ServiceNow On-Prem Discovery of AWS – MID Server vs API

zeevz
Kilo Contributor

3 weeks ago

 

Question

We are running ServiceNow On-Prem, while our applications and infrastructure are hosted in AWS.

Our objectives are:

  • Discover AWS infrastructure and application components

  • Populate an accurate CMDB

  • Build service and dependency mappings

  • Use Operational / ITOM dashboards

We are evaluating our architecture and would like to understand best practices from the community:

  1. Is deploying a MID Server inside AWS (VPC) required to achieve proper Discovery and Service Mapping?

  2. Can AWS API / Cloud Discovery alone provide sufficient data for CMDB and service mapping, without a MID Server?

  3. What are the main limitations when relying on API-based discovery only?

  4. Are hybrid approaches (API for inventory + MID for critical services) commonly used and recommended?

Any real-world experience or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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Ram Devanathan1
ServiceNow Employee
ServiceNow Employee

3 weeks ago

i am going to use the relevant terms - when you say api you mean servicegraph connector, and when you say cloud discovery (which also uses api) it is via patterns - which requires mid.

 

mid is needed if you are going via patterns, i would also recommend this approach.

the mid can be anywhere, so long as it is able to access aws endpoint.

main limitation of the servicegraph connector it that it lacks metrics that patterns will get. you can refer her for more details.

https://www.servicenow.com/docs/bundle/zurich-it-operations-management/page/product/it-operations-ma...

 

with the latest updates on patterns you can also discover OS info from the compute servers in ec2 -

https://www.servicenow.com/community/itom-blog/unlocking-next-level-cloud-visibility-servicenow-disc...

 

hth

Ram

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