Query about CI relationships of deleted CIs, CMDB CI licensing

[Supratik1]

Hi All,

We are performing a cleanup activity of CMDB , by deleting specific CI data from tables due to licensing constraints. 

The records which we are wanting to delete, also contain certain upstream and downstream relationships to other CIs. For example, in the screenshot below, the Virtual Machine Instance CI record I want to delete, has upstream relationship with another ESX server, and downstream relationships with vCenter folder and vCenter datastore CIs.

 

My query is the following: If I delete the above CI record, will it lead to creation of any orphan records in CMDB, which in turn may affect the ITSM processes?

Additionally, is there any other way to restrict licensing of CIs by deactivating/disabling them in any way? Please suggest with your valuable inputs.

Thanks a lot in advance!

[SiD2]

Hi @Supratik,

When you delete a CI you would get an alert that related CIs will also get deleted and as well the relationship entries with those related CIs. So I believe there will not be an issue with orphaned records.

On licensing side, i'm not much aware, @Ashutosh Munot any idea?

Please mark the appropriate responses as Correct/Helpful so that this thread gets closed and helps others with the same question in the future.

[Rahul Priyadars · Accepted solution]

In Terms of ITSM and CMDB there is nothing called Licensing based on CIs.

Licensing comes into Picture when you use ITOM like Discovery and Event Management licenses/Subscription are based on Host/Node.

Point here is Host/Node is not active on Network then obviously it will not be discovered and no event will come So when u disable the CI record it will work and License will be excluded.

Hope this helps.

Regards

RP

[Supratik1]

Hi Rahul,

Thanks for the insightful reply.

Could you please let me know if there is a provision within ServiceNow to 'disable' the CI such that license will be excluded, as you mentioned in the latter part of your reply?

Additionally, isn't Discovery licensing based on the cmdb_ci_server table, with most recent discovery < last 90 days? The screenshot you have provided in the reply is of some other table, could you also please let me know the difference between the two, i.e. which table should be referenced for correct licensing information?

Regards,

Supratik

[Rahul Priyadars]

Screen-Shot which i replied is taken from ITOM Event Management - How Service Now Job Calculates Licenses For ITOM Event Management.

If Remember Discovery Licenses is also based on Per Device/Host/Node Per Month Subscription.

Could you please let me know if there is a provision within ServiceNow to 'disable' the CI such that license will be excluded---> Question here is is given CI is still active and Discoverable? So it does not matter you make CI disable/Retire in CMDB. So i assume even though CI is inactive in CMDB and Last SCAN is recent it will add the cost.

 isn't Discovery licensing based on the cmdb_ci_server table, with most recent discovery < last 90 days?--> You are Close The licensing module aggregates CI counts from IT Operations Management applications to get the daily average CI count for the last 90 days.

As per Service Now Docs

=============

ServiceNow® ITOM Discovery is a subset of ITOM Visibility that is also based on subscription units. ITOM Discovery includes the following basic features: ServiceNow Discovery, Service Graph Connectors, and Multisource CMDB. ServiceNow® Discovery finds applications and devices on your network, and then updates the CMDB. Service Graph Connectors supplement the population of the CMDB, while Multisource CMDB retains complete history of discovery sources and proposed values.ITOM Discovery provides the count of CIs found by ServiceNow Discovery and brought in by Service Graph Connectors. ITOM Discovery reports the count for CIs of the following CI categories: Servers, PaaS, and Containers.

=============

Refer below URL for License details.

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/paris-it-operations-management/page/product/it-operations-management/task/check-ci-count.html

Hope This helps.

Regards

RP