The system property - glide.asset.create_ci_with_ire

[Anish Reghu]

The titled system property enables CIs to be created from assets using the ServiceNow® Configuration Management Database (CMDB) Identification and Reconciliation engine (IRE). This property affects CI classes that have an identification rule on serial number and have no dependent relationships with other CI classes. CI classes that are extended from the hardware CI class [cmdb_ci_hardware] are also created from assets using the IRE, but are not controlled by this property.

What exactly does it mean when the Product documentation says - not controlled by this property. Can someone cite with an example?

Cheers,

Anish

[CMDB Whisperer]

When the documentation says "CI classes that are extended from the hardware CI class [cmdb_ci_hardware] are also created from assets using the IRE, but are not controlled by this property" what they mean is that all hardware CIs are always created using the IRE when triggered by an asset creation, regardless of the value of this property.

[Anish Reghu]

Thanks for rephrasing, but still the questions remain...

a) Is that how 'all' hardware assets from assets are created in ServiceNow CMDB?

b) According to ServiceNow, the system property enables CIs to be created. So, if the value is false, it indicates that the reverse happens? CIs won't be created? Then how does it become 'always' creates via IRE?

Sorry, for the confusion, but the statement in Product documentation is confusing to interpret.

Regards,

Anish

[CMDB Whisperer · Accepted solution]

The question isn't whether the CI will be created but how the CI will be created.  Regardless of the property defined, ServiceNow will still attempt to create a CI (if the Model Category is defined accordingly).  If the Asset is a Hardware Asset, then it will always use the IRE to create the CI.  This was a new feature that was added recently.  Prior to this feature the CI was created directly by a business rule.  Now that this feature has been added, the IRE will be used to create the CI whenever it is a Hardware Asset or when this property is enabled.

Why does this matter?  Because when the IRE is enabled, that means it will use the identification rules to find the appropriate CI.  And if this results in duplication, it will not just cause the CI not to be created, it will actually abort the creation of the Asset as well.

For example, let's say you have a Computer CI called COMPUTER01 with a serial number of 0123456789.  Then you try to create a Hardware Asset with a Model Category of Computer and a serial number of 0123456789.  Since the IRE will be used to create the matching Computer record, it will pass this information to the IRE, which will then indicate there is already a Computer record with that serial number, and thus a CI cannot be created.  As a result this will actually cause the Asset creation to be aborted.  This will happen for all Hardware assets.  But if you set the property in question to true, this behavior will also happen for non-Hardware assets.  If you set the property to false then non-Hardware assets will go through the direct creation method, not using the IRE, and it is therefore possible that this will result in the creation of duplicate CI records.

Please mark my answer as Helpful and/or Correct Answer if this addressed your question.