Amazon EC2 VPC Peering Connection pattern-based discovery

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Amazon EC2 VPC Peering Connection pattern-based discovery

    Amazon EC2 VPC Peering Connection pattern-based discovery in ServiceNow enables automated detection and mapping of AWS VPC peering connections within your cloud environment. This functionality is part of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application, which identifies AWS resources and populates both CMDB and non-CMDB tables with detailed information. Utilizing this pattern helps maintain an up-to-date view of your AWS network topology and relationships, crucial for cloud management and operational visibility.

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    Key Features

    • Pattern Activation: The VPC Peering Connection discovery pattern is disabled by default and must be enabled to function. Starting with Visibility Content version 6.28.0, enabling or disabling patterns is preserved through upgrades without being considered a customization.
    • AWS Discovery Prerequisites: You must meet AWS discovery prerequisites and ensure relevant resources are not listed in the Resource Inclusion List table to prevent duplicate discoveries.
    • GovCloud Support: Discovery supports AWS GovCloud (US) accounts by configuring service accounts with datacenter URLs.
    • Data Population: The discovery process populates:
      - Non-CMDB tables: For example, the cmdbawselasticcomputecloudvpcpeeringconnection table stores VPC peering connection details such as the ARN, name, and status.
      - CMDB tables: The cmdbcicloudgateway table stores related cloud gateway data including install and operational status, description, and references to VPC peering connections.
    • CI Relationships: The pattern establishes relationships between Cloud Gateways, AWS Datacenters, and VPC Peering Connections to model infrastructure dependencies accurately.
    • AWS Tag Discovery: Tags associated with the VPC peering connections are collected and stored in the cmdbkeyvalue table, supporting enhanced resource categorization and filtering.

    Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers

    By enabling and configuring the Amazon EC2 VPC Peering Connection pattern, customers can automate the discovery of VPC peering connections across AWS accounts, including GovCloud. This ensures your CMDB reflects the current state of your AWS network connections, supporting impact analysis, compliance, and operational efficiency. Proper setup requires adherence to AWS discovery prerequisites, managing the Resource Inclusion List to avoid duplicates, and scheduling discovery appropriately.

    The pattern’s data integration into both CMDB and non-CMDB tables allows flexible reporting and relationship mapping, crucial for comprehensive cloud service management. Additionally, collecting AWS tags enriches your data model, enabling better resource management and governance within the ServiceNow platform.

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns finds AWS services on your cloud environment. Discovering some of these resources may require updating to the latest version of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application from the ServiceNow Store.

    Pattern-based discovery and mapping requirements

    Verify the AWS discovery prerequisites
    For more information, see the prerequisites section in AWS discovery using patterns.
    Remove resources from the Resource Inclusion List table
    Verify that the relevant resource isn't listed in the Resource Inclusion List [sa_cloud_inventory_resource_whitelist] table to avoid duplicate discovery. For more information on removing resources from the Resource Inclusion List, see AWS Resource Inventory discovery with Patterns.
    Enable the relevant pattern
    The pattern for this service is disabled by default. Starting with Visibility Content version 6.28.0, activating or deactivating a pattern won't be considered a customization, and it will continue to receive updates. Patterns that were previously activated or deactivated will reset to the latest predefined version after upgrading while retaining the last active field value. For more information on enabling patterns, see Activate a disabled pattern.
    Configure the Discovery schedule to support GovCloud
    Discovering AWS GovCloud (US) accounts requires using a datacenter URL when setting up an AWS service account. For more information, see Create AWS service accounts.

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in both CMDB and non-CMDB tables.

    Data stored in non-CMDB tables

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in the non-CMDB table when running the Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud VPC Peering Connection - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern.

    You can review the non-CMDB AWS tables by navigating to All > Configuration > AWS. You can also search the navigation filter for the specific pattern name.

    Table 1. AWS Elastic Compute Cloud - VPC Peering Connection [cmdb_aws_elastic_compute_cloud_vpc_peering_connection]
    Field Description
    Object Id [object_id] The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) uniquely identifying the VPC Peering Connection.

    The ARN consists of the region, account ID, and VPC ID in the following format: arn:aws:ec2:<region>:<accountId>:vpc-peering-connection/<vpc_id>.
    Name [name] The unique identifier of the VPC involved in the peering connection.
    Status [status] The current status of the VPC peering connection.
    Configuration Item [configuration_item] References the Cloud Gateway [cmdb_ci_cloud_gateway] table.

    Data stored in CMDB tables

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in the CMDB when running the Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud VPC Peering Connection - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern.

    Table 2. Cloud Gateway [cmdb_ci_cloud_gateway]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] The ARN uniquely identifying the VPC Peering Connection.

    The ARN consists of the region, account ID, and VPC ID in the following format: arn:aws:ec2:<region>:<accountId>:vpc-peering-connection/<vpc_id>.
    Name [name] The unique identifier of the VPC involved in the peering connection.
    Install Status [install_status] Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed.
    Operational status [operational_status] Operational status of the resource. Default value is Operational.
    Description [short_description] Type of resource. The value is set to AWS::EC2::VPCPeeringConnection.

    CI relationships

    The Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud VPC Peering Connection - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern creates these relationships to support Amazon EC2 VPC Peering Connection discovery.

    CI Relationship CI
    Cloud Gateway [cmdb_ci_cloud_gateway] Hosted on::Hosts AWS Datacenter [cmdb_ci_aws_datacenter]
    AWS Elastic Compute Cloud - VPC Peering Connection [cmdb_aws_elastic_compute_cloud_vpc_peering_connection] References Cloud Gateway [cmdb_ci_cloud_gateway]

    AWS tag discovery

    The pattern collects tags and populates them in the Key Value [cmdb_key_value] table.
    Table 3. Key Value [cmdb_key_value]
    Field Description
    Key [key] Tag name.
    Value [value] Tag value.