Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry

    The Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry allows ServiceNow customers to ingest Configuration Management Database (CMDB) data from the ServiceNow Cloud Observability application using REST APIs. This integration enables the push of events from Cloud Observability into ServiceNow, facilitating enhanced event management.

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    Important: The connector is being prepared for future deprecation, meaning it will be hidden and not installed on new instances, although it will continue to receive support. For further details, refer to the Deprecation Process article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.

    Key Features

    • Use Cases: Import project topologies and events from Cloud Observability for site reliability engineering (SRE) teams to enhance triage capabilities with a unified view alongside other ServiceNow data points.
    • Guided Setup: Follow an organized sequence of tasks to configure the integration through the guided setup process.
    • CMDB Integrations Dashboard: Monitor integration status, processing results, and errors through a centralized dashboard available in the Integration Commons for CMDB store app.
    • Data Mapping: Utilize the Robust Transform Engine (RTE) to map and transform data from Cloud Observability into specific CMDB configuration item (CI) class definitions, ensuring accurate data insertion via the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE).
    • Inferred Service Linking: Automatically link inferred services identified by the Cloud Observability application with corresponding CIs in the CMDB.

    Key Outcomes

    By implementing the Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry, ServiceNow customers can expect:

    • A streamlined process for integrating and managing observability data.
    • Enhanced visibility into project dependencies and service health, aiding in quicker incident resolution.
    • Improved monitoring capabilities with metrics and error tracking for all CMDB integrations.
    • The ability to leverage inferred service data to enrich CMDB entries and improve overall service management.

    Use the Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry to ingest Configuration Management Database (CMDB) data from the ServiceNow Cloud Observability (formerly Lightstep) application using REST APIs. Push events from the Cloud Observability application into ServiceNow with Event Management.

    Important:
    Starting with the Australia release, Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry is being prepared for future deprecation. It will be hidden and no longer installed on new instances but will continue to be supported. For details, see the Deprecation Process [KB0867184] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.

    Request apps on the Store

    Visit the ServiceNow Store to view all the available apps, and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.

    Supported ServiceNow versions

    • Utah
    • Vancouver
    • Washington DC

    Use cases

    The following examples describe how you can use the Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry:
    • Import project topologies from Cloud Observability so that the site reliability engineering (SRE) teams can have a single view for triage with other ServiceNow data points (such as a change request, an incident) from a single view.
    • Import events created by Cloud Observability against monitored projects to pinpoint SRE triage activities.

    Guided setup

    The guided setup for the Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry provides an organized sequence of tasks to configure the integration on your instance. To access the guided setup, see Configure Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry.

    CMDB integrations dashboard

    The Integration Commons for CMDB store app provides a dashboard with a central view of the status, processing results, and processing errors of all installed integrations. You can see metrics for all integration runs. You can filter the view to a specific CMDB integration, a specific time duration, or a specific integration run. For more details about monitoring Cloud Observability integrations in the CMDB Integrations Dashboard, see Using the CMDB Integrations Dashboard.

    Data mapping

    Data from the Cloud Observability data sources is mapped and transformed into the ServiceNow CMDB configuration item (CI) class definitions using the Robust Transform Engine (RTE). Data is inserted into the ServiceNow CMDB using the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE).

    When you complete setting up the connection, you can configure the integration to pull data from the application periodically.

    The following table describes the data sources, the scheduled jobs, the staging tables, and the target tables as CMDB CI classes for the Cloud Observability application.
    Table 1. Data mapping for Cloud Observability
    Data source Description Scheduled job Staging table CMDB CI classes
    OpenTelemetry Resources Imports all the Kubernetes clusters, workloads, and application services from the OpenTelemetry traces. OpenTelemetry Resources

    OpenTelemetry Delta Resources

    OpenTelemetry Resources [sn_sg_lightstep_resources]

    Calculated Application Service

    Kubernetes Cluster

    Kubernetes Deployment

    Kubernetes Node

    Kubernetes Pod

    Kubernetes StatefulSet

    Kubernetes ReplicaSet

    Kubernetes DaemonSet

    Kubernetes Job

    Kubernetes Cronjob

    Kubernetes Namespace

    Server

    Key Value

    OpenTelemetry Pods Imports all the Kubernetes pods from the containers. OpenTelemetry Pods

    OpenTelemetry Delta Pods

    OpenTelemetry K8s Pods [sn_sg_lightstep_pods]

    Kubernetes Cluster

    Kubernetes Pod

    OpenTelemetry Containers Imports all the containers from the OpenTelemetry traces. OpenTelemetry Containers

    OpenTelemetry Delta Containers

    OpenTelemetry docker containers [sn_sg_lightstep_containers]

    Docker Container

    OpenTelemetry Container Images Imports all the container images from the OpenTelemetry traces. OpenTelemetry Container Images

    OpenTelemetry Delta Container Images

    Opentelemetry container images [sn_sg_lightstep_container_images]

    Docker Image

    OpenTelemetry Services Imports all the Kubernetes services from the OpenTelemetry traces. OpenTelemetry Delta Services

    OpenTelemetry Services

    OpenTelemetry K8s Services [sn_sg_lightstep_kubernetes_services]

    Kubernetes Service

    OpenTelemetry Dependency Map Imports the dependency maps to get an aggregate view of the traced data.

    The data source also imports and loads any inferred services and their related services data in the Inferred service [sn_sg_lightstep_inferred_service] staging table.

    Note:
    You need to link the imported inferred services with a CI manually. See Inferred service linking.
    OpenTelemetry Dependency Map OpenTelemetry Dependency Map [sn_sg_lightstep_dependency_map]

    Calculated Application Service

    For more information on where data is saved when pulling data from Cloud Observability, see CMDB classes targeted in Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry.

    You can use the IntegrationHub ETL app to view the data maps. See IntegrationHub ETL for more information.

    Inferred service linking

    The ServiceNow Cloud Observability application can infer the presence of an inferred service when the span calling the remote service has the necessary information. Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry provides the linking of inferred services and their related services with CIs in the CMDB. For more information, see Linking inferred services with CIs.