Configuration management is the practice of systematically identifying and tracking IT assets, their status, and relationships among them. The right network configuration provides IT with the processes to control changes to components or parameters. This helps ensure the consistent operation and performance of IT systems throughout their lifecycle and provides IT with the ability to easily identify erroneous changes to the network, components, or software, reducing downtime.
Roots of configuration management can be traced back to 1950s when the United States Department of Defense introduced it as part of the overall process to provide oversight on defense equipment. This was done as a technical discipline to manage hardware and other material items. Configuration management was the process to maintain consistency of the functionality and performance with the requirements and design throughout the lifecycle of defense equipment.
In the early 1980s, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) introduced the FCAPS (fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security) model both as the standard and primary means for understanding major functions of network management. This was done to move away from a reactive form of network management to a proactive approach, as, for example, to empower administrators to take more control of their infrastructure to identify and rectify minor issues before they become major problems. Configuration management provides visibility and control of all attributes of the network. It is a critical capability that is foundational to all other network management functions.
In the 1990s, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundation embarked on the journey to create the industry's most widely accepted best practices guidance for IT Service Management (ITSM). Configuration management helps ensure that accurate and reliable information about the configuration of services and its components are available where and when needed. As adoption of the ITIL framework gained momentum, organizations started integrating network configuration management with IT service management to enhance visibility across IT services and reduce operational costs.