--- sourceDocument: Australia IT Operations Management sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/it-operations-management Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - Australia IT Operations Management ft:clusterId : - itom bundleId : - itom workflow : - Technology --- # Using push-based Discovery and SAM together # Using push-based Discovery and SAM together {#ariaid-title1} * Release version: Australia * * Updated March 12, 2026 * * ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 6 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 Using push-based Discovery and SAM together This content explains how to integrate push-based Discovery with Software Asset Management (SAM) using the Agent Client Collector for Visibility Content (ACC-VC) in ServiceNow. This integration optimizes software data collection by enabling SAM basic metering and SAM total usage metrics for Windows and macOS devices. It supports domain-separated software usage records and helps improve software usage visibility and license compliance. Show full answer Show less ## Key Features * **Software Usage Data Collection:** ACC-VC collects installed software data, including last accessed times, and stores usage metrics in the `sampswusage` table. * **SAM Basic Metering:** Requires the SAM plugin enabled and registry read access for the ServiceNow user to execute OSQuery on UserAssist keys in Windows. Configuration of registry keys is needed to correctly collect usage data. * **SAM Total Usage Metrics:** Measures total usage time and usage count for applications with enabled reclamation rules. Requires manual deployment of the Osquery daemon (osqueryd) service on Windows. * **Domain Separation Support:** Software usage records are domain separated based on the MID Server domain, enabling accurate user-to-software mapping in complex environments. * **Software Edition Visibility:** Starting with ACC-VC 2.3.0, edition information for Adobe Acrobat and MS SQL Server is collected and displayed in the `cmdbsamswinstall` table. * **Non-osqueryd Data Collection:** Optionally, you can enable efficient data collection without deploying osqueryd by configuring system properties and permissions, supported on agent versions 4.1.0 and later. ## Requirements and Configuration * **SAM Plugin:** The `com.snc.samp` plugin must be enabled. * **System Properties:** Enable `snaccviscontent.persistsamusagemetrics` to collect usage metrics, and optionally `snaccviscontent.enablesamcollectionwithoutosqueryd` for non-osqueryd collection. * **Permissions:** The ServiceNow user must have read access to Windows registry UserAssist keys for SAM basic metering. For total usage metrics, osqueryd must run as a service with appropriate configuration. * **Osqueryd Deployment:** Detailed PowerShell scripts and configuration files are provided to install and configure osqueryd on Windows for SAM total usage metrics. * **Reclamation Rules:** Usage data persistence depends on configured reclamation rules, controllable via system properties. ## Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers * Optimized and automated software usage data collection for accurate license management. * Improved visibility into software usage patterns, including last accessed times and total usage counts. * Support for domain-separated environments, enabling precise user-to-software associations. * Enhanced software edition tracking for key applications like Adobe Acrobat and MS SQL Server. * Flexible deployment options with or without osqueryd to fit your environment and agent capabilities. ## Next Steps * Enable the SAM plugin and configure required system properties. * Set appropriate permissions for the ServiceNow user on target devices. * Deploy and configure osqueryd on Windows hosts if total usage metrics are needed. * Optionally enable non-osqueryd SAM data collection for newer agents to improve efficiency. * Review reclamation rules to control which software usage data is collected and persisted. Agent Client Collector for Visibility Content (ACC-VC) collects installed software data for use cases for Software Asset Management (SAM), when the SAM plugin is installed. Using push-based Discovery and SAM together can help optimize software data collection with SAM basic metering and SAM total usage metrics. ACC-VC can capture the last accessed time for the software or applications that are installed on the target via push-based Discovery. This information along with the target CI reference, is added to the Software Update \[samp_sw_usage\] table. SAM Basic metering and SAM total usage metrics are supported for both Windows and macOS. The software usage records are domain separated. The records are populated with the domain of the MID Server that is used for the agent-based Discovery for the target. Note: For software installations (cmdb_sam_sw_install), to avoid insertion of duplicate records, the same discovery source "ServiceNow" is being used for both push-based Discovery and horizontal IP-based Discovery. ## Requirements {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__section_p3x_kzk_25b} SAM basic metering and SAM total usage metrics : For SAM basic metering and SAM total usage metrics, the non-privileged servicenow user (which the agent service logs on as) must be configured with READ only access in the registry. This access allows for successful execution of the OSQuery against the UserAssist table to be successful. Go to regedit and allow the servicenow user to read UserAssist for a user account on the device (for example: HKEY_USERS\\SID...