ITOM - Discovery - Process Guide - 03 - 2022

ITOM Discovery
Process Guide
Release: San Diego
Updated: March 2022
Ref: 0001229
Table of Contents
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................................3
Principles and Basic Concepts........................................................................................................................................3
Roles and Responsibilities..............................................................................................................................................4
Discovery Administrator.............................................................................................................................................4
Configuration Manager...............................................................................................................................................4
CI Analyst or Class Owner..........................................................................................................................................5
Process Scope..................................................................................................................................................................6
Deployment Process and Objectives...............................................................................................................................6
High Level Deployment Process....................................................................................................................................7
Identify Hardware Devices for Discovery..................................................................................................................7
Principal CIs................................................................................................................................................................8
Plan MID Server Deployment.....................................................................................................................................9
Create Discovery Schedules........................................................................................................................................9
Discover Data and Maintain........................................................................................................................................9
Discovery Application Process.....................................................................................................................................10
How Discovery is initiated........................................................................................................................................10
Discovery Lifecycle..................................................................................................................................................10
Process Overview......................................................................................................................................................11
Scan...........................................................................................................................................................................12
Classify......................................................................................................................................................................12
Identify......................................................................................................................................................................12
Explore......................................................................................................................................................................12
Other Processes.............................................................................................................................................................13
Configuration Management.......................................................................................................................................13
Change Management.................................................................................................................................................13
Service Mapping.......................................................................................................................................................13
Process Governance......................................................................................................................................................13
Measurement.............................................................................................................................................................13
Dashboards and Reporting........................................................................................................................................14
Discovery Home Dashboard.....................................................................................................................................15
MID Server Dashboard.............................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
This guide will provide a detailed explanation on how the Discovery process is enabled within the ServiceNow
platform. It is intended that this process be followed as closely as possible regardless of the level of maturity of the
customer. ServiceNow encourages simple, lean processes which are reflected in the out-of-the-box design.
Customers may add additional functionality what is offered; however, this should only be in scenarios where there is
a required business outcome gained that could not be achieved using an out-of-the-box method. Following this
approach should also ease upgrade paths and the ability to expand the use of the platform.
Principles and Basic Concepts

Discovery provides visibility into a on premise, cloud, and serverless infrastructure and its changes. It uses agentless
technology to discovery physical and virtual devices and create/update corresponding Configuration Items (CIs) as
well as the dependent relationships between them in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). It sets a
strong foundation with accurate data and relationship views for ITSM change management, Software Asset
Management, Customer Service Management, Security Operations, and more.
The goal of the ServiceNow discovery is to populate the ServiceNow CMDB with CIs and relationships in an
accurate, near real-time mechanism so that the CMDB and Configuration Management is able to support operational
processes.
 Discovery should provide a reliable automated method to facilitate creating and updating CIs on a
continuous basis.
 A successful Discovery implementation populates the CMDB with relevant data, in a timely manner with
as little overhead as possible
 Discovery uses a lightweight agentless java application that runs on a MID Server that sets inside your
network closest to the CIs that it is to discover.
Roles and Responsibilities

Discovery Administrator
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Dedicated resource with technical expertise to work with implementation consultants to configure and maintain the
Discovery application. Responsible for the configuration and maintenance of Discovery when implementation is
complete. Working knowledge of Networking, Systems Administration and JavaScript and access to critical subject
matter experts with compute and networking expertise.
Responsible for:
 Configures and Maintains Discovery Application
 Works closely with Configuration Manager in population of CMDB
 Interfaces with Compute, Network and Security teams to assure access and permissions
 Resolving discovery errors related to permissions and access
 Assuring completion of scheduled discovery jobs
 Assisting in the validation and testing of Discovery after upgrades
 Reviewing the environment for changes and new requirements that may drive changes to the Discovery
solution
 Assures downloads from the ServiceNow store occur monthly for CMDB Classes and Discovery patterns
 Add new schedules, IP ranges, credentials for new devices and environments
ServiceNow role required:

