---
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


---

# Configure a manual cluster

# Configure a manual cluster {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated March 12, 2026  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 2 minutes to read  
Provide redundancy capabilities of an entire cluster in case of failure of one or
more CIs in that cluster. By viewing the relative impact of a cluster member on the cluster
information, you can better understand the source of alerts and take remediation
steps.

## Before you begin

Role required: evt_mgmt_admin

## About this task

In a manual service that was not discovered automatically, you can manually group a
specific CI or a generic CI class under a logical cluster. The relative impact of a
cluster member on the cluster can be configured in the impact tree.

For more information, see [Alert impact calculation](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/4PAZHz5T6BXNubfMeaympw "Impact calculation shows the magnitude of an outage on CIs, services, alerts, and alert groups. The system uses factors such as impact rules and CI relationships to calculate the severity of a generated alert. The severity appears on the impact tree, application services maps, and dashboards.").

## Procedure

1. Navigate to AllEvent ManagementAdministrationManual Clusters.
2. Select New.
3. In the Select a Service containing this manual cluster section, select an application service to contain the new manual cluster based on a specific CI or general CI class.  
   The cluster number is automatically generated and appears in the Number field.
   1. Select the Lookup using list icon (![Lookup using list icon]()) in the Service field.
   2. In the CMDB CI Service \[cmdb_ci_service_discovered\] table, select a manually created service.  
      To define a new application service, see [Manually create an application service in Event Management](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/ZNxKhxYoayjD9v8laB4OqQ "You can manually create an application services. Event Management can use application services to monitor service performance and identify health issues.").
   3. **Optional:** Preview the record by selecting the Preview this record icon (![Preview this record icon]()).
   {#configure-manual-cluster__substeps_vlt_xw1_dwb}
4. In the Select a Specific CI or generic CI class section, in the Defined As field, select whether to define the manual cluster as a specific CI or as a generic CI class.  
   A generic CI class applies to all CIs of that class.
   * Specific CI - In the Configuration item field, select the Lookup using list icon (![Lookup using list icon]()) and select the configuration item.
   * Generic CI class -- In the Configuration item class field, select the configuration item class.
   {#configure-manual-cluster__choices_afv_lxm_dwb}
5. In the Provide a Description section, either provide a description in the Description field or leave it blank to contain an automatically generated description when you select Save or Submit.  
   The Description field is automatically updated when you select Save or Submit. The automatically generated description consists of the configuration item
   name and the service name. For example: `CI <Alert Processing> in service <linuxApplService> (*** auto generated ***)`.

   To prevent an automatic update of the Description field and retain your changes, delete the (\*\*\* auto generated \*\*\*) suffix that appears as part of the description.
6. Activate the cluster by selecting the Activate check box.
7. Select Submit.

## Result

The manual cluster is saved in the EM Impact Manual Cluster \[em_impact_manual_cluster\] table. The impact calculation is recalculated automatically.
**Related concepts**   

* [Configuring CIs in a manual service as a manual cluster](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/H4Xr3WcsCvnH1LhwGQP4LQ "Configure or modify a CI as a specific CI or a generic CI class in a manual service (that was not discovered automatically) as a manually defined cluster. A manual cluster delivers redundancy capabilities and provides continued operations if one or more CIs fail.")

*[\>]: and then