Elevating hybrid IT management: The unified power of Virima discovery and Jira Service Management
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Elevating hybrid IT management: The unified power of Virima Discovery and Jira Service Management

ByTeam Virima

Table of Contents

In this rapidly advancing technological landscape, enterprises are continuously grappling with the challenge of managing hybrid IT environments. With the explosion of diverse and complicated IT assets, maintaining visibility and control over these environments is becoming increasingly daunting. However, with the right tools and strategies, organizations can navigate these complexities effectively. Enter Virima’s sophisticated discovery capabilities and its powerful integration with Jira Service Management (JSM).

Virima: Enhancing visibility and control over hybrid IT environments

Virima enhances the capabilities of major ITSM platforms with automated discovery and service mapping, including for Jira customers. Its seamless integration with Jira Service Management provides a comprehensive solution that enriches your Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and ITSM processes. Thus offering detailed insights visually accessible through Virima Visual Impact Display (ViVID). But, how does this integration stand out?

3 ways Virima transforms hybrid IT management for Jira Service Management customers

1. Creating a trustworthy JSM CMDB: Ensuring accuracy for informed decisions

Virima executes an ongoing, continuous update from its discovery engine to the CMDB, ensuring it is always current and accurate. This intelligent automation raises the bar for CMDB management. Thus allowing Jira Service Management users to trust their CMDB and make informed decisions based on it.

Let’s walk through the key points of how this unfolds.

Synchronizing assets with precision

The automatic synchronization between Virima and Jira Service Management ensures a consistently current view of the entire IT landscape. With Virima’s dynamic discovery tools, IT assets and their configurations are discovered, monitored, and updated in near-real time. 

This seamless synchronization plays a crucial role in the accurate upkeep of Jira Service Management’s CMDB. Thus providing IT teams with the insights they need to manage services effectively.

Real-time detection for proactive management

Imagine having the ability to detect and track asset changes as they occur. Virima’s discovery tools offer this near real-time insight. It works tirelessly to capture critical data and feed it into Jira Service Management. The immediate benefit is the facilitation of accurate incident and change management. Hence, allowing for rapid, evidence-based responses to critical IT events.

Comprehensive discovery

The hybrid IT ecosystem is varied and vast. Virima’s tools comprehensively catalog assets whether they’re located on-premises, in the cloud, or in transitional environments. This creates a cohesive picture that encapsulates every asset within the infrastructure.

Resolves Jira CMDB schema challenge

Virima effortlessly transforms the challenge of configuring the Jira CMDB schema into a streamlined process. With Virima’s definition of “blueprints” — which are essentially pre-defined CMDB schemas — integrating these into JSM’s CMDB is automatic. You’re immediately equipped with an extensive library of over 120 blueprints. It encapsulate everything from Windows desktops and Linux servers to network switches and cloud instances like AWS EC2. 

Customization is straightforward. Creating and editing blueprints is as easy as adapting existing ones or starting from the ground up. The real cherry on top: configuring these blueprints for use in JSM’s CMDB is a hassle-free affair through Virima’s user-friendly interface.

Bid farewell to the days of tediously devising and cataloging common configuration item (CI) types and their attributes manually within Jira Service Management. Traditionally, this process can impede the success and adoption of a CMDB.

If concerns arise about potential duplication or the possibility of overwriting your existing CMDB structures in Jira Service Management when introducing Virima, rest assured. Virima’s UI flexibility and deep API integration with JSM’s CMDB ensures seamless sync and customization. You dictate how Virima’s blueprints align with your pre-established Jira Service Management schemas. Also, determine which new blueprints should be added, all while specifying the specific attributes for synchronization.

Agentless and Windows agent discovery

Virima offers both agentless and Windows agent-based discovery methods. This dual approach provides a flexible solution for hybrid environments. Thus ensuring continuous real-time monitoring and prompt capture of changes, further honing the accuracy of your CMDB.

Secure discovery and broad coverage

Security in discovery cannot be overstated. Virima understands this imperative and offers a discovery solution anchored in robust security protocols. Running on servers you control, with full data segregation, and encryption both on-premises and in the cloud, Virima ensures that your asset data is not only accurate but also secure.

