VMware NSX-T cluster pattern-based discovery
Summarize
Summary of VMware NSX-T cluster pattern-based discovery
The VMware NSX-T cluster pattern in the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application enables ServiceNow customers to discover and map VMware NSX-T infrastructure components within their Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This pattern identifies NSX-T elements such as management clusters, nodes, gateways, transport nodes, and segments, along with their relationships. Accurate discovery requires the latest version of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns app and proper NSX-T API access credentials.
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Prerequisites
- Ensure CMDB CI Class Models, Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns, and Visibility Content applications are up to date.
- Create an applicative credential alias with sufficient permissions to access NSX-T APIs required for discovery.
- Configure NSX-T API credential with rights to perform session creation and retrieve cluster, node, segment, gateway, and transport zone information.
- Set up a serverless discovery schedule to automate NSX-T cluster discovery runs.
Data Model and Discovered Resources
When the NSX Cluster pattern runs, it populates various CMDB tables representing NSX-T resources:
- NSX Management Cluster: Includes cluster IP, status, and operational information.
- Management Cluster Nodes and Node Groups: Node details such as FQDN, status, and group associations.
- Transport Nodes and Zones: Host types, IPs, operational statuses, and zone types (e.g., OVERLAY or VLAN).
- Edge Clusters, Virtual Switches, Gateways, and Segments: Configuration and operational data including HA modes, tier types, and forwarding modes.
- IP Addresses: Linked to transport nodes for network mapping.
Relationships and References
The discovery pattern automatically creates comprehensive CI relationships to represent how NSX-T components interconnect, such as management cluster nodes being members of clusters, gateways managing clusters, and transport nodes owning IP addresses. These relationships enable dependency views in ServiceNow, helping customers visualize NSX-T infrastructure dependencies clearly.
Tag and Metadata Collection
NSX-T resource tags and external system metadata are collected and stored in dedicated CMDB tables. This enhances resource context and supports further integrations or reporting needs by associating key-value pairs with discovered CIs.
Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers
- Automated and accurate discovery of VMware NSX-T environments into the CMDB.
- Visibility into NSX-T cluster components and their dependencies for impact analysis and service mapping.
- Centralized management of NSX-T infrastructure data supporting IT operations and change management processes.
- Configurable schedules and credentials to tailor discovery runs securely and efficiently.
Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns uses the NSX Cluster pattern to find VMware NSX-T infrastructure. Discovering some of these resources may require updating to the latest version of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application from the ServiceNow Store.
Request new or enhanced Patterns on the ServiceNow® Store
Visit the ServiceNow Store to view all the available updates and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.
NSX Cluster data model
The following diagram illustrates the tables and relationships that the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application creates when discovering NSX-T infrastructure resources.
Prerequisites
- Verify that the following applications are up to date
-
- CMDB CI Class Models
- Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns
- Visibility Content
- Configure a credential alias
- For more information, see Create an applicative credential alias for NSX-T cluster discovery.
- Verify NSX-T API access and permissions
-
Verify that the credential has sufficient permissions to execute the following NSX-T API calls:
POST /api/session/createGET /api/v1/cluster/statusGET /api/v1/nodeGET /policy/api/v1/infra/segmentsGET /policy/api/v1/infra/tier-0sGET /policy/api/v1/infra/tier-1sGET /api/v1/transport-nodesGET /api/v1/transport-zonesGET /api/v1/fabric/virtual-switches/GET /api/v1/edge-clusters
- Create a serverless discovery schedule
- For more information, see Create a serverless schedule for NSX-T cluster discovery.
Data collected by Discovery during horizontal discovery
Discovery populates the data in the CMDB when running the NSX Cluster pattern.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name [name] | IP address of the NSX Management Cluster. |
| IP Address [ip_address] | IP address of the NSX Management Cluster. |
| Cluster Status [cluster_status] | Status of the management cluster as reported by the NSX-T API. |
| Operational status [operational_status] | Operational status of the resource, derived from the cluster status. |
| Install Status [install_status] | Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed. |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name [name] | Display name of the cluster node, derived from the node's fully qualified domain name (FQDN). |
| ID [nsx_node_id] | Unique identifier of the NSX Manager node. |
| Fully qualified domain name [fqdn] | FQDN of the node. |
| Node Status [node_status] | Status of the node as reported by the NSX-T API. |
| Operational status [operational_status] | Operational status of the resource, derived from the node status. |
| Install Status [install_status] | Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed. |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name [name] | Concatenation of the cluster IP address and the group type. For example: |
| Object ID [object_id] | Group ID assigned by NSX-T. |
| Operational status [operational_status] | Operational status of the resource, derived from the group status. |
| Install Status [install_status] | Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed. |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name [name] | Display name of the transport node, derived from the host FQDN or virtual machine (VM) display name. |
| Object ID [object_id] | Unique identifier of the transport node. |
| Host Type [host_type] | Type of the transport node host. For example: ESXi, KVM, or Edge. |
| Host Name [host_name] | Host name of the transport node. |
| Host ID [host_id] | Identifier of the host running the transport node. |
| Fully qualified domain name [fqdn] | FQDN of the transport node. |
| IP Address [ip_address] | IP address of the transport node. |
| Operational status [operational_status] | Operational status of the resource. Default value is Operational. |
| Install Status [install_status] | Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed. |
| Description [short_description] | User-provided description of the transport node. |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name [name] | Display name of the transport zone. |
| Object ID [object_id] | Unique identifier of the transport zone. |
| Transport Type [transport_type] | Transport type of the zone. For example: OVERLAY or VLAN. |
| Forwarding Mode [forwarding_mode] | Forwarding mode of the transport zone. |
| Is Default [is_default] | Indicates whether this is the default transport zone. |
| Operational status [operational_status] | Operational status of the resource. The value is set to Operational. |
