--- sourceDocument: Yokohama IT Operations Management sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/yokohama/it-operations-management Release : - yokohama ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Yokohama IT Operations Management ft:clusterId : - itom bundleId : - itom workflow : - Technology --- # Using push-based Discovery and SAM together # Using push-based Discovery and SAM together {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Yokohama Updated March 12, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 6 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Using push-based Discovery and SAM together Agent Client Collector for Visibility Content (ACC-VC) integrates push-based Discovery with Software Asset Management (SAM) to optimize software data collection, supporting SAM basic metering and SAM total usage metrics on Windows and macOS. It captures last accessed times of installed software and populates the Software Update \[sampswusage\] table, enabling detailed software usage tracking. The integration avoids duplicate software installation records by using a unified discovery source and supports domain-separated software usage records based on the MID Server domain. Show full answer Show less ## Requirements and Configuration * **SAM Plugin:** The SAM plugin (com.snc.samp) must be enabled. * **System Properties:** Set `snaccviscontent.persistsamusagemetrics` to true to enable usage metrics persistence. * **User Permissions:** The ServiceNow user must have read access to the Windows registry UserAssist key for basic metering data collection. * **Registry Changes for Basic Metering:** On Windows, create specific registry keys to enable correct detection of usage data. * **Write Permissions:** Ensure write access to the ACC log folder. ## SAM Basic Metering This feature collects last accessed times for software by querying the UserAssist registry via OSQuery. Software usage data is persisted only if reclamation rules are enabled for the product, with flexibility to include or exclude licensable software via a system property. Common supported applications include WinZip, Google Chrome, Microsoft Office 365, and others. ## SAM Total Usage Metrics This allows measurement of total usage time and count for applications with reclamation rules enabled. It requires deploying **osqueryd**, a daemon that runs scheduled queries and logs data locally. Osqueryd must be manually installed and configured on Windows, using provided PowerShell scripts and configuration files. This setup supports domain-separated user mapping for organizations with multiple directories, configurable via a system property. Using process lists, SAM normalization maps running processes to installed software records, improving accuracy in usage data. ## Collecting SAM Metrics Without Osqueryd To improve efficiency, non-osqueryd data collection can be enabled by setting `snaccviscontent.enablesamcollectionwithoutosqueryd` to true. This requires ACC agents version 4.1.0 or later and specific OS permissions, such as running the ACC service as Local System on Windows or allowing passwordless osqueryi execution on macOS. ## Software Edition Information Starting with ACC-VC version 2.3.0, edition details for Adobe Acrobat and MS SQL Server are available. Osquery commands fetch this information and display it in the Software Installation \[cmdbsamswinstall\] table's Edition Override column, enhancing visibility for SAM administrators. ## Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers * Improved accuracy and completeness of software usage data through push-based Discovery integration. * Support for both basic and detailed usage metrics enables better license compliance and optimization. * Domain-aware usage tracking supports complex enterprise environments with multiple user domains. * Flexibility to choose between osqueryd and non-osqueryd data collection methods based on environment and performance needs. * Visibility into software editions assists in more precise asset management and licensing decisions. Agent Client Collector for Visibility Content (ACC-VC) collects installed software data for use cases for Software Asset Management (SAM), when the SAM plugin is installed. Using push-based Discovery and SAM together can help optimize software data collection with SAM basic metering and SAM total usage metrics. ACC-VC can capture the last accessed time for the software or applications that are installed on the target via push-based Discovery. This information along with the target CI reference, is added to the Software Update \[samp_sw_usage\] table. SAM Basic metering and SAM total usage metrics are supported for both Windows and macOS. The software usage records are domain separated. The records are populated with the domain of the MID Server that is used for the agent-based Discovery for the target. Note: For software installations (cmdb_sam_sw_install), to avoid insertion of duplicate records, the same discovery source "ServiceNow" is being used for both push-based Discovery and horizontal IP-based Discovery. When using ACC-VC to discover MSSQL components, run Discovery as a local system user. ## Requirements {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__section_p3x_kzk_25b} SAM basic metering and SAM total usage metrics : For SAM basic metering and SAM total usage metrics, the non-privileged servicenow user (which the agent service logs on as) must be configured with READ only access in the registry. This access allows for successful execution of the OSQuery against the UserAssist table to be successful. Go to regedit and allow the servicenow user to read UserAssist for a user account on the device (for example: HKEY_USERS\\SID...