This article described the comparison between Discovery and SCCM.

 

Common data:

• WMI attributes
  • ServiceNow expands on more where it can out of the local WMI database

• Software
  • ServiceNow will use SCCM, except servers are more robust with Discovery

SCCM limitations:

• Can’t capture configuration information, especially for detected middleware components.
• Does not have upstream or downstream dependencies
• Does not support service mapping
• ServiceNow only gets info from SCCM reporting server (not site servers)
• Not all computers and servers are in SCCM’s Reporting Server
  • SCCM agent is either broken or not installed
  • SCCM agent is not healthy

ServiceNow Discovery:

• Agentless
  • Uses a set of “patterns” and credentials to collect very specific details about hardware, software, and other configuration information (TCP info, running processes, and many, many others)

• Captures all middleware components
  • Maps dependencies across all other components and CIs, such as database and web servers
  • Captures MS SQL Server details and Oracle details
  • Capture IIS and Apache/Tomcat details
• Automates all upstream or downstream dependencies across all CIs in the CMDB
  • Along with middleware components, Discovery adds VMWare, AWS, and Azure datacenter relationship mapping, such as VMI’s, datastores, ESX hosts, docker containers, and many, many other more fully vetted out relationships too long to list here.
• Discovery compliments and/or merges or updates data provided by SCCM
  • Reconciliation rules allow for any source to be considered the “safe” source, including manual entry