The discovery_admin role is required in ServiceNow.
In ServiceNow, a Discovery Administrator will require the [discovery_admin] role. The Discovery Admin should
also have the [itil] role to perform fulfilment of requests and to view dashboards, additionally they may need access
to the CMDB Workspace.
Configuration Manager
The configuration manager executes on the determined CMDB processes and maintains governance in accordance
with the various CI, product, or service owners. Provides gate keeper alignment.
 Ensuring configuration management activities operate in-line with service level targets
 Approves or rejects CMDB requests for new CI selection and attribute determination
 Coordinates and interfaces between configuration other processes
 Review and analyze CMDB reports and configuration management and management metrics and trends to
proactively seek improvements
 Approve Verification and Audit requests
 Provides communication to stakeholders on the health of the CMDB and population gaps by CI/Service and
Product Owners that update and maintain their assigned CMDB records
ServiceNow Role Required:
In ServiceNow, a configuration manager will require the [sn_cmdb_admin] role, additional roles include [itil]
role and [app_service_admin] and [data_manager_admin] role. Adding an additional [itil] role will allow
access to CI Class Manager, fulfilling requests, updating, and deleting Cis. With the additional role
[data_manager_admin] the CMDB admin would have access to the Data Manager to create or delete policies
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or assign tasks. Has access to search and read/write to CMDB records and view CMDB Activity in the CMDB
Workspace. The [admin] role is required to turn on CMDB Health jobs. The Data Foundations dashboard
requires [sn_cmdb_admin] role and additional role of [asset] or [admin] role. No additional roles are required
for the Data Certification plugin to set up schedule verification and audits of data.
CI Analyst or Class Owner

The CI analyst is responsible to update, manage the CI classes that they managed. A group of CI owners are noted as
the Managed by Group on the CMDB record and may also be subject matter experts that help resolve Discovery
errors on compute, network, applications and databases, cloud resources. The CI Class owner may also be
considered a Service Owner or Product Owner.
Responsible for:
 Responsible for the CIs defined within scope their area – Compute, Network or Application, Service or
Product
 Assure automated data sources are populating discoverable attributes
 Creates and maintains CI queries, CMDB groups and Dynamic CI groups using CMDB Query Builder
 Ensures the CMDB is updated upon successful change implementation
 Collects and retains information for risk assessment and impact analysis and defines how their operational
processes and secondary data sources feed into the CMDB.
 Requests Data Manager policies to be configured to manage large amounts of duplicate, stale, or orphaned
CIs from the CMDB admin
 Executes assigned tasks related to data certification and CMDB maintenance regarding data gaps.
ServiceNow Role Required:

The [itil] role is required in ServiceNow. May require additional roles such as [asset] to view the CMDB Data
Foundations and the CMDB Health dashboard and utilize the playbooks to resolve issues and data gaps found in the
CMDB.
Process Scope
The scope of Discovery includes populating the CMDB based on reoccurring discovery schedules. CI's that are
discoverable out-of-the-box can be found in the product documentation. The Discovery implementation scope finds
a pre-determined CI Classes, and defines success at 80% discovered devices of the actual inventory numbers.
Discovery is an ongoing maintenance and troubleshooting activity that is carried on past go-live.
Outside of the process scope of the deployment process, Discovery has a process that determines how it populates
the CMDB.
Deployment Process and Objectives

When implementing Discovery, follow these phases in a managed project. Discovery projects are unlike other
projects in that the configuration and the UAT happen during the Create phase will your implementation team will
work side by side with the customer’s Discovery Admin. When errors are resolved the provides the user
acceptance. Self-implementation without a partner or ServiceNow professionals tend to not go as well and come
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with risk. Each environment is different and may require special guidance based on the expert knowledge from
having deployed Discovery in with many customers in many industries with various sizes of networks.
Prepare/Define Transition and Close

Initiate Phase Create Phase
Phase Phases
• Identify Resources • Attend Scheduled • Build MID Servers • Review Go-Live Plan
Implementation
• Schedule Workshops Workshop • Review Configuration • Move to Production
• Pre-Workshop Kickoff o *Define Principal • Enter and Test • Smoke Test
Credentials
• Provide Customer CIs for CMDB • Maintain and Improve
Preparation Guide • Build Discovery
o Provide CI • Perform Testing after
Schedules
• Perform HealthScan, if Inventory major instance upgrades
not greenfield Numbers • Perform POV with
Network and Server
• Review CMDB o Discuss
Team
Dashboard Architecture
• Side by Side Mentoring
• Communicate potential • Provide IP Ranges for with Discovery Admin
risks Scheduled Discovery
Runs • Run Schedules
• Get Security Sign Off
• Approve Stories • Resolve Errors
(Requirements)
• Success Criteria Met
• Schedule Working
Sessions for Build
High Level Deployment Process
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Introductions
Pre-Workshop Customer
Schedule Security Sign Off
Readiness Preparation
Workshops
Implementation Write/Approve Schedule Build MID Server Build

