How to consume the vCenter data that we brought in from vCenter discovery?

[Ravish Shetty]

Hi all,

We did some proof of concept work on getting vCenter data into ServiceNow using discovery and now we need to demo the data what we have. I see ESX server, VM instance and many other related records. 

I wanted to know what is the best way to demo this data.

I don't have much infra knowledge but know the basics. Should we pick a VM instance and show the dependency view (relationships) 1 level deep? 

Or is there some better way to show what we got and why the data would add value in ITSM process.

Thanks,

Ravish

[Tanushree Maiti]

Hi @Ravish Shetty 

As per KB : KB0750033 Discovery not populating IP address field for vCenter ESX server CIs 

DNS Lookup is required to allow vCenter Discovery to collect the IP address information from the ESX servers. 

Also check: KB0813327 Understand vCenter Discovery process and troubleshooting 

Servicenow vCenter Discovery | Step by step Discovering VMware using vCenter Discovery.

[Sam Webb]

Ravish,

While it's admirable that you've got vCenter discovery working - I caution you against putting data in the CMDB for the laugh. I have seen many CMDB implementations go awry because requirements weren't collected.

I would recommend that you speak with the team that owns/operates the vCenters and try to capture some requirements from there. You might want to start with such examples as being able to:

• Tag the correct VM onto a standard change to vmotion something (if you need a change to do so)
• Put VMs onto patching schedules
• Be able to select a VM via the catalogue to request a memory increase,

...and so on.

My point is - it might be your job to get the data into the CMDB, but it's your IT organisations job to tell you why they want it there.

Thanks,
Sam

[thomasbueck]

@Ravish Shetty 
I can only agree to the comment from @Sam Webb .
The vms are 'only' the twin brother of computers and servers with the same name.
This concept is most of the time hard to explain and will not be understood by non-cloud engineers.
And on top who needs vm templates in ServiceNow?
If you have a valid use case, you can add the data. I would not doing it only because you can.