We scan your network or run an integration to find your devices and record them as Configuration Items (CIs) in the CMDB.

Terminology

• CMDB Discovery — The ServiceNow Cloud Discovery process. It finds applications and devices on your network and updates the Multisource CMDB.
• MID Server — The Management, Instrumentation, and Discovery Server. It runs as a Windows service or a UNIX daemon on a server on your local network.
• CMDB — The database that stores the configurations your infrastructure needs to support a ServiceNow service. 
• Configuration Item (CI) — Any computer, device, application, or service in the CMDB. A CI's record includes data such as manufacturer, vendor, and location. You can create or update a CI in the platform's tables, lists, and forms, or through the Discovery application.

Step 1: Request Discovery

Submit a Configuration Item Addition Request.  We start the discovery process after we collect the prerequisites below.

Step 2: Meet the Prerequisites

Firewall access

Set up firewall access to the Production and Development MID Servers. See the ServiceNow port reference for the full list.

 

Credentials

 

We add new ServiceNow customer accounts to the credential_admin group in the Development, Test, and Production instances. Our customers log in to the ServiceNow instance and manage their own credentials.

 

Discovery needs a valid credential for every host type. The sections below list the requirements by platform. We share specific infrastructure details, such as server addresses and account names, during onboarding.

 

Windows

• A domain or local user with local Administrator rights.
• Access to the admin$ share.
• PowerShell access.
• Local Administrator access for the account used in the credential.
• Access to the WMI service in the current namespace and its subspaces.

 

Unix/Linux

 

Use one of these SSH credential types:

• A standard SSH user.
• A private key, with an optional passphrase.

 

SNMP

 

Network devices — routers, switches, printers, UPS units, and PDUs — SNMP string or SNMP username and password with read only access.

 

VMware

 

Use a read-only vCenter credential. This credential queries the vCenter API and identifies a running process and a discovered vCenter appliance. 

 

Xen

 

Use a read-only API token and/or optional credential for the Xen management server. This credential lets Discovery query the hypervisor and identify running virtual machines. 

 

Proxmox

 

Use a read-only credential for the Proxmox API. This credential lets Discovery query the cluster and identify running virtual machines and containers. 

 

Cloud service accounts

 

Provide a service account for each cloud platform you use:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Scope of Discovery

Discovery covers servers, VMs, network appliances, network storage, and cloud data centers. We create a CI for each device we discover.

Step 3: Provide Host Information

Give us the following information for each host, if not provided in the original request.

• Host names or network ranges for the devices to discover.
• The operating system: Linux or Windows.
• The CI owner: the user responsible for the CI.
• The change group: the group responsible for change management on the CI.
• The support group: the group responsible for incidents on the CI.
• The managed-by group: we assign a default group based on the CI's class (Linux or Windows) and location.

 

This information helps us set the business rules so you are granted write access to your configuration items.

 

ServiceNow Instances

• Development: https://ncsudev.service-now.com/
• Test: https://ncsutst.service-now.com/
• Production: https://ncsu.service-now.com/

Step 4: Test in Development

We run the first discovery in the Development instance, using the Development MID Server.

Step 5: Get Stakeholder Sign Off

After discovery succeeds in the Development instance, we re-create the discovery schedules in the Test instance and test them again.

Step 6: Final Delivery

We deploy your discovery to the Production environment.

Reference Documentation

 

NCSU ServiceNow Knowledge Base

• CMDB Related Searches

• Dashboard for your group: My Groups CMDB CIs