Manually defining dependencies between configuration items

You can define dependencies between configuration items (CIs) by creating an XML definition file. You define an SQL select query within the definition file to select the dependencies. The dependencies are automatically created and are displayed in the topology and Details pane in the Data Management Portal.

  1. On the TADDM server, create a definition_filename.xml file in the $COLLATION_HOME/etc/dependencies directory. For enterprise deployments, the custom definition files must be stored in the primary storage server.
  2. Edit the definition_filename.xml file. This file must contain the following attributes:
    Label
    A short definition name.
    Type
    A dependency type such as a dependency class name. For example, app.dependencies.ServiceDependency.
    Description (optional)
    A brief description of the dependencies.
    Query
    An SQL query that must return at least two columns containing source and target aliases. The aliases contain a pair of globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) that are used to create a dependency between the CIs.

    The XML definition file must be compliant with the XML schema definition (XSD) file. The schema.xsd file is located in the $COLLATION_HOME/etc/dependencies directory.

    The topology builder builds the relations and dependencies between the discovered items. The topology builder runs a list of agents at specified intervals. After the agent runs the query, TADDM builds the custom defined dependencies.

    When the dependencies are no longer valid they are automatically deleted. Removing the definition_filename.xml file, leaves the already created dependencies intact but changing the query can lead to the removal of created dependencies.

    To remove unwanted custom dependencies create an empty query as shown in the following example.