Oracle discovery using Kerberos and Oracle CMU

[BehrouzK]

Good day experts,

We have Oracle databases running on both Windows and Linux servers. Currently, we use local database accounts for authentication and discovery of Oracle instances, and some Oracle instances are discovered through OS-level discovery.

We are evaluating whether Kerberos authentication or Oracle Centrally Managed Users (CMU) can be leveraged as alternative authentication methods for Oracle database discovery on both Windows and Linux platforms.

We would appreciate any guidance, recommendations, or experiences regarding the feasibility, prerequisites, limitations, and best practices for using Kerberos or Oracle CMU in support of Oracle discovery.

Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[shubhamseth]

@BehrouzK 

Kerberos and Oracle CMU are supported by Oracle for database authentication, but ServiceNow Discovery does not natively support them as authentication methods for Oracle database discovery.

For Oracle Discovery, the supported and most commonly implemented approaches are:

• Oracle database credentials (preferred)
• OS credentials (SSH for Linux, PowerShell/WMI for Windows) where applicable

If your organization mandates Kerberos or CMU, you'll need to validate whether the underlying Oracle client on the MID Server can authenticate using those mechanisms. Even then, there is no OOB Discovery pattern or credential type that supports Kerberos/CMU for Oracle database discovery.

Before moving away from local database accounts, I'd recommend confirming:

• Which Oracle Discovery pattern and ServiceNow release you're using.
• Whether the Oracle client installed on the MID Server is configured for Kerberos/CMU.
• Whether a proof of concept can successfully connect using the same authentication method outside of ServiceNow.

In most enterprise implementations, customers continue using dedicated read-only Oracle discovery accounts because they are fully supported, simpler to maintain, and align with the OOB Discovery patterns.