---
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
---
# Create discovery schedules for cloud resources
# Create discovery schedules for cloud resources {#ariaid-title1}
* Release version: Yokohama
*
* Updated August 12, 2025
*
*  10 minutes to read
Create schedules for discovering cloud resources based on the cloud discovery method you choose; that is, service accounts or IP ranges.{#discovery-manager__shortdesc_discovery-manager}
## Discovery Manager interface {#discovery-manager__section_wnv_qd3_2fb}
Use the Cloud Discovery Schedule Configuration interface to input the information that you need to access your service accounts and sub-accounts. You can specify the credentials to validate the selected accounts. Test the
connections to your accounts and then create schedules to discover the cloud resources in your selected datacenters.
The following private and public clour platforms support VMware Dsicovery:
* Alibaba Cloud
* Amazon Web Services (AWS)
* Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
* IBM Cloud
* Microsoft Azure
* OpenStack
* Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
* oVirt
* VMware
{#discovery-manager__ul_tff_jtk_fgc}
Note:
The term "sub-accounts" is used generically in the Cloud Discovery Schedule Configuration interface. Its meaning varies by cloud provider:
* In AWS, sub-accounts refer to member accounts under a management account.
* In Microsoft Azure, the equivalent is a subscription.
* In Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Cloud Discovery targets projects.
{#discovery-manager__ul_tff_jsk_fgc}
Progress indicator
As you complete each configuration phase, the tabs at the top of the Discovery Manager track your progress. A check mark indicates a completed phase. A dark underline marks the current phase. The tabs are interactive, t you can move to a phase by clicking that tab.
## Discovery Manager label customization {#discovery-manager__section_wjy_xdb_kmb}
The Service Account Field Options
\[service_account_field_options\]
table contains fields to modify the labels in Discovery Manager. These fields enable you to
customize the Discovery Manager to handle new service providers or to alter existing labels
to meet internal policies. For example, the
Microsoft Azure
account ID label is
Microsoft Azure
Subscription GUID by default. You can change
it to Subscription ID, to Account ID, or to anything else based on your needs.
## Select a service account and test your credentials {#ariaid-title2}
Specify your cloud provider and select the service account to discover. You can
include one or all available sub-accounts on a schedule. Provide the credentials for the
cloud service account and test the connection.
### Before you begin
Before you attempt to configure Cloud Discovery, you must have at least one validated MID Server with a status of Up. The MID Server must reach the IP ranges that you intend to discover. You can install the MID Server by using [Use MID Server
guided setup](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=use-mid-server-guidedsetup&version=yokohama&pubname=yokohama-servicenow-platform&ft:locale=en-US) or by manually downloading and running the installer. For details, see the MID Server installation instructions for [Linux](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=t_InstallAMIDServerOnLinux&version=yokohama&pubname=yokohama-servicenow-platform&ft:locale=en-US) and [Windows](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=mid-server-install-prereqs&version=yokohama&pubname=yokohama-servicenow-platform&ft:locale=en-US). Ensure to configure the MID Server used for Cloud Discovery with the Cloud Management capability.
Role required: discovery_admin
### About this task
The ServiceNow® Cloud Discovery wizard begins with the account selection and testing phase. To prevent long waits or unexpected timeouts, use the cdu.record.watcher.timeout system property to define the maximum waiting period for these Cloud Discovery configuration processes:
* Service account validation
* Member account discovery
* Discovery of logical datacenters
{#select-cloud-provider-account__ul_hfy_bfx_5sb}The default timeout value is 300000 milliseconds or 5 minutes.
### Procedure
1. Navigate to AllDiscoveryHome, and then click Discover Cloud Resources in the Welcome screen.
Note:
The Welcome screen contains a link to the [Discovery Quick Start](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/jiQwH3~N~5CazKGP6MonSA#discovery-quick-start "Discovery Quick Start is a wizard that helps you get up and running with Discovery quickly. Use Discovery Quick Start tasks to discover IP ranges, or subnets, in your environment and then to identify the configuration items (CI) in those subnets."). This wizard is designed to quickly set up a basic Discovery. You can use Quick Start to evaluate Discovery or to explore new network devices, but the guide is not intended for discovering cloud resources.
