Role of CMDB identifiers and CI Identifiers

[rajeevhanda]

There are two categories of identifiers:

1. CI Identifiers (ci_identifier)

2. CMDB Identifier (cmdb_identifier)

What is the difference between the two?

The CMDB Dashboard "Duplicate" metric relies upon the "cmdb_identifiers" table to specify the rules used to tag CIs as "duplicate" during the Correctness audit. But does Discovery use the same identifier to determine the uniqueness of CIs...to identify the CI and determine if it will update an existing CI or Create a new one?

[adilrathore]

CI identifiers are used for identification purpose. Refer to the below community article for details:

CMDB Identification and Reconciliation

[rajeevhanda]

Hi Adil,

Thanks for the response but before posting this question, I have already gone through this article and all the videos mentioned in the community link.

But I would specifically want to know what is the difference between CI identifiers and CMDB identifiers? What purpose are they used for? If we touch the CI identifiers, will it have any effect on the discovery?

[Larry Youngqui1]

Rajeev,

I also have the same question.     They certainly seem similar, but there must be some difference.       I've searched and have gone through the documentation, but have not found any clear answer to the question.

Larry

[Sundar10]

Hello Larry,

I was also looking for answer for this question. Luckily after going through a doc in ServiceNOW, kind of found the answer.

Prior to Geneva Release, ServiceNOW Disovery uses CI Identifier which is a legacy identifier. However in Geneva and releases after that ServiceNOW introduced a new identifier concept CMDB Identifier, where we can define rules for Tables and Fields in the CI. Therefor discovery will use this identification rules, if the property is enabled in the instance. If not it will use the same old legacy identifier (CI Identifier) which likely to have issues while discovery CI's post upgrate from older versions to new versions.

Feel free to revert in case of any clarifications or discrepancies.

Hit the Like button and Mark this as solution if this helped you.

Regards,

Sundar