The power of flexibility and integration

Hybrid IT means diversity in assets and the need for flexibility in how they are discovered. Virima’s holistic approach includes agentless IP-based scanning and an optional Windows agent for comprehensive coverage. This enforces a flexible discovery model that can adapt to the distinct characteristics of an organization’s assets.

Integration, an important pillar of Virima’s strategy, ensures that the discovery of data enriches the broader IT management ecosystem. It snugly interlocks with IT Asset Management, IT Service Management, and other IT operational tools to create an interconnected web of operational efficiency.

2. Virima Service Mapping: A game changer in incident, change, and vulnerability management

One of the key features enabling Virima’s efficiency is its dynamic Service Mapping. With the surge of multifaceted IT landscapes, the demand for comprehensive management tools has peaked. The Virima Service Mapping feature not only uniquely addresses this demand but also propels incident, change, and vulnerability management to new heights.

Irrespective of the nature of incidents, whether they stem from software malfunctions or network disruptions, Virima’s service mapping plays a critical role in detecting and resolving them speedily. Real-time mapping empowers IT teams to pinpoint the source of incidents, facilitating quicker recovery times and minimizing system downtime.

Change management also benefits significantly from Virima’s advanced service mapping. Visualizing the potential impact of changes on the interconnected IT environment assists in making informed decisions. This helps drive the successful implementation of updates and mitigates risks.

In the context of vulnerability management, Virima’s service mapping proves to be an indispensable resource. Also, it aids in identifying weak spots within the system structure. Thus allowing technicians to prioritize and address them before they pose serious security threats.

Here’s a detailed analysis of Virima Service Mapping:

Enhanced incident management with automated discovery and machine learning

Virima leverages advanced machine learning through its Discovery tool to automate the mapping of application dependencies and infrastructure relationships. This automation drastically reduces manual labor and significantly diminishes errors in manual mapping processes. 

Also, by ensuring a more accurate depiction of the IT environment, IT teams can swiftly pinpoint the origins of incidents. Hence, enabling quicker resolution and reduced downtime.

Streamlining change management through dynamic visual service maps

Virima’s dynamic, visual service maps update in real time to mirror the current state of the IT infrastructure, a critical feature for rapidly evolving hybrid IT environments. These maps allow IT teams to instantly comprehend the dependencies and relationships underlying their services. 

This immediate insight is crucial for assessing the potential impacts of changes, streamlining the change management process, and swiftly recovering from any service disruptions that may occur.

Comprehensive service dependency mapping for vulnerability management

By explicitly mapping business services and highlighting the IT components that support them (servers, apps, network infrastructure, cloud resources), Virima gives organizations an in-depth understanding of how vulnerabilities could affect operations. This comprehensive mapping is vital for developing strategies to address risks effectively, enhancing cybersecurity measures, and maintaining business continuity.

Advanced integration with ITSM and vulnerability databases

Virima’s Service Mapping integrates with ITSM records (from platforms such as ServiceNow, Ivanti, Cherwell, and Jira) and vulnerability information from the NIST NVD lookup. This feature allows IT teams to identify which assets have open incidents or vulnerabilities accurately and prioritize their response not just on the criticality of the issue but also based on the asset’s significance to business services.

Proactive management with near real-time scanning and alerts

Service maps enable the near real-time scanning of assets to verify their operational status and identify any unapproved or undocumented changes. By integrating with system monitoring tools, Virima can automatically highlight potential service availability impacts before they escalate, supporting proactive incident and change management.

Bolstering cybersecurity assurance and regulatory compliance

Virima service maps offer a strategic advantage in prioritizing remediation efforts and showcasing service-level security, thereby enhancing the organization’s cybersecurity posture and compliance with regulatory standards. Actionable insights into system vulnerabilities help in making informed security decisions.

Driving business continuity and IT efficiency

By providing a clear insight into service dependencies within the IT infrastructure, Virima’s mapping tools facilitate more effective impact analysis for change management, quicker identification of the root causes in incident management, and smarter decision-making in vulnerability management. These capabilities contribute significantly to sustaining business operations and enhancing IT operational efficiency.

Implementation best practices

Virima advocates for several best practices to extract maximum value from Service Mapping. These include unifying the Jira CMDB to encapsulate critical infrastructure in service maps, concentrating on high-priority business use cases, and collaborating with stakeholders across departments for continuous feedback. 

