Certified Implementation Specialist - Service Mapping Exam Preparation

[Abbas Abidi1]

I recently wrote my CIS - Service Mapping certification exam and was successful at my very first attempt. 
Through this blog, I am sharing how I prepared for this exam and how other aspirants can also successfully pass it using these steps.

Pre-requisites (recommended)

• At least six months of hands-on experience and/or participation in at least two ITOM deployments especially Service Mapping.
• Intermediate or above Windows and Unix shell commands skills
• Good understanding of the basic architecture of the MID Server and how it is used for executing commands on the target devices.
• Knowledge of standard networking protocols and the default ports that they use.
• Basic understanding about the Multi-Tier Architecture (Load Balancers, Web Servers, App Servers, Database Servers)
• Good knowledge of different parsing methods like Regex, delimited texts, etc.
• Write Discovery and Event Management Certification before writing Service Mapping certification exam.

Preparation

• Implementation experience of each of the ITOM modules actually helped me the most in clearing this exam. Therefore if you have Service Mapping implementation experience then half of the battle is already won. However, for others I would recommend that you complete the above mentioned pre-requisites first before writing the exam. 
• Go through the CIS-Service Mapping exam blueprint on ServiceNow's website. It covers the exam specifications like scope, topics weightage, structure, and some sample questions.
• Go through the Service Mapping Fundamentals and Implementation courses on nowLearning and complete all the labs that's given in the course.
• Go through the ServiceNow's latest version release notes of ITOM Visibility.
• Additionally, you can complete the Service Mapping Implementation Simulator on nowLearning.
• Optionally, complete the CMDB Fundamentals course, that will help you to clear some key concepts especially the CMDB hierarchy.
• Optionally, complete CSDM Fundamentals course which will provide prescriptive guideline for service modeling within the ServiceNow Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
• Lastly, do not rely completely on dumps as they may help you in preparation but never guarantee the success.

Key areas to focus

• MID Server communication
• Top Down vs Horizontal Discovery
• IP Address Type and Subnetting
• Parsing Techniques - Use regex101.com to practice
• Unix commands and use of Command Line
• CMDB Class Structure
• Identification and Reconciliation Rules
• Criterion attributes
• Discovery Patterns (Identification, Extension and Connection)
• Pattern steps (Parse File, Set parameter value, table transform, etc.)
• Credentials Type and Elevated Privileges 
• Discovery logs and Errors
• Discovery and Event Management basics

Conclusion

Remember, learning is more important than certification. So try to understand the Service mapping concepts and practice it using a simulated environment. ServiceNow's learning material, docs and community has everything that is needed.
All the best and Happy Learning!

[Gaurav Bhardwa1]

Thanks for collecting all the useful resources at one place. This is really helpful, all the key points are well described. Sums up the entire preparation process for CIS-SM.