Telecom Discovery using Telecommunications Discovery Patterns

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Telecom Discovery using Telecommunications Discovery Patterns

    Telecom Discovery using Telecommunications Discovery Patterns (TSOM Patterns) in ServiceNow Yokohama release enables discovery of standalone telecom network elements (xNFs) such as routers and switches without relying on management systems. It leverages Horizontal Discovery, a scalable engine that collects multi-layer infrastructure data across network, IT, and cloud environments, providing a comprehensive infrastructure view.

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    These patterns support protocols including SNMP, CLI, and NETCONF (planned), and are designed to discover detailed attributes and relationships of network devices beyond basic ITOM Discovery capabilities. The solution integrates with core ServiceNow components like MID Server for communication with external devices, the Identification & Reconciliation Engine (IRE) for data integrity, and CMDB Compliance for auditing and resolving data discrepancies.

    Key Features

    • Telecommunications Discovery Patterns (TSOM Patterns): Preconfigured sequences of commands to identify telecom devices and their connections, supporting both standard and vendor-specific MIBs.
    • Standalone xNF Discovery: Enables discovery of telecom routers and switches directly via SNMP and CLI without management system dependency.
    • Integration with MID Server: Facilitates secure communication between ServiceNow and network devices within the customer environment.
    • Identification & Reconciliation Engine (IRE): Ensures CMDB data accuracy by identifying and reconciling discrepancies from multiple data sources.
    • CMDB Compliance Certification Audits: Automates discovery and remediation of CMDB discrepancies to maintain data integrity.
    • Extended Discovery Capabilities: TSOM patterns uncover deeper CI hierarchies and more attributes compared to standard ITOM Discovery, including discrepancy detection and remediation out of the box.
    • Customizable Pattern Execution: Customers can choose to run TSOM patterns alone or alongside ITOM patterns via a system property, enabling flexible discovery workflows.
    • TNI Model Compliance: Discovery results conform to the Telecommunications Network Inventory (TNI) data model, accurately representing complex device hierarchies like card-on-card structures.
    • Device-Specific Patterns: Includes specialized patterns for devices such as Cisco 7613 routers, Juniper MX SSH routers, and Cisco switches, available via updates from the ServiceNow Store.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Enables comprehensive and accurate discovery of telecom network devices without dependence on vendor management systems.
    • Improves CMDB accuracy and reliability with automated discrepancy identification and remediation workflows.
    • Supports vendor-specific and proprietary protocols and MIBs, enhancing discovery depth and precision.
    • Integrates seamlessly with existing ServiceNow discovery and CMDB management tools and frameworks.
    • Allows flexible configuration and extension of discovery patterns to meet unique network environments and requirements.

    Configuration and Deployment

    Setting up Telecommunications Discovery Patterns requires installing the TSOM Patterns plugin and configuring dependencies such as the MID Server and IRE. Customers can update and customize patterns from the ServiceNow Store to support specific network devices. The system property sntsompatterns.itompatternenabled controls whether TSOM patterns execute alongside ITOM patterns, offering customization of discovery execution.

    The new Telecommunication Discovery Patterns (also known as TSOM Patterns) include patterns for discovering standalone xNFs, enabling the discovery of standalone network elements without a management system, using SNMP, CLI, and NETCONF (roadmap) protocols.

    Architecture using Horizontal Discovery and Telecommunications Discovery Patterns

    This is an example of the implementation for standalone SNMP or/and CLI xNFs.discovery and telecommunications discovery pattern.

    Horizontal Discovery Application

    The Horizontal Discovery application in ServiceNow is a versatile and highly scalable discovery engine designed to operate effectively across network, IT, and cloud environments, collecting data across multiple layers to provide a holistic view of the infrastructure.

    For more information, see Horizontal discovery process flow with patterns.

