Create or modify a discovery pattern and define its basic attributes.
Make sure that the application for which you want to create a pattern, has a corresponding configuration item (CI) type and a CI classification. If the CI type you require is not in the list,
If your ServiceNow instance uses domain separation and you have access to the global domain, log in to the relevant domain. The selected domain must be a domain without any child domains.
Role required: pd_admin
Patterns can be of infrastructure or application type. Infrastructure patterns are used only by Discovery for creating lists of devices. Application patterns serve both Service Mapping and Discovery that use the same application patterns for their purposes.
Procedure
Navigate to Pattern Designer > Discovery Patterns.
Click New or select the relevant pattern from the list.
Define the basic pattern attributes on the Basic tab.
Field
Description
Pattern type
Select Application for an application pattern. It can be used both for top-down discovery performed by Service Mapping and horizontal discovery performed by Discovery.
Select Infrastructure for an infrastructure pattern used for the horizontal host discovery performed by Discovery.
Name
Enter the pattern name. This name must be unique to this pattern. Use self-explanatory names such as Apache on Unix pattern.
CI type
Select the CI type which you want this pattern to discover.
Note: Discovery can find multiple CIs that belong to the same CI type.
Operating system [Application patterns only]
Select the operating system that the selected CI runs:
Click All if the CI runs on more than one operating system.
Or
Select the relevant operating systems from the list.
Run Order [Application patterns only]
For an application pattern used by Service Mapping, define when the pattern runs
Select the order in which this pattern always runs:
Before
After
Then select the other applicable pattern. This field is only relevant if a particular pattern can be confused with another pattern.
For example, both IIS and MS Exchange applications have an HTTP entry point. However MS Exchange uses some of the components of IIS. Therefore, if the IIS pattern ran first, discovery might incorrectly identify MS Exchange as IIS. To prevent this error, in the Run Order field in the MS Exchange pattern definition, select Before and IIS.
Description
Provide a description for this pattern.
(For application patterns only) To make the MID Server run this pattern only if the process identified on a CI matches the classification criteria for this pattern, select Enforce Process Classification.
All simplified patterns created from generic applications, have this attribute enabled. For more information about creating process classification,
Define a set of identification steps for every incoming connection of a configuration item (CI).
In the Identification Section, click New and then configure the following parameters:
Field
Value
Name
Unique name for the identification section.
Entry Point Types [Application patterns only]
Select all relevant entry point types. Every CI has incoming connections that are referred to in Pattern Designer as entry points. You base your CI identification process on the CI entry points creating steps and defining step operations and variables for every entry point separately.
For application patterns used by Discovery, enter either TCP or All.
Find Process Strategy [Application patterns only]
Select the appropriate strategy for finding the process that populates the Process variable in the Temporary Variables table.
Listening Port: The entry point is the listening port.
Target Port and IP: The entry point port communicates with another server.
None: The process variable is not populated.
Typically, the port type of the entry point determines the strategy.
Order
Select a number that determines the order in which Service Mapping or Discovery use identification sections. The section with the lowest order number is used first.
Click Save.
Click the identification section name.
Define discovery steps as described in Define discovery steps.
If necessary, create more identification sections.
Save the pattern.
Define discovery steps.
You can choose to define the discovery steps immediately after adding an Identification, Extension, or Connection section, or you can choose to do it after adding the required sections.
Define an operation for every step. The type of operation dictates which parameters and variables need to be configured.
Procedure
On the pattern form, click the relevant entry in the Identification Sections or Connectivity Sections. Connectivity Sections is for Service Mapping only.
The Pattern Designer opens showing the Steps tree on the left.
If no discovery steps have been identified for this pattern, the Untitled Step appears in the Steps tree in the left pane of the window.
To add a new step:
Click to add a step above the current step.
Click to add a step blow the current step.
Select an operation from the list and then fill in the fields that appear for the operation.
Operation
Objective
Change User
Use operating system credentials instead of the default administrative credentials.
Create Connection
Provide information about outgoing connections. This is for the connectivity section of a pattern that applies to Service Mapping only.
Filter Table
Filter a table according to specified criteria.
Find Matching URL
Find the best match for a URL in a list of URLs.
Get Registry Key
Query for registry keys.
Get Process
Search for a process according to specified criteria.
LDAP Query
Query an LDAP directory.
Library Reference
Combine a number of steps to be executed as a group.
Match
Match a condition and stop running the pattern if a condition is not met.
Merge Table
Merge two tables.
Parse Command Output
Extract information from the output of the command.
Parse File
Extract information from a file.
Parse a URL
Break down a URL into its components.
Parse Variable
Extract information from a variable.
HTTP Get Call
Extract information from devices using HTTP protocol.
Cloud Rest Call
Extract information from cloud computing devices like Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services
Create Relation/Reference
Create relationships and references between CIs that were discovered within the pattern.
Put File
Transfer a file to a remote system.
Run an SSH script file
Run composite commands or sequences of commands on Unix-based hosts.
Set a parameter value
Set the value of a parameter.
SNMP Query
Execute an SNMP query.
Transform Table
Add computed columns to an existing table.
Unchange User
Switch back to the default administrative credentials.
Union Tables
Append two tables that share the same format.
WMI Method Invocation
Execute a method using WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation).
WMI Query
Execute a WMI query.
If there are custom operations, which do not come with the base system, you can select a custom operation. For more information, see Customize pattern operations.
Specify the following discovery step settings.
Field
Description
Precondition
Select this check box to add a specific criteria to the step. If the step is always performed as defined, leave this setting unchecked.
For more than one condition, consider defining a step for each condition rather than multiple conditions.
For more information, see Make a step conditional.
CI Attributes
Table that is automatically populated with CI attribute variables that are generated when you add a CI type.
This table does not support Container or Tabular variables.
You can use shortcuts to enter values as described in Enter values and variables in patterns.
All variables are notated with a $ prefix and constants are formatted within double quotes.
For more information, see Pattern variables.
Temporary Variables
Table that is automatically populated with temporary variables that are generated when you define a discovery pattern.
You can add or remove variables from the Temporary Variables table.
You can use shortcuts to enter values as described in Enter values and variables in patterns.
All variables are notated with a $ prefix and constants are formatted within double quotes.
For more information, see Pattern variables.
To add comments to any step, click the comment icon (), add the text in the comment text and click Post.
The comment icon changes to indicate that there is a comment associated with this pattern step: .
If in Debug mode, test the step by clicking Test and checking that the operation brings the result you expected.
To exclude the step from the pattern without deleting it, clear the Active check box.
The MID Server skips this step while running the pattern.
To delete a step from the section, select the step and click the trash can icon.
After you define all steps, click Save.
On the pattern record, click Activate to make that pattern available for use.
to add a step above the current step.
to add a step blow the current step.
), add the text in the comment text and click Post.
The comment icon changes to indicate that there is a comment associated with this pattern step:
.
