Configuration management is a process for establishing and maintaining consistency of a products performance, functional, and physical attributes with its requirements, design, and operational information throughout its life. It is the process of maintaining systems, such as computer hardware and software, in a desired state. Configuration management is used to maintain an understanding of the status of complex assets with a view to maintaining the highest level of serviceability for the lowest cost.
A configuration management system allows the enterprise to define settings in a consistent manner, then to build and maintain them according to the established baselines. Configuration management helps users and administrators know where certain services exist and what the current state of applications are. Proper configuration management tools enable classification and management of systems in groups, make centralized modifications to baseline configurations, push changes automatically to all affected systems to automate updates and patching, and identify outdated, poor performing, and noncompliant configurations.
Configuration management is used in various fields, including software development, IT service management, civil engineering, industrial engineering, and more. It is important because it ensures that all software and hardware assets which a company owns are known and tracked at all times, and any future changes to these assets are known and tracked.
