Does Discovery Rebuild your existing CMDB Data

[Dan74]

Hi, 

If you implement discovery, does that than remove/delete your existing data rebuilding the CMDB from scratch or can it see existing Cis in the CMDB and compliment the data you have?

Regards Dan

[Ashok Sasidhara · Accepted solution]

If discovery finds CIs which match the identifier entries defined as part of the identification rules of a CI class, it will update the data for existing CIs. If not, it will create a new CI. Please check the following URL for more details about identification rules:

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/washingtondc-servicenow-platform/page/product/configuration-manag...

It is important to review and modify (if required) the identification rules to reduce the possibility of creation of duplicate CIs.

[pratiksha5]

Discovery is a data source. If you have old data from other tools or are manually maintained, the identification engine uses identification rules to understand whether the data is already present or not. If discovery finds the data, then it updates the CMDB with more granular details, but if the CI is not found, then it will create a new CI. Once you have automated discovery in place, CMDB health rules can help you maintain the data sanity.