Service Management › Run Service Change Detection

Run Service Change Detection

Service Change Detection detects how a service has changed over a period of time by using snapshots (point-in-time copies) of service data to provide a detailed account of all detected configuration changes, as well as file system changes, including file ownership, file permission, and file modification times.

Service-based Change Detection provides options for finding differences between the current service data and a snapshot, or any two snapshots.

Component elements that have the Time Variant filter set in the corresponding Component Blueprint are the only items not checked for changes during time-based Change Detection. Log files and data modified at runtime are examples of Time Variant-filtered elements.

Note: Running Change Detection using the procedures in this section is considered running the operation manually.

To run Change Detection to identify changes to a service

1. Click the Management link, then click the Services tab.

   The Services tab page appears.

2. Click the check box next to the services you want to search for changes, and then select Management Actions, Run Change Detection from the Select Actions drop‑down list.

   The Change Detection Across Time dialog appears.

3. Select a Source Snapshot from the following options:

   Current Data

   Specifies the current system data available for the service is used as the source.

   Most recent snapshot

   Specifies the snapshot with the most recent timestamp is used as the source.

   Second most recent snapshot

   Specifies the snapshot with the second most recent timestamp is used as the source.

   Most recent snapshot on a specific date

   Specifies the date of the snapshot to use as the source. If you select this option, the Source Snapshot Date field appears. Select the date of the snapshot you want to use. If there are multiple snapshots available on the specified date, the most recent snapshot on that date is used.

   Selected snapshot

   Specifies a user-selected snapshot to use as the source. If you select this option, the Source Snapshot field appears. Select the snapshot you want to use.

   Baseline

   Specifies the snapshot designated as the Baseline is used as the source.

   Gold Standard

   Specifies the snapshot designated as the Gold Standard is used as the source.

   Silver Standard

   Specifies the snapshot designated as the Silver Standard is used as the source.

   Bronze Standard

   Specifies the snapshot designated as the Bronze Standard is used as the source.

4. Select a Target Snapshot (the options are the same as those listed in step 3).
5. Select one of the following options:

   Include All Component Blueprints

   Specifies that all component blueprints are searched for changes to the service.

   Select Component Blueprints by Name

   Specifies that one or more component blueprint is searched for changes to the service. If you select this option you must select the blueprints in the Available Blueprints column, then click the single right-facing arrow to move it to the Select Blueprints column.

6. Click Next.

   The Filters page appears.

7. Select the following options to specify what differences are included in the Change Detection results:

   No children comparison if a hierarchical object exists on source or target only

   Specifies whether the Change Detection operation is performed on the child components if the object only exists in one of the services. When this option is selected, the operation ignores an object if it is not part of both services.

   All Differences

   Specifies that all differences to the service are included.

   Component Inventory Differences Only

   Specifies that only the services that are in the component inventory are included.

   Filters

   Specifies that one or more of the following objects are included:

   • Folders—Accept the default setting (All) or click the Select option, then select one or more folders to search for changes.
   • Categories—Accept the default setting (All) or click the Select option, then select one or more categories to search for changes. Categories are assigned in the Component Blueprint and are the organizational groupings to which an element belongs.
   • Weights—Accept the default setting (All) or click the Select option, then select the weights to search for changes. Weights are assigned in the Component Blueprint and represent the relative importance of an element. Unweighted elements (no weight assigned) are considered Medium.

   You can press Ctrl+click to select multiple non-consecutive list entries, or Shift+click to select multiple consecutive list entries.

8. Click Finish.

   The Change Detection operation runs, and the results as described in Viewing the Results of Change Detection and Compare Operations.

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