If the system cannot detect an appropriate MID Server, you are prompted to install and configure a MID Server by using the [MID Server Guided
Setup](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=use-mid-server-guidedsetup&version=yokohama&pubname=yokohama-servicenow-platform&ft:locale=en-US). This notification is also displayed if an existing MID Server is not available because it is upgrading.
2. In the Basic Info pane of the Discovery Manager, select the name of your cloud provider in the Provider field, such as AWS or Azure.
The wizard displays a count of the validated and available MID Servers in the MID Servers pane.
3. If you're using AWS, Azure, or GCP, you can specify the MID Server selection type in the MID Selection Type field.
Note:
AWS and Azure selection is only available after migration to pattern-based Discovery. For more information, see [Migrate from CAPI to Patterns](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/jyGC3k_51ki3iHWXX0GSfg "Migrate from Cloud API (CAPI)-based Cloud Discovery to Patterns-based Cloud Discovery. The task requires supported instance and few plugins. Migration works for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. Administrator can perform this task after the initial instance is set up.").
The following options are available:
* Auto-Select MID Server: The wizard automatically uses an appropriate MID Server.
* Specific MID Server: The wizard uses the MID Server specified in the MID Server field. To filter and view MID Servers that are configured to assume an IAM role for discovering cloud resources, select the Credential-Less Discovery option.
{#select-cloud-provider-account__ul_cwx_bkx_wsb}
4. If no MID Server has the Cloud Management capability, click Configure MID Servers and configure one appropriately.
1. Navigate to MID ServersCapabilities.
2. From the MID Server Capabilities list, select Cloud Management.
You can also select ALL, which includes Cloud Management by default.
3. In the MID Servers related list, click Edit and then add your MID Servers to the capability.
4. Click Save.
Your MID Servers are ready to communicate with your cloud service accounts.
{#select-cloud-provider-account__substeps_dvr_w1v_5hb}
5. In the Schedule Name field, enter a unique and descriptive name for the schedule.
6. In the Service Accounts pane, select an existing account for the newly named schedule.
If you select an existing account, the system auto-completes the form with the available information. If you add an account, you must provide the account ID, credentials, and URL, if applicable. For VMware, you must specify the URL.
* The [AWS account ID](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/xHTzrlNUigIW2aEIh8aDDg "A service account is a secure record on your instance that stores the credential and access information for your provider account. Discovery uses the information to access your provider account to get data on each resource in each specified datacenter. A cloud account is the logical representation in Cloud Provisioning and Governance of all or part of your managed cloud infrastructure. A cloud account can include multiple service accounts — even service accounts from different providers. For each service account, you specify which datacenters to include in the cloud account.") is the account ID.
* The [Azure account ID](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/OZXNSryGjVt9Xw~aObzRqw "During Cloud Provisioning Day 1 setup, you added one service account to the cloud account. To compartmentalize your infrastructure or to include different datacenters, you can add another service account. A particular datacenter, however, cannot be selected in more than one service account in a cloud account.") is the Azure Subscription GUID.
* The [GCP account ID](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/e9DGid_zYnAuYByOctP01w "A service account is a secure record on your instance that stores the credential and access information for your provider account. Discovery uses the information to access your provider account to get data on each resource in each specified datacenter. A cloud account is the logical representation in Cloud Provisioning and Governance of all or part of your managed cloud infrastructure. A cloud account can include multiple service accounts — even service accounts from different providers. For each service account, you specify which datacenters to include in the cloud account.") is the project ID.
* The [VMware account ID](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/pgRQOsEEtoJ13bMiDW48MQ "To securely access data on your provider account, the Discovery process must present appropriate credentials. To make the credentials available to Discovery, you first create an account in the VMware Console. You then securely store the credentials in a service account in your instance.") is the virtual machine instance UUID.
{#select-cloud-provider-account__ul_erg_jxj_xhb}
Note:
VMware discovery can run without a service account. To discover VMware resources, configure the schedule to run on the IP address of the vCenter server.
