Install status of IP Switch

[NicoleHollihan]

I have one IP switch that was decommissioned a few months ago. It is not being discovered but the record is still showing up. It will not hit my archive policy because the "Install Status" is still showing "Installed". What could be triggering this to not have changed to  retired to absent when the switch was decommissioned? 

Thank you

[wojasso]

Hi @NicoleHollihan

Discovery doesn’t automatically change a CI’s install status when it stops being found. The Install status field is only updated by scheduled jobs or manual actions. To ensure your archived IP switch is retired or absent, follow these steps:

• Check the system properties glide.discovery.retire_missing_cis and glide.discovery.absent_cis. When enabled, the missing CI scheduled job will mark CIs as Retired or Absent after they have not been discovered for several cycles.
• Make sure the Mark Missing CIs as Retired scheduled job is active. It runs after each discovery and updates install_status for CIs that are no longer discovered.
• If you need to update a single CI immediately, you can set its Install status to Retired or Absent manually or through a script. For example, the following script sets a CI’s install status to Retired:

var ci = new GlideRecord('cmdb_ci');
ci.addQuery('name', 'YourSwitchName');
ci.query();
while(ci.next()) {
  ci.install_status = 7; // 7 = Retired
  ci.update();
}

• Ensure no other discovery sources (e.g., SCCM imports or manual updates) are setting the status back to Installed.
• Once the status is updated and the CI meets your archive retention policy, the archive job will remove it automatically.

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[AJ-TechTrek]

Hi @NicoleHollihan ,

Why the switch is still showing as “Installed” even though it’s decommissioned:

* Discovery updates the Install Status field based on whether the CI is seen (discovered) or not, combined with the Retire / Absent rules configured in Identification and Reconciliation.
* If Discovery stops seeing a CI and the retire policy or absent policy is properly configured, Discovery should automatically update the Install Status to:
* “Retired” – when the CI is no longer in use and confirmed as decommissioned.
* “Absent” – when the CI stops being seen but is not officially decommissioned.
* But:
* If there is no discovery schedule running that targets this CI’s IP anymore, Discovery won’t mark it absent/retired.
* If retire rules or absent rules aren’t defined (or are disabled), Discovery won’t change the status.
* If the CI was manually excluded from discovery or moved out of the discovery schedule’s IP range/subnet, it won’t trigger the rule.
* CMDB data sources (like manual updates or integrations) might still mark the device as “Installed.”

Solution / troubleshooting:

1. Check if there is still an active discovery schedule covering the switch’s IP
* Go to Discovery Schedules → search for schedules targeting this device’s IP/subnet.
* If the switch’s IP is no longer in the scope, Discovery won’t know it disappeared.

2. Review and configure Retire / Absent rules
* Navigate to:
CMDB → Administration → CMDB Identification → Retire Rules
and
CMDB → Administration → CMDB Identification → Absent Rules.
* Make sure there’s a rule for the cmdb_ci_ip_switch class (or parent class) to change Install Status to “Retired” or “Absent” if the device is not seen for X days.

3. Check if the CI is still getting updates from another data source
* Check the Data Source (Discovery Source) field on the CI.
* If another source (like a manual import, SCCM, etc.) keeps updating the CI, it will keep the status as “Installed.”

4. Check Discovery logs
* Go to Discovery Status → Discovery Log.
* Look for any logs about the device’s IP.
* Confirm whether it’s truly not being discovered or Discovery is still finding it.

5. Manually update if truly decommissioned
If the switch has been formally decommissioned and won’t ever come back:
* Update the Install Status to “Retired.”
* Optionally add Retired Date and update operational status.

My Tips on that -
If you have lots of devices decommissioned outside Discovery, consider:
* Creating a custom retire policy based on the last_discovered date.
* Automatically marking devices as Retired if last_discovered is older than, e.g., 90 days.

Reason why this happened:
* No active discovery schedule → Discovery won’t see it’s missing.
* No retire/absent rule → CI remains “Installed.”
* Another data source might still push it as “Installed.”

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Thank You
AJ - TechTrek with AJ
LinkedIn:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajay-kumar-66a91385/
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ServiceNow Community MVP 2025