Workshop Agile Stories Workshops and Validation
Test Credentials Network

Create Discovery
and Connections Bandwidth and Run Schedules
Run Schedules
to CIs Server Testing
Review and How many CI's Review and

Run Schedules
Resolve Errors Discovered? Resolve Errors
Continue till 80% Continue till 80% Review Go Live Move to

of CIs Discovered of CIs Discovered Plan Production
Identify Hardware Devices for Discovery

One key early in the Discovery process is to identify the items in your environment you need to gain visibility of
your environment. Out of Box configuration, discovery collects information needed for configuration, event,
incident, change, application portfolio, security, and vulnerability management. The main attributes discovered and
populated on the CMDB record are Name, Serial Number, Manufacturer, Model ID e.g., Proliant DL360p
G8,running process, software installations, MAC and IP address, hostname, Disk Space, Ram, CPU and CPU Core
count. Discovery maps or relates the hardware CI’s together with their supporting CIs to form an Application
Dependency map.
Identifying what CIs to be captured is part of configuration management and the Discovery administrator should
work closely with a configuration database manager who owns and is accountable and or responsible for the
processes that defines which configuration items are approved for CMDB population.
Principal CIs
All CIs are not created equally meaning that certain CI classes are much more important to deriving tangible
business outcomes from the platform. This group of higher value CIs will be referred to as Principal CIs and these
CIs and their relationships and references should be the primary focus area as you are maturing your environment.
Principal CIs will vary depending on the business outcomes you are trying to achieve so what may be considered
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principle for ITSM workflows may be different from those utilized for SAM workflows which may be different
from those utilized for Event workflows.
ServiceNow provides guidance on those CIs that may bring the most value based on maturity and phase of
implementation. This is the “Crawl, Walk, Run, Fly” phases that part of the ServiceNow platform common data
model (CSDM).
Discovery population into the CMDB and based on identifiers places the devices in the correct CMDB table with no
additional out of box configuration.
For greenfield implementations, setting up the foundational data is considered “Crawl” as it is referential data used
on the CMDB record. Data about the locations is the most important as it is referenced on the Discovery tables, and
it will populate the CMDB record with the location of the device.
Walk is the technical and operational data of the common data model (CSDM). Refer to the CMDB Process Guide.
There are some configuration items as listed below that can be part of a crawl. This allows the “Walk” phase to be
broken down into two separate phases of work.
Leading practices recommend starting with these basic operational hardware devices for Day 1 go live for use in
Incident and Change management processes. This will meet most basic requirements. As Service Mapping, Event
Management and Cloud Provisioning activities in the platform comes into play other CI types can be considered.
Foundational Data (non-CMDB) Integration to platform

Company
Users
Locations
Support Groups
Approval Groups
CMDB Groups
Product Models
Contracts
Operational/Technical Data - Discovery

Servers by OS
- Windows Servers
- Linux Servers
- ESX (populated when populating vCenter datacenters)
Network Gear
- Switches
- Routers
- Firewalls
- UPS
- PDUs
- Wireless Access Points
On Prem Datacenter (VMWare)

- Review data collected during discovery
Templates, ESXi hosts, Storage Volumes, logical datacenter, vCenter
Clusters, etc.
Network Printers
Computers - Agent Client Collector or SCCM Service Graph Connector
Gather Credentials
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Gathering credentials is a critical step in the Discovery process. Without credentials, Discovery cannot gather
information from target devices. Ensuring that the security team is on-board with Discovery early in the process is
paramount, as without approval and sign-off, Discovery projects often stall or get bogged down as teams are reticent
to provide necessary credentials. Invite them to the Pre-Workshop Kickoff meeting. Understanding how
ServiceNow security works is important, and sharing the strong story around ServiceNow’s cloud security with the
security team will help alleviate any concerns and pave the path for buy-in. Use online resources from ServiceNow
to learn more and share these with the appropriate security parties. The supported credential types can be found here.
Plan MID Server Deployment

Planning MID server deployment is the next major phase of Discovery implementation. MID servers should be
placed as close to the targets that has the most available bandwidth between it and what you are looking to discover.
Refer to ServiceNow docs page for the latest minimum requirements and recommended configuration for MID
Server hosts. Clustering MID servers is also generally recommended and can improve performance, but the
effectiveness of doing so depends on the volume of Cis being Discovered. Following the ITOM Guided Setup in
your instance by your Discovery Admin will insure accurate configuration.
Create Discovery Schedules