    Telecommunications Discovery Patterns (TSOM Patterns)

    A pattern is a sequence of commands designed to detect attributes of a configuration item (CI) and its outbound connections. Telecom Discovery provides a set of preconfigured Patterns that cover a wide range of network elements. The TSOM Discovery Patterns fall under the infrastructure category, which are used by Horizontal Discovery to generate lists and resource structure of xNFs.

    This plugin introduces Patterns for discovering standalone xNFs, such as telecom routers and switches (with support for other device types planned in the future) that don’t rely on a management system or require direct discovery by bypassing their management systems. Additionally, custom patterns are included for verifying various network devices. This is a customer-visible plugin.

    MID Server

    MID Server is a Java application that runs as a Windows service or UNIX daemon on a server within your local network. The ServiceNow® MID Server facilitates communication and data transfer between a ServiceNow instance and external applications, data sources, and services.

    For more information, see MID Server.

    Identification & Reconciliation Engine (IRE)

    IRE offers a centralized framework for identifying and reconciling data from multiple sources. It verifies the integrity of the CMDB and some non-CMDB tables when various data sources are used to create or update CI records.

    For more information, see Telecom Discrepancy Identification and Reconciliation.

    CMDB Compliance Certification Audits for Telecom Discrepancy Identification & Reconciliation

    CMDB Compliance is a toolset that enables administrators to certify CMDB data for accuracy and resolve any discrepancies found. In Telecom Discrepancy Identification & Reconciliation, we use the Certification Audits feature to discover and analyze discrepancies in the CMDB, generate Certification Follow-on Tasks, and enable remediation workflows.

    For more information on how it’s used for Discrepancy Identification & Reconciliation, see Telecom Discrepancy Identification and Reconciliation.

    ITOM vs TSOM Discovery Behavior for Stand-alone SNMP or/and CLI xNFs

    ITOM Discovery TSOM Discovery (Telecom)
    Based on Horizontal Discovery Patterns. Based on Horizontal Discovery Patterns (for Telecommunications).
    Discover basic equipment flat information which is primarily used for the IT purposes. Discover more attributes and a deeper CI hierarchy based on equipment type.
    Only standard MIBs are supported. Both standard and vendor proprietary MIBs are supported.
    No discrepancy detection and remediation available OOB. Discrepancy detection and automatic or manual remediation available OOB.
    • Telecom Discovery is built on the ITOM Discovery application, leveraging the Nebula Discovery Language (NDL).
    • The solution includes a set of telecom-specific patterns and system properties.
    • Users can choose whether to run TSOM or ITOM patterns.
    • Customers can extend TSOM patterns or create their own if necessary.
    • There’s no dependency between TSOM Visibility and Telecom Network Inventory (TNI).

    Logic added to Telecom Discovery

    Users can define whether they want to use Telecommunications Discovery Patterns (also known as TSOM patterns) with ITOM patterns for execution. By default, all patterns created in TSOM/Telecom Discovery execute the original ITOM pattern (for example, the 'Telco Router' pattern also executes the 'Router' pattern). However, customers have the option to choose whether they want to execute only the TSOM pattern and exclude the ITOM pattern.

    This parameter affects only the patterns developed as part of the TSOM Patterns application for Telco customers. If the property is set to true (default), the TSOM pattern will also execute specific ITOM shared libraries from the TSOM pattern.

    This logic is controlled via the system property: sn_tsom_patterns.itom_pattern_enabled.

    Follows the TNI model – Telecommunications Discovery Patterns always follow the TNI data model. This means that if Telecom Discovery identifies a card-on-card scenario, it doesn’t insert it as a card-on-card. Instead, it modifies the structure by synthesizing a subslot on the parent card and inserting the child card into that subslot.

    TNI entity creation logic – Whenever the system identifies that the customer has TNI installed, it will automatically create a TNI entity record for all network data discovered. If TNI is installed, a payload like the one below will be added to the IRE payload for each item. As a result, the discovered CI is in both the cmdb_ci and tni_entity tables.