Is it possible to change Discovery Source name from "ServiceNow" to a custom value?

[eriksoltvei]

Hi!

We are running VMware vCenter Discovery via MID Server in our instance, and everything is working well, CIs are being populated correctly (vCenter, datacenters, clusters, ESXi hosts, VMs, etc.). However, all discovered CIs get Discovery Source = "ServiceNow" (which makes sense, since the platform writes to the CMDB via MID).

We would prefer the Discovery Source to show "vCenter" (or similar) to clearly indicate the data origin, especially when multiple Discovery Sources are in play.

Questions:

1. Is it possible to override/change the Discovery Source value from "ServiceNow" to a custom value like "vCenter" for VMware-related CIs?
2. If yes – what is the recommended/safest way to do it? (Business Rule on discovery_sensor, IRE transform, custom field map, or something else?)
3. Are there any known risks or side effects (e.g. CMDB Health, IRE reconciliation, reporting, upgrades, support issues) if we override the OOTB value?

Any experiences, best practices or KB references would be very helpful!

Thanks in advance!

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @eriksoltvei 

https://www.servicenow.com/community/cmdb-forum/how-do-we-change-the-discovery-source-based-on-conne...

It might give you some insight, but I still doubt we can change the source in ServiceNow. This is because the platform has a standard setup—its own source—and while you can add your own requirements or naming conventions, they might not exist in the system. Also, the issue appears in our dashboard, where the source shows as ServiceNow, and making changes there would require significant effort. So my recommendation is to keep it as it is for now.