Planning schedules is an important step in Discovery implementation, as the Discovery schedules are the “who,
what, where, when and how’s” of the application, and when the Discovery Lifecycle is executed. Defining schedules
organizes networks and locations into defined jobs that run on predetermined schedules which can be daily, weekly,
or on demand. Staggering start times, utilizing MID Server Clusters and behaviors are all tools to help accomplish
specific Discovery goals. The first consideration is how many individual schedules are needed. Generally, one
schedule per location is a good rule of thumb.
Discover Data and Maintain

Discovering the data and populating the CMDB occurs as schedules are run. There are numerous checks that should
be run in conjunction with the Configuration Management team to ensure the CMDB is being populated with a
complete, correct set of data. The CMDB Health Dashboard should be utilized as well to verify overall health.
Maintaining Discovery entails daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks. Reviewing error logs daily and rectifying
issues is day-to-day activity, while using the CMDB dashboard and working with the Configuration team on a
weekly basis ensures critical tasks like updating or disposal of assets is taking place. Participating in monthly
CMDB reviews with the configuration team to ensure overall quality of data is an important step in healthy
maintenance.
Discovery Application Process

Discovery internally has process it goes through to discover the CIs. The MID Servers handle the jobs that run to
discover the CIs in a nightly ran schedule on ranges of IP addresses.
How Discovery is initiated
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Schedules – Discovery Analysts can configure schedules to periodically initiate Discovery. These schedules have
several discovery specific options to control the IP range(s) to scan.
Quick Discovery – Discovery Analysts can initiate the discovery of a single IP address using the provided UI
Action on the discovery schedule form.
Scripts – Discovery can be initiated via the discovery scripting API. This allows it to be initiated as part of another
processes through workflows, business rules, or even external REST calls.
The MID Servers are configured per schedule. Datacenter #1 may use a different set of load balanced MIDs,
whereas Datacenter #2 can also use another set of MIDs. Adding the MID Servers to the schedules helps the
schedules run concurrently allowing the scheduled process to complete faster.
Discovery Lifecycle
As Discovery schedules run, they do so according to the lifecycle process below. Understanding the lifecycle helps
with troubleshooting any issues that occur during Discovery. The Discovery process consists of the following 4
phases:
 Scan
 Classify
 Identify
 Explore
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Process Overview
High Level Lifecycle Overview
Scan
In this phase, a Shazzam probe is launched for each network device. The probe scans for open TCP ports. This data
is used to determine device type base on activity known to exist on these ports. Information collected during this
phase determines the probes and sensors used during the next phase (Classify). Industry standards protocols are
used, much the same as monitoring systems. Discovery uses SSH to discover Linux/Unix devices, SNMP for
network gear and printers, WMI or WinRM to find Windows devices.
Classify
Classification probes and sensors are run during this phase in an attempt to classify the device. This is where the
needed admin credentials are used to allow access to the device, if the credentials are not available, discovery will
fail. Specific probes will be triggered at this phase based on the port information collected in the previous phase.
Information collected during this phase will determine the device type and which probes or patterns will be triggered
in the next phases.
Identify
During this phase, Discovery determines the device type and launched additional probes/sensors (or patterns) to
collect information about the device. The CMDB identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) is then used to
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find a matching device in the CMDB. If the Identifiers finds a matching CI, the existing CI record will be updated.
A new CI is created if no matching CI is found.
If multiple data sources are being used along with Discovery, CMDB reconciliation and data precedence rules can
be used to control attribute updates preventing collisions and updates from unauthorized sources.
Explore
The explore phase is the final phase of the Discovery process. Additional exploration of the device is done during
this phase through the launching of additional probes/sensors. When using patterns, the Identify and Explore phases
are combined within a single pattern.
Other Processes
Configuration Management
The configuration management system underpins all records and activities related to any CI. It contains details of
the infrastructure vital to services, CIs, and their relationships. As Discovery creates and updates CIs, the
configuration management process and governance should be followed.
Change Management
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Change management is the process responsible for facilitating the implementation of changes. When changes are
made to IT infrastructure and services, the Discovery process can be leveraged to update and validate those changes.
Service Mapping
Service Mapping and Discovery go hand in hand. Once the CIs have been discovered and populated into the
database, and non-discoverable CIs like deployed versions of applications otherwise known a system of CIs that
make up an Application Service are also populated. Service Mapping finds by port or process the CIs that make up
the entire Application Service.
Process Governance
Measurement
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) evaluate the success of a particular activity towards meeting the critical success
factors. Successfully managing KPIs can be either through repeatedly meeting an objective (maintain) or by making
progress towards an objective (increase/decrease). The Benchmarks feature gives you instant visibility into your
key performance indicators (KPIs) and trends, as well as comparative insight relative to industry averages of your
peers. You can contrast the performance of your organization with recognized industry standards and view a side-
by-side comparison of performance with global benchmarks.
For Discovery, Average Time to Resolve a High Priority Incident should see improvement when critical business
systems (systems which have High Priority Incidents assigned against them) have their monitoring systems
integrated and CIs mapped through Discovery. In addition, when Service Mapping is also integrated, visibility into
the health of these business services in real-time enables the appropriate support teams to react faster to any high
priority incidents.
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Dashboards and Reporting
Process KPIs
 Provide information on the effectiveness of the process and the impact of continuous improvement efforts
 Are best represented as trend lines and tracked over time
 Monitored by the Process Owner
Item Purpose
Average time to resolve a high priority Measure the effect of the Discovery process on the time to resolve incidents
incident
CMDB Overall Health Completeness, correctness, and compliance metrics can help measure
the effectiveness of the Discovery process.
Incident leveraging of CMDB Measure the ability to leverage the CMDB in the Incident Management
process
Change leveraging of CMDB Measure the ability to leverage the CMDB in the Change Management
process
Operational Data
Active catalog items/requests that require visibility, oversight, and possible management intervention are best
tracked on a dashboard or homepage that is monitored by the Service Desk and request fulfilment team.
Item Purpose
CI Schedule Count Tracks number of active schedules running
Unidentified IP Count Indicates devices that are on the network, but Discovery is not able to
properly interrogate.
Active Discovery Errors List of errors in the active discovery schedules that need to be resolved.
Unused Credentials Lists credentials that are not being used by Discovery.
Newly Discovered Devices by Device Type Measures the number of new device CIs created by Discovery.
Total Discovered Devices by Type Measures the number of device CIs that are actively updated by Discovery.
Unrefreshed Devices by Type Measures the number of device CIs that Discovery is no longer updating.
Newly Discovered Applications by Type Measures the number of new application CIs created by Discovery.
Total Discovered Applications by Type Measures the number of application CIs that are actively updated by
Discovery.
Unrefreshed Applications by Type Measure the number of application CIs that Discovery is no longer updating.
Reports and Homepages

