What Is a CMDB?
Mix (17 tools)
- License: 4 open source · 13 proprietary
- Hosting: 5 self-hosted · 11 SaaS · 1 both
A Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is a centralized repository that stores information about all significant entities in an IT environment – called configuration items (CIs). It tracks hardware, software, services, networks, documents, and the relationships between them.
Unlike a simple asset inventory, a CMDB captures dependencies and service topology: which servers run which applications, which applications compose which business services, and how failures in one component cascade to others.
Core Concepts
- Configuration Item (CI) – any component that needs to be managed to deliver an IT service: servers, switches, applications, databases, virtual machines, cloud instances, licenses, documentation
- CI Relationships – directed links between CIs that express dependency, composition, or association (e.g., “Application X runs on Server Y”, “Service A depends on Database B”)
- Service Mapping – the process of discovering and visualizing the complete dependency chain from business service down to infrastructure components
- Service Topology – the resulting graph of CIs and relationships that represents a business service
- Auto-Discovery – automated scanning that detects CIs and their relationships without manual data entry (agentless, agent-based, or API-driven)
- Change Impact Analysis – using the relationship graph to predict which services will be affected by a proposed change to a CI
- Reconciliation – merging data from multiple discovery sources to produce a single accurate view of each CI (deduplication, normalization)
- Federated CMDB – integrating data from multiple authoritative sources rather than copying everything into one database
- ITIL Alignment – CMDB is a core process in ITIL Service Transition (Configuration Management); ITIL 4 calls it “Configuration Management” practice
Key Capabilities to Evaluate
When selecting a CMDB or service mapping tool, evaluate:
- CI model flexibility – ability to define custom CI types, attributes, and relationship types without code changes
- Auto-discovery – breadth and depth of agentless and agent-based discovery (network, server, cloud, application, container)
- Service mapping – automated dependency mapping vs. manual topology creation
- Visualization – interactive service topology diagrams, impact trees, dependency maps
- Change impact analysis – ability to simulate changes and identify affected services before implementation
- Integration – connectors to ITSM, monitoring, cloud providers, network management, and asset management tools
- Data quality – reconciliation, deduplication, staleness detection, CI lifecycle management
- API – REST API for CI CRUD, relationship management, and bulk import/export
- RBAC – role-based access control for CI data by team, location, or service
- SSO / OIDC – important for managed environments using centralized identity
About this data & disclaimer
The information on these pages was researched by a combination of human review and large language models. This catalogue serves as a reference for the resources, applications, devices, deployment payloads, and other components that the ResorsIT platform integrates, deploys, and manages. To suggest an addition or correction, please contact us. Prepared by Rhodium Systems Inc., author of the ResorsIT platform — a unified IT operations management platform for IT teams and MSPs that integrates a curated suite of open-source, commercial, and SaaS applications into a single system with shared identity, single sign-on, access control, and a common audit trail. This information is compiled on a best-effort basis: it may be incomplete, contain errors, and become out of date as tools, vendors, licences, and features change. Use this catalogue only as a starting point for your own research, and independently verify and review any tool carefully against your own requirements before relying on it.
