--- sourceDocument: Australia IT Operations Management sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/it-operations-management Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia IT Operations Management ft:clusterId : - itom bundleId : - itom workflow : - Technology --- # Running discoveries in your network # Running discoveries in your network {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated March 12, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 3 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 Running discoveries in your network This guide explains how to run discoveries within your network using ServiceNow Discovery to create configuration items (CIs), define subnets, and discover resources across on-premises and cloud environments such as AWS and Azure. It emphasizes the importance of properly configuring MID Servers and Discovery settings before executing discovery operations. Show full answer Show less ## MID Server Configuration Prerequisites * **Supported applications:** Specify which applications can use the MID Server; selecting "ALL" allows any application to use it. * **IP ranges:** Define IP address ranges the MID Server can scan. The discovery schedule's IP range must fall within these to find a matching MID Server. Limiting IP ranges improves security by restricting scanning to controlled addresses. * **Capabilities:** Assign capabilities to the MID Server to indicate which application types it supports. Using "ALL" enables any application to use the MID Server. ## Discovery Configuration Prerequisites * **Credentials:** Configure login credentials on MID Servers to authenticate and query devices. MID Servers attempt all available credentials and create an affinity for successful ones to streamline future queries. * **Classifications:** Use default device and process classifications provided by the platform or create custom classifications for devices, processes, or applications not covered by defaults. ## Running Discovery * **Discovery Configuration Console:** Use this console to customize discovery settings, including selecting which devices, applications, software files, and CIs to find or exclude. Exclusions disable the related probes or classifiers. * **Types of Discovery:** * **CI Discovery:** The most common discovery type to find devices, computers, and applications. Run via Discovery Schedule for recurring or on-demand scans with configuration options for MID Servers and probes. * **Network Discovery:** Discovers internal IP networks; useful if you lack complete IP address range information. * **Serverless Discovery:** Finds applications on hosts without first discovering the host. Requires advanced pattern knowledge and skips scanning and classification phases. ## Monitoring and Troubleshooting Discovery * **Discovery Status:** Provides a summary of discovery runs and access to the ECC queue, which logs probe/sensor activity and XML payloads. * **Discovery Admin Workspace:** Monitor ongoing discovery operations in real time. * **Discovery Home Page:** View details of all discovery schedules, discovered cloud resources and devices, and related errors along with suggested remediation steps. You can run discoveries from schedules or scripts to create configuration items, define subnets, or to find resources in AWS and Azure clouds. ## MID Server configuration prerequisites {#running-discoveries__section_vtk_vxr_ybb} Ensure that your MID Servers are properly configured prior to creating a Discovery schedule. * Supported applications: Select the applications that are allowed to use the MID Server. You can use the ALL application option to allow any application to use the MID Server. * IP ranges: Define the ranges of IP address the MID Server can scan. To find a MID Server match, the IP range you configure on the Discovery schedule must fall into the ranges that one or more MID Servers can support. Note: To improve security, limit the range to IP address you control and exclude unnecessary ranges. * Capabilities: Create the capabilities that the MID Server supports. You can use the ALL capability option to allow any application to use the MID Server. {#running-discoveries__ul_wrr_h4w_tw} ## Discovery configuration prerequisites {#running-discoveries__section_q2h_4yr_ybb} Ensure that your MID Servers can authenticate on the devices they find and classify configuration items (CI) properly. * Credentials: Configure the MID Servers with the login credentials they need to query the devices in the network. The MID Server tries all available credentials on each discovered device, then creates an affinity for any successful credentials. For more information, see [Credential affinity for Discovery and Orchestration](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=c_CredentialAffinity&version=australia&pubname=australia-platform-security&ft:locale=en-US). * Classifications: The device and process classifications provided in the base platform are normally sufficient. Create classifications as needed for the devices, processes, and applications in the network not covered by the default classifiers. {#running-discoveries__ul_o2w_hpb_5p} ## Get started running a discovery {#running-discoveries__section_bms_f5x_fcb} 1. Use the Discovery Configuration Console to get started with Discovery. The console provides configuration options which let you choose the types of devices, applications, software files, and software CIs you want Discovery to find. If you select a CI to exclude from scanning, the instance disables the related probe or classifier that Discovery uses to identify the CI. See [Discovery Configuration Console](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Dd4Yjm8isniEARaNj8bgVw#c_DiscoveryConfigurationConsole "Use the Discovery Configuration Console to manage what kind of configuration items (CIs) and CI information you want to discover.") to get started. 2. Determine what type of discovery to run: * [Run a Configuration item (CI) discovery](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/VO0owNull6HAfXGFWMKxhg#t_CreateADiscoverySchedule "A discovery schedule determines what horizontal discovery searches for, when it runs, and which MID Servers are used. Create a discovery schedule for your local environment or a schedule for discovering the resources in your cloud service account.") to find the devices, computers, and applications on your network. This is the most common type of discovery. Run CI discovery from the Discovery Schedule, where you to set up a recurring schedule or run a discovery on demand. The Discovery Schedule also provides configuration options for MID Servers and the Shazzam port probe. * [Run a Network Discovery](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/zksC_EL0aa69TBZPihXLaA#c_NetworkDiscovery "Network Discovery discovers the internal IP networks and subnets within your organization.") to find the internal IP networks within your organization. If you already know the IP address ranges in your network, it is not necessary to run Network Discovery. It is intended for organizations that do not have complete knowledge of the IP addresses available for Discovery in their networks. * [Run a Serverless Discovery](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/znucf~xOfk40f~DP1S32nA "Discovery can find applications on host machines without the need to discover the host first. This type of Discovery is referred to as serverless Discovery.") to find applications on host machines without the need to discover the host first. Serverless Discovery relies on infrastructure patterns to explore CIs on a host. This kind of discovery skips the scanning and classification phases of discovery. You need an advanced knowledge of patterns to use this type of discovery. Refer to [Patterns and horizontal discovery](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/WtfJx~H7mHHJKPMU3hBM9w#c-UsingPatternsForHorizontalDiscovery "A pattern is a series of operations that tell Discovery which CIs to find on your network and what credentials to use. Patterns also define what tables to populate in the CMDB.") to get started with patterns. {#running-discoveries__ul_ogs_jvx_fcb} 3. After you run a discovery, monitor the results of the discovery and resolve errors if they occurred: * [Use the Discovery status](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/dFvQyz6xpvKLV0WZztk0hQ "The Discovery status provides a summary of a Discovery launched from a schedule. You can also cancel a Discovery that is in progress from the status form.") to see a summary of a Discovery and to access the ECC queue. The ECC queue shows probe and sensor activity and the actual XML payload that is sent to or from an instance. * Use the [Discovery Admin Workspace](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/uBbfCIaLAPvZqMp2HrhK2A "The Discovery Admin Workspace serves as a central location for monitoring, tracking, and completing discovery-related tasks. Experience a streamlined discovery process and greater efficiency with the integration of schedules, diagnostics, tuning, anomaly detection, and more within this single workspace.") to monitor ongoing Discovery operations. * Use the [Discovery Home page](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/B1RNsC173c6PDWJX10WccQ#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.") to access details for all schedules, cloud resources (virtual machines), discovered devices, and related errors that might have occurred. Error details include possible remediation steps. {#running-discoveries__ul_ewh_syx_fcb} {#running-discoveries__ol_afy_hvx_fcb} **Related reference** * [Discovery resource utilization](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Y116E6mgqvXkx514sRb91Q "Standard transactions on Windows and UNIX generate various amounts of network traffic, depending on what is being discovered.")