| Install Status [install_status] | Install status of the resource. The value is set to Installed. |
| Description [short_description] | User-provided description of the transport zone. |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name [name] | Display name of the edge cluster group. |
| Object ID [object_id] | Unique identifier of the edge cluster. |
| Node Type [node_type] | Type of edge node in the cluster. |
| Inter Site Forwarding [enable_inter_site_forwarding] | Indicates whether inter-site forwarding is enabled for this edge cluster. |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name [name] | Display name of the virtual switch. |
| Object ID [object_id] | Unique identifier of the virtual switch. |
| CM Local ID [cm_local_id] | Local identifier assigned by the compute manager. |
| Origin ID [origin_id] | Origin identifier of the virtual switch resource. |
| Operational status [operational_status] | Operational status of the resource. Default value is Operational. |
| Install Status [install_status] | Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed. |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name [name] | Display name of the gateway. |
| Object ID [object_id] | Unique identifier of the gateway. |
| Tier Type [tier_type] | Tier type of the gateway: Tier-0 or Tier-1. |
| HA Mode [ha_mode] | High-availability mode of the gateway. |
| Failover Mode [failover_mode] | Failover mode of the gateway. |
| Operational status [operational_status] | Operational status of the resource. Default value is Operational. |
| Install Status [install_status] | Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed. |
| Description [short_description] | User-provided description of the gateway resource. |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name [name] | Display name of the segment. |
| Object ID [object_id] | Unique identifier of the segment. |
| Operational status [operational_status] | Operational status of the resource, derived from the resource state. |
| Install Status [install_status] | Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed. |
| Description [short_description] | User-provided description of the segment resource. |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| IP Address [ip_address] | IP address of the transport node. |
Dependency Views map
On the Dependency Views map, you can view discovered NSX-T cluster resources and the relationships between them.
CI relationships
The NSX Cluster pattern creates the following relationships and references to support NSX-T cluster discovery. References link to records in other tables and don't appear in the CI Relationship [cmdb_rel_ci] table.
| CI | Relationship | CI |
|---|---|---|
| NSX Management Cluster Node [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster_node] | Members::Member of | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Gateway Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_gateway_resource] | Managed by::Manages | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Gateway Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_gateway_resource] | Connects to::Connected by | NSX Segment Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_segment_resource] |
| NSX Gateway Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_gateway_resource] (Tier 1) | Connects to::Connected by | NSX Gateway Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_gateway_resource] (Tier 0) |
| NSX Transport Node Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_transport_node_resource] | Managed by::Manages | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Transport Node Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_transport_node_resource] | Owns::Owned by | IP Address [cmdb_ci_ip_address] |
| NSX Management Cluster Node Group [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster_node_group] | Managed by::Manages | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Management Cluster Node Group [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster_node_group] | Uses::Used by | NSX Management Cluster Node [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster_node] |
| NSX Segment Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_segment_resource] | Managed by::Manages | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Transport Zone Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_transport_zone_resource] | Managed by::Manages | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Transport Zone Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_transport_zone_resource] | Contains::Contained by | NSX Transport Node Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_transport_node_resource] |
| NSX Virtual Switch Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_virtual_switch_resource] | Managed by::Manages | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Edge Cluster Group [cmdb_ci_nsx_edge_cluster_group] | Managed by::Manages | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Edge Cluster Group [cmdb_ci_nsx_edge_cluster_group] | Uses::Used by | NSX Transport Node Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_transport_node_resource] |
| CI | Field | Referenced CI |
|---|---|---|
| NSX Management Cluster Node [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster_node] | Cluster [cluster] | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Management Cluster Node Group [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster_node_group] | Cluster [cluster] | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Segment Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_segment_resource] | Cluster [cluster] | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Gateway Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_gateway_resource] | Cluster [cluster] | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Transport Node Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_transport_node_resource] | Cluster [cluster] | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Transport Zone Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_transport_zone_resource] | Cluster [cluster] | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Virtual Switch Resource [cmdb_ci_nsx_virtual_switch_resource] | Cluster [cluster] | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| NSX Edge Cluster Group [cmdb_ci_nsx_edge_cluster_group] | Cluster [cluster] | NSX Management Cluster [cmdb_ci_nsx_management_cluster] |
| Key Value [cmdb_key_value] | Configuration item [configuration_item] | References one of the following NSX resource tables:
|
| External system metadata [cmdb_key_value_v2] | Configuration item [configuration_item] | References one of the following NSX resource tables:
|
Tag discovery and external system metadata
The NSX Cluster pattern collects resource tags and external system metadata. Tags are stored in the Key Value [cmdb_key_value] table. External system metadata is stored in the External system metadata [cmdb_key_value_v2] table.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Key [key] | Tag name. |
| Value [value] | Tag value. |
| Configuration item [configuration_item] | References the NSX resource table associated with the tag. Possible tables:
|
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Key [key] | Metadata property name. |
| String value [string_value] | Value of the metadata property. |
| Value type [value_type] | Data type of the metadata value. |
| Configuration item [configuration_item] | References the NSX resource table associated with the metadata entry. Possible tables:
|