Probe activity pack

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read

    • Orchestration provides an activity pack customized using the ServiceNow activity designer that runs probes on target hosts to return specific information.

    These custom activities were built with the Create a probe activity, which gives workflow administrators the ability to store input and output variables in the databus.

    To use the custom probe activities, you must request activation of the Orchestration - Probe plugin.

    Resolve DNS Name activity

    The Resolve DNS Name activity takes an IP address or a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), which it resolves into one or more IP addresses.

    The domain name is sent through the MID Server to the domain name system (DNS) to resolve the name. If a single IP address is returned, it is stored in two variables:resolved_ip and resolved_ips. If multiple IP addresses are returned, the first IP address is stored in the resolved_ip variable, and all the addresses are stored in the resolved_ips variable. If an IP address is provided instead of an FQDN, this address is output directly to both variables. Your ServiceNow instance must have access to a MID Server configured to use Resolve DNS to run this activity.

    This activity replaces an activity by the same name available in releases prior to Istanbul. If you have a workflow created in a previous version that uses the deprecated activity, your workflow will continue to work normally after upgrading to Istanbul. However, all new workflows must use the custom version of this activity. This activity was built with the Probe activity template, which gives workflow administrators the ability to store input and output variables in the databus.

    Input variables

    Table 1. Resolve DNS Name input variables
    Variable Description
    FQDN The fully qualified domain name to resolve or an IP address.

    Output variables

    Table 2. Resolve DNS Name output variables
    Variable Desctiption
    ip The first IP address of the resolved DNS name.
    ips Comma separated list of resolved IP addresses.
    result One of the following:
    • resolved: Able to resolve the sprcified DNS name.
    • unresolved: Unable to resolve the specified DNS name.

    Conditions

    Table 3. Resolve DNS Name conditions
    Condition Description
    Success Activity successfully resolved the DNS name.
    Failure Activity failed to resolve the DNS name.

    SNMP Query activity

    The SNMP Query activity queries an SNMP device.

    Your ServiceNow instance must have access to a MID Server configured to use SNMP to run this activity.

    This activity replaces an activity by the same name available in releases prior to Istanbul. If you have a workflow created in a previous version that uses the deprecated activity, your workflow will continue to work normally after upgrading to Istanbul. However, all new workflows must use the custom version of this activity. This activity was built with the Probe activity template, which gives workflow administrators the ability to store input and output variables in the databus.

    Input variables

    Table 4. SNMP Query input variables
    Variable Description
    hostname Hostname or IP address of the SNMP device being queried.
    oids A list of unique object identifiers used to identify SNMP devices.

    Output variables

    Table 5. SNMP Query output variables
    Variable Description
    description Description of the SNMP object.
    timeout Boolean value indicating whether or not the query timed out.
    error Indicates any error that occurred. If no error occurred, this value is null.
    oid_data An array of data objects for all unique object identifiers.

    Conditions

    Table 6. SNMP Query conditions
    Condition Description
    Success Activity successfully ran the query on the target device.
    Failure Activity failed to run the query on the target device. Failure could be caused by invalid credentials or a device that is not accessible.