\\Software\\\\Microsoft\\\\Windows\\\\CurrentVersion\\\\Explorer\\\\UserAssist for every user in HKEY_USERS). Note: The UserAssist key does not inherit permissions from the HKEY_USERS\\SID... parent key. Therefore, you must navigate to the UserAssist key and add permission directly on the key. To apply SAM basic metering or SAM total usage metrics, you need the following: * SAM plugin (com.snc.samp) enabled * System property \[sn_acc_vis_content.persist_sam_usage_metrics\] set to true. See [System properties](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=r_AvailableSystemProperties&version=yokohama&pubname=yokohama-platform-administration&ft:locale=en-US) for more details. * Write permissions enabled for the log folder in the ACC install directory. {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_pbd_c1l_25b} For details on SAM metering setup with the Agent Client Collector, see the Knowledge Base article [KB1642676](https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB1642676). Software edition information : To retrieve software edition information, you need the SAM plugin (com.snc.samp) enabled. ## SAM basic metering {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__section_ays_kfh_vrb} Note: There is a configuration in the Windows operating system level that does not allow the correct detection of the data. Update the configuration so that the data can successfully be collected by the ACC-VC agent and brought to the ServiceNow platform correctly. In the Registry Editor, create the following keys in the path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Advanced. * Name: Start_TrackProgs * Base: Hexadecimal * Value:1 {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_xxv_hrx_dwb} * Name: Start_TrackProgsBase * Base: Hexadecimal * Value:1 {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_cmm_3rx_dwb} {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_wp5_drx_dwb} Figure 1. SAM basic metering flowchart For the list of software in the payload, query the Software Discovery Model \[cmdb_sam_sw_discovery_model\] table to fetch the corresponding product and publisher. Once the product is fetched, check if the reclamation rule is enabled for that product to persist the last usage information in the Software Usage \[samp_sw_usage\] table. See the flowchart for details. Note: In the target, query the last accessed time from the UserAssist table via the OSQuery by taking the application or software name as the input to the Query. Use the sn_acc_vis_content.disable_sam_reclamation_rules_for_licensable_softwares property to define reclamation rules for licensable software, as follows: * True: SAM usage is stored for all licensable software (with or without defined reclamation rules), and for any non-licensable software that has a reclamation rule defined. * False: Store SAM usage according to defined reclamation rules. {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_ohp_pnv_fzb} Common applications supported include: * WinZip * Google Chrome * Sublime Text * Notepad++ * Autodesk * Microsoft Office 365 * Tableau {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_lkg_hjz_z4b} ## SAM total usage metrics {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__section_jq3_qfh_vrb} SAM total usage metrics allows you to measure total usage time and total usage count on any application that has a software reclamation rule enabled. Osquery provides a daemon executable which can run as a service, called Osqueryd. Osqueryd needs to be manually deployed for SAM total usage metrics to work properly. Each Osqueryd deployment requires the osquery.conf file, optional external packs, and initialization flags (configured in osquery.flags file) provided when starting the service. In return, the daemon service runs scheduled queries on the host and logs it into a local file system. Note: Osquery supports filesystem-based logging by default. This configuration is provided in the osquery.conf file on any fresh Osquery installation. Osquery is not needed from an implementation or configuration viewpoint for basic metering. Total Usage metrics requires osqueryd to be installed separately. Domain information can be collected during the data collection. This can help large organizations with multiple employee directories map software to the correct user. Currently, this is supported for Windows only. To map the software usage/assigned_to with the correct user in a domain separated environment, use the system property \[sn_acc_vis_content.column_name_for_user_mapping\] with a valid field name. By default, the value of this system property is empty which means it only validates the username and not the domain. You can use either of the following formats to validate username and domain: username@domain or domain\\username. Figure 2. SAM total