\\Software\\\\Microsoft\\\\Windows\\\\CurrentVersion\\\\Explorer\\\\UserAssist for every user in HKEY_USERS). Note: The UserAssist key does not inherit permissions from the HKEY_USERS\\SID... parent key. Therefore, you must navigate to the UserAssist key and add permission directly on the key. To apply SAM basic metering or SAM total usage metrics, you need the following: * SAM plugin (com.snc.samp) enabled * System property \[sn_acc_vis_content.persist_sam_usage_metrics\] set to true. See [System properties](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=r_AvailableSystemProperties&version=australia&pubname=australia-platform-administration&ft:locale=en-US) for more details. * Write permissions enabled for the log folder in the ACC install directory. {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_pbd_c1l_25b} For details on SAM metering setup with the Agent Client Collector, see the Knowledge Base article [KB1642676](https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB1642676). Software edition information : To retrieve software edition information, you need the SAM plugin (com.snc.samp) enabled. ## SAM basic metering {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__section_ays_kfh_vrb} Note: There is a configuration in the Windows operating system level that does not allow the correct detection of the data. Update the configuration so that the data can successfully be collected by the ACC-VC agent and brought to the ServiceNow platform correctly. In the Registry Editor, create the following keys in the path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Explorer\\Advanced. * Name: Start_TrackProgs * Base: Hexadecimal * Value:1 {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_xxv_hrx_dwb} * Name: Start_TrackProgsBase * Base: Hexadecimal * Value:1 {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_cmm_3rx_dwb} {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_wp5_drx_dwb} Figure 1. SAM basic metering flowchart For the list of software in the payload, query the Software Discovery Model \[cmdb_sam_sw_discovery_model\] table to fetch the corresponding product and publisher. Once the product is fetched, check if the reclamation rule is enabled for that product to persist the last usage information in the Software Usage \[samp_sw_usage\] table. See the flowchart for details. Note: In the target, query the last accessed time from the UserAssist table via the OSQuery by taking the application or software name as the input to the Query. Use the sn_acc_vis_content.disable_sam_reclamation_rules_for_licensable_softwares property to define reclamation rules for licensable software, as follows: * True: SAM usage is stored for all licensable software (with or without defined reclamation rules), and for any non-licensable software that has a reclamation rule defined. * False: Store SAM usage according to defined reclamation rules. {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_ohp_pnv_fzb} Common applications supported include: * WinZip * Google Chrome * Sublime Text * Notepad++ * Autodesk * Microsoft Office 365 * Tableau {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_lkg_hjz_z4b} ## SAM total usage metrics {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__section_jq3_qfh_vrb} SAM total usage metrics allows you to measure total usage time and total usage count on any application that has a software reclamation rule enabled. Osquery provides a daemon executable which can run as a service, called Osqueryd. Osqueryd needs to be manually deployed for SAM total usage metrics to work properly. Each Osqueryd deployment requires the osquery.conf file, optional external packs, and initialization flags (configured in osquery.flags file) provided when starting the service. In return, the daemon service runs scheduled queries on the host and logs it into a local file system. Note: Osquery supports filesystem-based logging by default. This configuration is provided in the osquery.conf file on any fresh Osquery installation. Osquery is not needed from an implementation or configuration viewpoint for basic metering. Total Usage metrics requires osqueryd to be installed separately. Domain information can be collected during the data collection. This can help large organizations with multiple employee directories map software to the correct user. Currently, this is supported for Windows only. To map the software usage/assigned_to with the correct user in a domain separated environment, use the system property \[sn_acc_vis_content.column_name_for_user_mapping\] with a valid field name. By default, the value of this system property is empty which means it only validates the username and not the domain. You can use either of the following formats to validate username and domain: username@domain or domain\\username. Figure 2. SAM total usage metrics flowchart Using the list of processes, you can perform SAM normalization to map the processes for the relevant installed software records. This provides flexibility since installed software names and