About Configuration Items

Configuration items enable you to create a hierarchy of items within a configuration. Configuration items can contain other configuration items, so you can nest information to capture how resources are organized.

In Oracle Communications Design Studio, configuration items appear in a hierarchical format in the Configuration area of the entity Configuration Specification editor.

Configuration items enable you to assign or reference resources to the configuration and to configure those resources appropriately (entities referenced to the configuration are not consumed by the configuration). You can add any of the following to configuration items:

  • Minimum and maximum quantities: These determine how many instances of the item can be included in the configuration. The minimum quantity also dictates the items that are automatically created when you create a configuration version or add a new configuration item, with child configuration items, to a configuration version.

  • Characteristics: You use characteristics to capture specific attributes about the configuration item. You can override the default values defined in a characteristic specification. See "Overriding Default Values of Characteristics in Entity Specifications" for more information.

  • Specification options: You use specification options to determine which entities can be referenced by or assigned to a service, place, pipe, network, logical device, logical device account, and so forth. When you create a specification option, you associate one or more specifications with it. See "Configuration Specification Editor Specification Options Subtab" for more information.