usage metrics flowchart Using the list of processes, you can perform SAM normalization to map the processes for the relevant installed software records. This provides flexibility since installed software names and processes are not usually the same. For the list of processes in the payload, query the Software Discovery Model \[cmdb_sam_sw_discovery_model\] table and Software Product \[samp_sw_product\] table to fetch the corresponding product and publisher. Once the product is fetched, check if the reclamation rule is enabled for that product to persist the total usage time in the Software Usage \[samp_sw_usage\] table. See the flowchart for details. install and configure Osqueryd for Windows using the following script. # Install latest osquery $msi = "osquery-5.7.0.msi" $url = "https://pkg.osquery.io/windows/$msi" $dst = "$PSScriptRoot\$msi" Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $dst # msiexec /i "$dst" /quiet /qn /norestart Start-Process msiexec.exe -Wait "/i $dst /quiet /qn /norestart" # Configure osqueryd service $flags = "--logger_rotate=true --logger_rotate_size=26214400 --logger_rotate_max_files=1 --watchdog_level=-1 --config_path=C:\Program Files\osquery\osquery-sam.conf" Set-Content -Path 'C:\Program Files\osquery\osquery.flags.default' -Value "$flags" $conf = @' { "options": { "config_plugin": "filesystem", "logger_plugin": "filesystem", "utc": "true" }, "schedule": { "sam_process_info": { "query": "SELECT name, pid, elapsed_time, start_time, user_time, system_time, username FROM processes p JOIN users u ON u.uid = p.uid WHERE p.elapsed_time != -1 AND u.type != 'special';", "snapshot" : true, "interval": 300 }, "system_info": { "query": "SELECT hostname, cpu_brand, physical_memory FROM system_info;", "interval": 3600 } }, "decorators": { "load": [ "SELECT uuid AS host_uuid FROM system_info;", "SELECT user AS username FROM logged_in_users ORDER BY time DESC LIMIT 1;" ] }, "packs": { } } '@ Set-Content -Path 'C:\Program Files\osquery\osquery-sam.conf' -Value "$conf" cd 'C:\Program Files\osquery' .\manage-osqueryd.ps1 -uninstall .\manage-osqueryd.ps1 -install Restart-Service osqueryd For details on Windows and macOS see [Configure Osqueryd schedule for SAM total usage metrics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/klINU_sfJ5YO_UUYoFnZnA "SAM total usage metrics works by relying on the Osqueryd service running on the target host. Configure the Osqueryd service to run the required schedule Osquery on the host.") and [Configure Osqueryd logs for SAM total usage metrics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/APKPdoS4GVpJnPbzoA_ASw "By default, Osquery supports log rotation based on size. To enable it for SAM total usage metrics and to configure the log size and rotation, you need to add specific flags for Osqueryd service."). ## Collecting SAM metrics without osqueryd {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__section_b35_w5z_wfc} Optionally, you can enhance efficiency by using non-osqueryd data collection when using push-based Discovery and Software Asset Management (SAM) together. When non-osqueryd data collection is invoked, data collection is automatically performed on all available agents, instead of invoking osqueryd on each agent individually. To perform non-osqueryd data collection: 1. Ensure that the following permissions are configured for the relevant OS: * Windows: The ACC service must run as the Local System account. Set the ACC service's Log On As value to Local System. * macOS: The servicenow user must be able to run osqueryi without a password.. {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_rlm_grq_tfc} 2. On the System Properties page (AllSystem propertiesAll properties), set the sn_acc_vis_content.enable_sam_collection_without_osqueryd property to true. Note: Enable this property only when all agents are version 4.1.0 or later. {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ol_kh2_mqq_tfc} ## Software edition information {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__section_sys_1bl_25b} Starting in ACC-VC version 2.3.0, edition information is supported for Adobe Acrobat and MS SQL server. With this feature, SAM admins can get clear visibility into the editions of their installed software. Osquery commands are used to fetch the edition information which then shows in the Software Installation \[cmdb_sam_sw_install\] table in the Edition Override column. For more details, see the support KB: [https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view\&sysparm_article=KB0721360](https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0721360) **Related tasks** * [Configure Osqueryd schedule for SAM total usage metrics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/klINU_sfJ5YO_UUYoFnZnA "SAM total usage metrics works by relying on the Osqueryd service running on the target host. Configure the Osqueryd service to run the required schedule Osquery on the host.") * [Configure Osqueryd logs for SAM total usage metrics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/APKPdoS4GVpJnPbzoA_ASw "By default, Osquery supports log rotation based on size. To enable it for SAM total usage metrics and to configure the log size and rotation, you need to add specific flags for Osqueryd service.") *[\>]: and then