processes are not usually the same. For the list of processes in the payload, query the Software Discovery Model \[cmdb_sam_sw_discovery_model\] table and Software Product \[samp_sw_product\] table to fetch the corresponding product and publisher. Once the product is fetched, check if the reclamation rule is enabled for that product to persist the total usage time in the Software Usage \[samp_sw_usage\] table. See the flowchart for details. install and configure Osqueryd for Windows using the following script. # Install latest osquery $msi = "osquery-5.7.0.msi" $url = "https://pkg.osquery.io/windows/$msi" $dst = "$PSScriptRoot\$msi" Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $dst # msiexec /i "$dst" /quiet /qn /norestart Start-Process msiexec.exe -Wait "/i $dst /quiet /qn /norestart" # Configure osqueryd service $flags = "--logger_rotate=true --logger_rotate_size=26214400 --logger_rotate_max_files=1 --watchdog_level=-1 --config_path=C:\Program Files\osquery\osquery-sam.conf" Set-Content -Path 'C:\Program Files\osquery\osquery.flags.default' -Value "$flags" $conf = @' { "options": { "config_plugin": "filesystem", "logger_plugin": "filesystem", "utc": "true" }, "schedule": { "sam_process_info": { "query": "SELECT name, pid, elapsed_time, start_time, user_time, system_time, username FROM processes p JOIN users u ON u.uid = p.uid WHERE p.elapsed_time != -1 AND u.type != 'special';", "snapshot" : true, "interval": 300 }, "system_info": { "query": "SELECT hostname, cpu_brand, physical_memory FROM system_info;", "interval": 3600 } }, "decorators": { "load": [ "SELECT uuid AS host_uuid FROM system_info;", "SELECT user AS username FROM logged_in_users ORDER BY time DESC LIMIT 1;" ] }, "packs": { } } '@ Set-Content -Path 'C:\Program Files\osquery\osquery-sam.conf' -Value "$conf" cd 'C:\Program Files\osquery' .\manage-osqueryd.ps1 -uninstall .\manage-osqueryd.ps1 -install Restart-Service osqueryd For details on Windows and macOS see [Configure Osqueryd schedule for SAM total usage metrics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/VkzdfZzn3VtawzJ~H0G00w "SAM total usage metrics works by relying on the Osqueryd service running on the target host. Configure the Osqueryd service to run the required schedule Osquery on the host.") and [Configure Osqueryd logs for SAM total usage metrics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/7K353xx4uCrTYBG2cOytMA "By default, Osquery supports log rotation based on size. To enable it for SAM total usage metrics and to configure the log size and rotation, you need to add specific flags for Osqueryd service."). ## Collecting SAM metrics without osqueryd {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__section_tjg_wpq_tfc} Optionally, you can enhance efficiency by using non-osqueryd data collection when using push-based Discovery and Software Asset Management (SAM) together. When non-osqueryd data collection is invoked, data collection is automatically performed on all available agents, instead of invoking osqueryd on each agent individually. To perform non-osqueryd data collection: 1. Ensure that the following permissions are configured for the relevant OS: * Windows: The ACC service must run as the Local System account. Set the ACC service's Log On As value to Local System. * macOS: The servicenow user must be able to run osqueryi without a password. For information about servicenow user permissions for osqueryi, see [Configure ServiceNow sudoers file](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=config-sudoers-file&version=australia&pubname=australia-it-service-management&ft:locale=en-US). {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ul_rlm_grq_tfc} 2. On the System Properties page (AllSystem propertiesAll properties), set the sn_acc_vis_content.enable_sam_collection_without_osqueryd property to true. Note: Enable this property only when all agents are version 4.1.0 or later. {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__ol_kh2_mqq_tfc} ## Software edition information {#using-enhanced-discovery-and-sam-together__section_sys_1bl_25b} Starting in ACC-VC version 2.3.0, edition information is supported for Adobe Acrobat and MS SQL server. With this feature, SAM admins can get clear visibility into the editions of their installed software. Osquery commands are used to fetch the edition information which then shows in the Software Installation \[cmdb_sam_sw_install\] table in the Edition Override column. For more details, see the support KB: [https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view\&sysparm_article=KB0721360](https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0721360) **Related tasks** * [Configure Osqueryd schedule for SAM total usage metrics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/VkzdfZzn3VtawzJ~H0G00w "SAM total usage metrics works by relying on the Osqueryd service running on the target host. Configure the Osqueryd service to run the required schedule Osquery on the host.") * [Configure Osqueryd logs for SAM total usage metrics](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/7K353xx4uCrTYBG2cOytMA "By default, Osquery supports log rotation based on size. To enable it for SAM total usage metrics and to configure the log size and rotation, you need to add specific flags for Osqueryd service.") *[\>]: and then