models in RapidCMDBModeler. Define a datasource name in RapidCMDBModeler/Modeling /Datasource Name page for every Datasource created in RapidCMDB application.

Step 4: Model the Device class
The Device class will have the following properties.

• Name
• AssetNumber
• Type
• Owner
• Location
• IPAddress
• SNMPReadCommunity
• Vendor
• Model
• NumberOfNetworkAdapters
• Description

The values for some of these properties are stored in the asset database and others are stored in the NMS database.

Let's go to next page to review in detail what we should do.