Active Directory Domain Controller discovery

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated May 27, 2026
  • 1 minute to read
  • The Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application uses the Active Directory Domain Controller On Windows pattern to find Active Directory domain controllers running on a Windows server. Discovering some of these resources may require updating to the latest version of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application from the ServiceNow Store.

    When discovery runs on a domain controller, the pattern also creates LDAP endpoint connections to child domains in the same forest, triggering discovery of those domain controllers as well.

    Note:
    For information on Probe to Pattern migration see the knowledge article KB0694477.

    Prerequisites

    Verify that the applications are up to date
    • Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns
    • Visibility Content
    Verify an LDAP or TCP entry point is configured
    Verify that the relevant port is open and listening on the domain controller.
    Create Windows credentials with WMI access
    Verify that the credentials have permission to run WMI queries on the \\root\CIMV2 namespace. For more information, see Windows credentials.
    Schedule a horizontal discovery
    For more information, see Schedule a horizontal discovery.

    Data collected by Discovery during horizontal discovery

    Discovery populates the data in the CMDB when running the Active Directory Domain Controller On Windows pattern.

    Table 1. Active Directory Domain Controller [cmdb_ci_ad_controller]
    Field Description
    Name [name] Name of the domain controller, which is the domain name.
    Domain name [domain_name] Name of the Active Directory domain.
    Domain Controller name [domain_controller_name] Name of the domain controller server.
    Forest name [forest_name] DNS name of the Active Directory forest.

    CI relationships

    The Active Directory Domain Controller On Windows pattern creates the following relationships to support Active Directory Domain Controller discovery.

    Table 2. CI relationships
    CI Relationship CI
    Active Directory Domain Controller [cmdb_ci_ad_controller] Runs on::Runs Windows Server [cmdb_ci_win_server]