Comparison
Feature Matrix – Open Source
| Feature | iTop | Ralph | NetBox | CMDBuild |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CI modeling | Excellent | Basic | Network | Excellent |
| Auto-discovery | No* | Limited | No | No |
| Service mapping | Manual | No | No | Manual |
| Impact analysis | Yes | No | No | Basic |
| ITSM built-in | Yes | No | No | Workflow |
| REST API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| GraphQL API | No | No | Yes | No |
| Multi-tenancy | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| ITIL alignment | Strong | None | None | Moderate |
* = Combodo commercial extensions add discovery
Feature Matrix – Commercial / Enterprise
| Feature | Device42 | Lansweeper | Nlyte | Virima |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CI modeling | Good | Basic | Physical | Good |
| Auto-discovery | Excellent | Excellent | SNMP | Good |
| Service mapping | ADM | No | Physical | ViVID |
| Impact analysis | Yes | No | What-if | Yes |
| ITSM built-in | No | No | Work orders | Yes |
| REST API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-tenancy | Limited | Limited | No | Limited |
| Feature | ServiceNow | BMC Helix | Cherwell | Freshservice | Jira Assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CI modeling | Excellent | Excellent | Good | Basic | Good |
| Auto-discovery | Excellent | Excellent | Moderate | Probe* | Basic |
| Service mapping | Best | Strong | Limited | Basic* | Basic |
| Impact analysis | Best | Strong | Yes | Basic | Basic |
| ITSM built-in | Full | Full | Full | Full | Full |
| REST API | Excellent | Excellent | Good | Good | Good |
| Multi-tenancy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
* = Freshservice discovery and mapping improving with Device42 acquisition
Feature Matrix – Specialized
| Feature | Ardoq | LeanIX | Cloudaware |
|---|---|---|---|
| CI modeling | EA-focused | EA-focused | Cloud |
| Auto-discovery | No | SaaS only | Cloud API |
| Service mapping | App-level | App-level | Cloud topo |
| Impact analysis | Scenario | Scenario | Drift |
| ITSM built-in | No | No | No |
| REST API | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Focus area | EA/Portfolio | EA/Portfolio | Multi-cloud |
Deployment Comparison
| Tool | Type | On-Prem | SaaS | Docker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iTop | Open source | Yes | Yes* | Yes |
| Ralph | Open source | Yes | No | Yes |
| NetBox | Open source | Yes | Yes* | Yes |
| CMDBuild | Open source | Yes | No | Yes |
| Device42 | Commercial | VA | Yes | No |
| Lansweeper | Commercial | Yes | Yes | No |
| Nlyte | Commercial | Yes | Yes | No |
| Virima | Commercial | Yes* | Yes | No |
| ServiceNow | Enterprise | No | Yes | No |
| BMC Helix | Enterprise | Yes | Yes | No |
| Cherwell | Enterprise | Yes | Yes | No |
| Freshservice | Commercial | No | Yes | No |
| Jira Assets | Commercial | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ardoq | Specialized | No | Yes | No |
| LeanIX | Specialized | No | Yes | No |
| Cloudaware | Specialized | No | Yes | No |
* = vendor-hosted SaaS or commercial cloud edition; VA = virtual appliance
Licensing Comparison
| Tool | License | Cost Model |
|---|---|---|
| iTop | AGPL-3.0 | Free + commercial ext |
| Ralph | Apache-2.0 | Free |
| NetBox | Apache-2.0 | Free + NetBox Cloud |
| CMDBuild | AGPL-3.0 | Free + READY2USE |
| Device42 | Proprietary | Subscription |
| Lansweeper | Proprietary | ~$1/asset/mo |
| Nlyte | Proprietary | Enterprise pricing |
| Virima | Proprietary | Mid-market pricing |
| ServiceNow | Proprietary | $50–150+/user/mo |
| BMC Helix | Proprietary | Enterprise pricing |
| Cherwell | Proprietary | Enterprise pricing |
| Freshservice | Proprietary | $29–115/agent/mo |
| Jira Assets | Proprietary | From $22/agent/mo |
| Ardoq | Proprietary | Enterprise pricing |
| LeanIX | Proprietary | Enterprise pricing |
| Cloudaware | Proprietary | Per-resource pricing |
SSO / OIDC Comparison
OIDC is the preferred SSO protocol.
| Tool | OIDC | SAML | LDAP | SCIM | Authentik Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iTop | No | Ext* | Yes | No | LDAP outpost |
| Ralph | No | No | Yes | No | LDAP outpost |
| NetBox | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | OIDC preferred |
| CMDBuild | No | No | Yes | No | LDAP outpost |
| Device42 | ? | Yes | Yes | No | SAML provider |
| Lansweeper | Yes | Yes | AD | No | OIDC (cloud) |
| Nlyte | ? | Yes | AD | No | SAML provider |
| Virima | ? | Yes | AD | No | SAML provider |
| ServiceNow | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | OIDC or SAML |
| BMC Helix | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | OIDC or SAML |
| Cherwell | Yes | Yes | AD | No | OIDC or SAML |
| Freshservice | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | OIDC + SCIM |
| Jira Assets | No | Yes | No | Yes | SAML via Atlassian Access |
| Ardoq | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | OIDC + SCIM |
| LeanIX | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | OIDC + SCIM |
| Cloudaware | Yes | Yes | No | No | OIDC (Salesforce) |
* = SAML via Combodo commercial extension ? = not publicly documented
Best SSO support: ServiceNow, Freshservice, Ardoq, and LeanIX offer OIDC + SAML + SCIM. NetBox is the best open-source option with native OIDC support.