These practices ensure that service maps remain current and accurately reflect the IT landscape, thereby enhancing incident, change, and vulnerability management processes.

Virima Service Mapping is a game changer for organizations navigating the complexities of hybrid IT environments. Through automated discovery, near real-time visibility, comprehensive service dependency mapping, and actionable insights into vulnerabilities and IT assets, Virima empowers organizations with better control, enhanced security, and improved operational efficiency. 

This robust approach to vulnerability management sets a new standard for managing and securing hybrid IT landscapes.

3. Elevating IT management with ViVID overlays

Virima Visual Impact Display (ViVID™)​, a standout feature within Virima’s suite of tools, revolutionizes how service maps are utilized, especially when integrated with ITSM platforms like Jira Service Management. This advanced overlay functionality nurtures a rapid analysis for changes and swift identifications of service disruptions, turning complex data into visually intuitive, actionable insights.

Heightened vulnerability management through NIST NVD integration

ViVID extends beyond mere identification; it leverages integration with the NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD) to automate the correlation of vulnerabilities, offering a transparent and immediate perspective on the risks. This seamless connection enables a unified approach to vulnerability management where priorities are set not just on vulnerability severity but also considering the business impact of the compromised asset.

Facilitating automatic collaboration

By transforming traditional service maps into dynamic, interactive displays, ViVID encourages unmatched collaboration among IT operations, cybersecurity, and DevOps teams. It breaks down silos, ensuring that incidents, changes, and vulnerabilities are addressed with a unified strategy, enhancing the overall security posture and operational efficiency.

Simplification of operational complexity

Crafted to work in tandem with Virima Discovery and Service Mapping, ViVID simplifies the intricate process of mapping connections and dependencies within the IT landscape. This streamlined approach aids in visualizing the potential impact of various IT elements, making the management of changes and identification of vulnerabilities more coherent and less time-consuming.

Proactive visual change management

ViVID overlays illuminate the potential risks associated with any modification within the IT infrastructure. These insights enable IT managers to foresee and mitigate risks before implementation, ensuring that every change is made with a comprehensive understanding of its impact.

Minimizing interruptions through rapid response

Service disturbances can be swiftly addressed with ViVID’s overlays, which empower IT managers to quickly trace the origin of disruptions. This capability significantly shortens the recovery time, maintaining high productivity levels and minimizing operational disruptions.

Central hub for effortless communication

Acting as a collaboration nexus, ViVID centralizes critical data, enhancing communication across all stakeholders. It fosters a culture of informed decision-making, aligning strategies in incident response, change management, and beyond.

Boosting engagement across teams

By providing visual aids, ViVID encourages interdepartmental collaboration, expediting the resolution process for issues and incidents. This shared understanding improves the efficiency of response strategies, reinforcing the organization’s resilience against IT challenges.

Comprehensive visualization of the IT ecosystem

ViVID’s capacity to decode and visualize the intricate maze of IT assets, applications, and their interactions offers a rounded view of the organization’s technological framework. This visualization is crucial for grasping the full scope of the IT landscape, ensuring that all decisions are rooted in a thorough understanding of service interdependencies.

By integrating ViVID overlays with Jira Service Management, Virima transforms the approach to managing vulnerabilities, incidents, and changes. This synthesis of visual insight and comprehensive data not only enhances the capability to manage IT environments proactively but also aligns perfectly with the demands of modern, dynamic IT operations.

Empowering IT efficiency: The future with Virima Discovery and Jira Service Management

In a world where gaining visibility and control over IT environments is becoming more elusive, Virima’s automated discovery and service mapping, paired with Jira Service Management, proves to be a transformative solution. 

Virima’s approach with Jira Service Management is a masterclass in proactive IT asset management. It provides IT teams not simply with data, but with information — refined, actionable insights that empower IT professionals to anticipate needs, prevent incidents, and respond with agility when the unpredictable occurs. 

Streamlined discovery and synchronization, underpinned by thorough security and adaptability, make Virima’s integration with Jira Service Management a powerful ally in the quest for a durable and reliable IT management experience in the hybrid world.

Schedule a demo to find out more about Virima and Jira Service Management.

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