Agent Client Collector ACC vs. Service Graph Spoke

[Cameron13]

Hi,

Can you help me to understand the following concepts ?

1- Agent Client Collector vs. Service Graph spoke ?

2- Do we need Credentials for setting up Mid Server for Agent Client Collector ?

3- I heard ACC is only for Windows ? Is it true, if yes what are the options for Network Devices and Linux environment?

4- ACC are plugins through Now Store, is thee any cost involved ?

Thanks

[VivekSattanatha]

1- Agent Client Collector vs. Service Graph spoke ?

- Both are completely different features to populate CMDB data. ACC is an agent which will be installed on the target device, this will collect the information and send it to Servicenow instance via MId Server. The service graph connector is a plugin within Servicenow instance, using API the plugins will connect various third party systems like Intune, JAMF, etc. This will collect the information from those system and processed through Servicenow IRE engine.

2- Do we need Credentials for setting up Mid Server for Agent Client Collector ?

Yes, the agent needs to connect MID Server so you need credential to connect the MId server

3- I heard ACC is only for Windows ? Is it true, if yes what are the options for Network Devices and Linux environment?

There is linux version as well.

4- ACC are plugins through Now Store, is thee any cost involved ?

Yes it involves cost you need to check with your Servicenow rep for this.

Regards,

Vivek

[Greg Hubbard1 · Accepted solution]

Perhaps to amplify a little:

1- Agent Client Collector vs. Service Graph spoke ?

I think that Service Graphs are ServiceNow-supported connectors that bring external data into the CMDB.  Agent Client Collector Visibility (ACC-V) can provide some information for the CMDB.

As mentioned, Agent Client Collector is agent-based, so the agent must be installed on every monitored resource.  Agent Client Collector is more than discovery -- it also provides monitoring and metrics data collection.

2- Do we need Credentials for setting up Mid Server for Agent Client Collector ?

All MID Servers must have a connection to the ServiceNow instance -- this requires a user with the MID server role.

Each Agent Client Collector agent needs an authenticated connection to the MID server Websocket interface.  In recent releases, this is done using an API key that is shared among all MID servers connected to the same instance.  You will have to have to configure every Agent Client Collector agent with this key at time of installation.

3- I heard ACC is only for Windows ? Is it true, if yes what are the options for Network Devices and Linux environment?

As mentioned, there are Agent Client Collector agents available for "popular" Linux distributions. Macintosh support has recently been added but not all features are supported.  "Proprietary" Linux/UNIX systems are NOT supported, such as HP-UX, AIX, etc.

Agent Client Collector agents can be run in "proxy mode" which allows them to connect to remote systems to obtain status.  Some service check examples are provided that use SNMP to obtain information (i.e. to gather information from F5 load balancers).

If your interest is in discovery, I would favor the "agent less" discovery that is part of ITOM Visiblity, especially for SNMP and older *NIX systems.

4- ACC are plugins through Now Store, is thee any cost involved ?

The proper answer is "check with sales" but in general, Agent Client Collector is "no charge" for customers who are subscribed to ITOM Health, which usually includes ITOM Visibility.  The Agent Client Collector Log Analytics component is an additional charge.

Add the above together with Vivek's answer and you might have what you need!

Regards,

Greg Hubbard