Role of ecmdb_admin vs. discovery_admin

[allashendler]

Hello All.

I am rather new at the Service Now CMDB. Can someone explain what is the difference between the role of ecmdb_admin vs. discovery_admin. I understand that the role of ecmdb_admin is contained within discovery_admin. So, what is the purpose of the ecmdb_admin role? Who would you give that role to as opposed to who should get the role of discover_admin. What can ecmdb_adimin do? In the documentation it states that cmdb_admin 'Can manage the Enterprise CMDB', yet it is a smaller (fewer permissions) than the discovery_admin. The description of discovery_admin is as follows: "Can access the "Discovery" and "Discovery Definition" applications to configure, monitor and run Discovery operations. Can Schedule".   So, again I am trying to understand when to assign ecmdb_admin role as opposed to discovery-admin, and what is it the ecmdb_admin can actually do? Thank you.

[Chuck Tomasi]

Hi Alla,

A quick look tells me that ecmdb_admin is available without installing Discovery. This is your Enterprise CMDB Admin. Modules available to this user include the Dependency Views.

discovery_admin is just what it sounds like - an admin that manages and maintains the discovery configuration. As with any security, only grant the roles required to the job, and not more.

If you don't want someone accidentally fiddling with your Discovery schedules, don't grant them discover_admin role.

http://wiki.servicenow.com/index.php?title=Base_System_Roles

[allashendler]

Hi Chuck. Thank you for your answer. So, may I ask how would the role of ecmdb_admin be used? Who would need it, what can a person with this role do?

[angeliccharm]

Hi Alla,

Hoping this answer helps you to understand the role a bit better. As you know, this role allows the person to manage the Enterprise CMDB, but what that really means is it gives them access to the Dependency Views application within ServiceNow. Why is this important/needed? Dependency Views graphically displays an infrastructure view for a CI (configuration item), along with the business services that it is part of and that it supports.