7. Select the credentials for this cloud service account or add new credentials.
1. To add a credential, click the plus icon (+).
2. Select the appropriate cloud credential type from the list.
3. Complete the form and click Save.
Note:
You can configure AWS to generate temporary credentials for service accounts. This capability eliminates the need to define some credentials on the instance, and it can increase security on your member accounts (sub-accounts). For details, see [Access setup for AWS service accounts](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/u50K4wELxZMtjj~alXnzVg "Cloud Discovery and Cloud Provisioning and Governance need access to resources in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) service accounts. Learn about different methods of configuring such access.").
{#select-cloud-provider-account__substeps_mrg_xgz_thb}
8. To validate the account with the provided details, click Test Account.
Messages in the header bar notify you of the validation results. If you specified a management account and the connection test was successful, then the wizard displays a selection screen for any members accounts (sub-accounts) that are associated with the management account. By default, all current member accounts are selected for the schedule and cannot be moved to the Available list.
Note:
If the validation process does not return any sub-accounts or any
sub-accounts that you added recently, click Refresh Members or rerun the validation process. If
validation times out repeatedly, increase the timeout interval in
the cdu.record.watcher.timeout MID Server
property.
9. To select specific sub-accounts for the schedule, deactivate the auto-select feature.
By default, all sub-accounts are selected. To disable the feature and to permit the selection of specific datacenters to discover, slide the toggle switch to the left.
10. To exclude a sub-account, drag the sub-account from the Selected list to the Available list.
11. Select Next.
## Select a cloud provider datacenter to discover {#ariaid-title3}
Cloud Discovery
displays the list of available datacenters
when you validate the service account. Specify which datacenters you want to discover
through
the schedule.
### Before you begin
Role required: discovery_admin
### Procedure
1. To select the datacenters to discover, click the Select Datacenters phase in the Discovery Manager tab bar.
By default, all datacenters associated with the service account are selected for the Cloud Discovery schedule.
Note:
* If no datacenters appear, select Refresh Datacenters or re-run the account validation. If validation times-out repeatedly, increase the timeout interval in the cdu.record.watcher.timeout MID Server property.
* You can configure Cloud Discovery to auto-refresh the list of sub-accounts and datacenters before each scheduled discovery. For more information, see [Enable auto-refreshing of sub-accounts and datacenters](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/mvUB4lhtHGGrh93mggIcpw#enable-auto-refreshing-of-sub-accounts-and-datacenters "Configure the Cloud Discovery to auto-refresh the list of sub-accounts and datacenters before each scheduled discovery. If Cloud Discovery identifies any new sub-accounts or datacenters, it adds them to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and includes them in the discovery schedule.").
{#select-cloud-provider-datacenter__ul_hph_5t5_rsb}
2. To select specific datacenters for the schedule, deactivate the auto-select feature by moving the Discover all datacenters listed below toggle switch to the left.
3. Move the datacenters you want to discover from the Available list to the Selected list.
4. Select the next phase in the tab bar.
If required, you can configure IP ranges to discover virtual machines (VM), or move to the schedule phase and complete Cloud Discovery setup.
## Enable discovery of virtual machines {#ariaid-title4}
You can discover virtual machines (VMs) during discovery of the cloud resources. Cloud Discovery performs a deep discovery of the virtual machines identified
by the cloud schedule, using the IP addresses of the VMs.
### Before you begin
All MID Servers you intend to use for Cloud Discovery must be validated, have a status of Up, and they can access the IP ranges in the cloud provider account.
Important:
The upgrade process from Madrid to New York deactivates the existing Cloud Discovery schedules. Ensure to re-activate any schedules in the Discovery Manager that might have been deactivated during an upgrade from Madrid . These schedules have a Run status of undefined in the Discovery Schedule \[discovery_schedule\] table.
Role required: discovery_admin
### About this task
You do not need to configure IP ranges for the MID Servers used with Cloud Discovery. Cloud Discovery automatically selects the IP addresses of the virtual machines in the datacenters you selected in the wizard.
