Which method is used by Discovery to determine if a Host IP is active or alive?

BoHyun Jung
Mega Sage

Which method is used by Discovery to determine if a Host IP is active or alive?

 

  • A. Port Scan
  • B. Traceroute
  • C. Ping
  • D. Classification

What is the correct answer between A and C? Please explain this in detail.

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Anand Kumar P
Tera Patron

Hi @BoHyun Jung ,
Not option A Port scanning is the first step in the Discovery process. The Shazzam probe performs port scanning, regardless of whether you use patterns for horizontal discovery. 

Correct answer is C.Ping .
Please mark it as helpful and solution propsoed.

Thanks,

Anand

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5 REPLIES 5

Dinethri ASP
Tera Contributor

ServiceNow Discovery uses the Ping method to determine if a host IP address is "alive" or reachable on the network. This is typically the initial check before proceeding to more intensive scanning phases.

 

  • Mechanism: It works by sending an ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) Echo Request packet to the target IP address.
  • Response: If the target host responds with an ICMP Echo Reply, it is considered alive and available for further scanning.
  • Role in Discovery: While the Shazzam probe (the first phase of horizontal discovery) scans ports to see if they are active, a basic "alive" check often relies on Ping to quickly filter out unreachable addresses with low network overhead.