There are numerous default reports available in ServiceNow that can be used to generate charts, can be published to
a URL, or can be scheduled to be run and distributed at regular intervals. Users can also create custom reports.
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In addition to reports, each user can create a personal homepage and add gauges containing up-to-the-minute
information about the current status of records that exist in ServiceNow tables.
Discovery Home Dashboard
MID Server Dashboard
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A central place for MID Server users to monitor ongoing operations. The dashboard consists of reports and
gauges that display information from the MID Server Status table. The dashboard displays the
• Avg Percentage of CPU Used and the Avg Percentage of Max Memory used in the last 30 days.
• Avg Percentage of CPU Used: Trending the daily average on CPU usage helps illustrate the amount of
CPU processing that the MID Server host consumes. MID Servers deployed on the same host will report
the same CPU usage.
• Avg Percentage of Max Memory Used: The maximum used percentage (max_used_pct) is a useful metric
for determining if the MID Server has enough memory resources. This metric is a percentage of the max
used memory over the total available memory. Trending this over time provides a visualization of how
much memory is needed by the MID Server.
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ITOM Discovery

Principles and Basic Concepts

Roles and Responsibilities

ServiceNow role required:

CI Analyst or Class Owner

ServiceNow Role Required:

Deployment Process and Objectives

Prepare/Define Transition and Close

High Level Deployment Process

Implementation Write/Approve Schedule Build MID Server Build

Test Credentials Network

Review and How many CI's Review and

Continue till 80% Continue till 80% Review Go Live Move to

Identify Hardware Devices for Discovery

Foundational Data (non-CMDB) Integration to platform

Operational/Technical Data - Discovery

On Prem Datacenter (VMWare)

Computers - Agent Client Collector or SCCM Service Graph Connector

Plan MID Server Deployment

Create Discovery Schedules

Discover Data and Maintain

Discovery Application Process

How Discovery is initiated

High Level Lifecycle Overview

CI Schedule Count Tracks number of active schedules running

Reports and Homepages

Discovery Home Dashboard

MID Server Dashboard

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