CMDB solutions define the configuration of and relationship between significant components of the IT environment, but do not identify the source or authenticity of software, or how individual files are related to each other and to their parent components.
Without the ability to determine the source authenticity of files and then track them on a system through comparison to a trusted reference, there is no way to truly know what a system contains and whether it is properly configured. For example, a database server, while appearing to be properly configured, may behave unexpectedly or even fail because it contains incorrect configuration files, or development code that was accidentally promoted into production.
SignaCert's ETS features a flexible grouping system that allows you to easily define groups of software components that reflect the desired configuration of systems and then relate them to the devices in your enterprise.