### Procedure
1. To discover the VMs that are part of the current schedule, click the Discover Virtual Machines (optional) phase in the Discovery Manager tab bar.
By default, VM discover is active.
Note:
To learn more about the working of Discover Virtual Machines (optional) in Cloud Discovery, see the KB article [How does the "Discover Virtual Machine" (optional) work in Cloud Discovery](https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0870860).
2. Select the MID Server to use.
The following options are available:
* Auto-Select: Discovery selects an appropriate MID Server automatically.
* Specific MID Cluster: Discovery uses the named MID Server cluster.
* Specific MID Server: Discovery uses the named MID Server.
{#select-cloud-provider-vms__ul_rxp_dwh_gfb}
3. To disable VM discovery, move the Discover VMs by IP address toggle switch to the left.
The MID Selection Type field disappears.
4. Select the Create Schedule phase in the tab bar.
{#select-cloud-provider-vms__steps_c1l_zfh_gfb}
## Set the run time for a Cloud Discovery schedule {#ariaid-title5}
The final phase in the Discovery Manager wizard creates the schedule that triggers
discovery of the cloud resources.
### Before you begin
Role required: discovery_admin
### About this task
You can also access the schedule phase of the Discovery Manager from the Discovery Schedule form. Navigate to DiscoveryDiscovery Schedules and click Cloud Discovery in the schedules list.
### Procedure
1. To configure the Cloud Discovery schedule, select Create Schedule in the Discovery Manager tab bar.
By default, the schedule is active.
2. Configure when and how often the schedule should run and define a timeout threshold if you want to restrict Cloud Discovery to a specific duration.
3. To deactivate the schedule, toggle the Active switch to the left.
4. Complete the Cloud Discovery scheduling process by selecting one of these options:
* Finish and Run: Runs Discovery immediately, using the current configuration. All subsequent cloud discoveries run on the schedule you provided.
* Finish: Exits the wizard and runs Cloud Discovery on the schedule you provided.
{#create-cloud-schedule__ul_ejh_2qh_gfb}
### What to do next
Open the [Discovery Home page](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/M9rQk36hAXg5UIk3nXL6fw#discovery-home-page "The Discovery Home page provides a summary of discoveries that were triggered by cloud and non-cloud schedules. You can view any errors that occurred during a Discovery and find remediation suggestions. Use the Home page view to examine the cloud resources discovered for the service accounts you selected in a cloud schedule.")
and view the results of your Discovery.
## Enable
auto-refreshing of sub-accounts and datacenters {#ariaid-title6}
Configure the Cloud Discovery to auto-refresh the list of sub-accounts
and datacenters before each scheduled discovery. If Cloud Discovery
identifies any new sub-accounts or datacenters, it adds them to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and includes them in the discovery
schedule.
### Before you begin
Role required: discovery_admin
### About this task
Cloud Discovery can automatically refresh the list of sub-accounts and datacenters covered in a discovery schedule, subject to the fulfilment of the following criteria:
* The cloud provider is Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
* The glide.discovery.cdu.auto_refresh_sub_accounts_and_ldcs property to true.
* The Cloud Discovery schedule is created for a management account.
* The Cloud Discovery schedule is configured to discover the resources of all the sub-accounts and datacenters of the management account.
{#enable-auto-refreshing-of-sub-accounts-and-datacenters__ul_nh3_4jg_rsb}
Note:
The term "sub-accounts" is used generically in the Cloud Discovery Schedule Configuration interface. Its meaning varies by cloud provider:
* In AWS, sub-accounts refer to member accounts under a management account.
* In Azure, the equivalent is a subscription.
* In Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Cloud Discovery targets projects.
{#enable-auto-refreshing-of-sub-accounts-and-datacenters__ul_tff_jsk_fgc}
### Procedure
1. Navigate to AllSystem PropertiesAll Properties.
2. Search for the following system property record, and then open the record.
glide.discovery.cdu.auto_refresh_sub_accounts_and_ldcs
3. On the form, change the Value field to true.
4. Select Update.
*[\>]: and then