Auto-Discovery Comparison
| Tool | Agentless | Agent | Cloud | ADM | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iTop | No* | No | No | No | No |
| Ralph | Basic | No | OpenStack | No | Basic |
| NetBox | No | No | No | No | No |
| CMDBuild | No | No | No | No | No |
| Device42 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lansweeper | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Nlyte | SNMP | No | No | No | No |
| Virima | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ServiceNow | Yes | MID | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BMC Helix | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cherwell | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Freshservice | Probe | No | Yes | D42* | Yes |
| Jira Assets | Yes | No | Limited | No | Yes |
| Ardoq | No | No | No | No | No |
| LeanIX | No | No | SaaS | No | No |
| Cloudaware | No | No | Yes | No | No |
* = via commercial extensions or acquisitions ADM = Application Dependency Mapping MID = MID Server (on-premise relay)
Best discovery: ServiceNow and BMC Helix have the most comprehensive discovery suites. Device42 and Virima offer the best mid-market discovery with application dependency mapping.
Tools
17 tools.
Ardoq
Ardoq is an enterprise architecture and service mapping platform that provides a data-driven approach to understanding organizational IT landscapes.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Provisioned account
BMC Helix CMDB
BMC Helix CMDB (formerly BMC Atrium CMDB) is a long-standing enterprise configuration management database that has been a primary competitor to ServiceNow in the enterprise ITSM and CMDB market for decades.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
Cherwell (Ivanti)
Cherwell Service Management was a popular mid-to-enterprise ITSM and CMDB platform known for its codeless configuration approach and flexible data model.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
Cloudaware
Cloudaware is a cloud-native CMDB platform built on the Salesforce platform, designed specifically for organizations with multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on
CMDBuild
CMDBuild is an open-source CMDB platform developed by Tecnoteca, an Italian IT company. It provides a highly configurable data model for managing configuration items, with a strong emphasis on workflow automation and process integration.
License: AGPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: docker, direct · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Directory / LDAP
Device42
Device42 is a mid-market CMDB and IT asset management platform known for its strong auto-discovery capabilities and hybrid infrastructure mapping.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: appliance · SSO: SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP · Key-based access
Freshservice CMDB
Freshservice is a cloud-native IT service management platform from Freshworks that includes CMDB capabilities in its Pro and Enterprise tiers.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Provisioned account
iTop
iTop (IT Operational Portal) is the leading open-source CMDB and ITSM platform. Built from the ground up around ITIL best practices, iTop provides a fully customizable data model for configuration items, relationships, and service managemen…
License: AGPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas, docker, direct · SSO: SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
Jira Service Management Assets
Jira Service Management Assets (formerly Insight) is the CMDB and IT asset management module built into Atlassian’s Jira Service Management (JSM).
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Provisioned account
Lansweeper
Lansweeper is an IT asset discovery and inventory platform that has evolved into a comprehensive technology asset intelligence solution.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
LeanIX
LeanIX is an enterprise architecture management (EAM) and IT portfolio management platform that helps organizations understand and optimize their application landscapes.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Provisioned account
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus CMDB
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus is one of the most widely deployed ITSM and CMDB platforms in the mid-market segment.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: direct · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
NetBox
NetBox is the leading open-source platform for network infrastructure modeling. Originally created at DigitalOcean to document their data center networks, NetBox has grown into a comprehensive DCIM (Data Center Infrastructure Management) an…
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: docker · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
Nlyte
Nlyte is a data center infrastructure management (DCIM) platform with CMDB capabilities focused on physical infrastructure – power, cooling, space, and connectivity in data center environments.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
Ralph
Ralph is an open-source asset management, DCIM, and CMDB tool originally developed by Allegro (a Polish e-commerce company) to manage their own data center infrastructure.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: docker · SSO: none
ResorsIT usage: Web App without SSO
Access & Identity: Forward-auth · Directory / LDAP
ServiceNow CMDB
ServiceNow CMDB is the dominant enterprise configuration management database, embedded in the ServiceNow Now Platform alongside ITSM, ITOM, ITAM, SecOps, and hundreds of other modules.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: OIDC, SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP · Provisioned account
Virima
Virima is a mid-market CMDB and IT service management platform that combines auto-discovery, service mapping, and ITSM in a single cloud-native solution.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: SAML
ResorsIT usage: Web App with SSO
Access & Identity: Single sign-on · Directory / LDAP
