AWS IAM Policy pattern-based discovery

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated May 13, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of AWS IAM Policy pattern-based discovery

    The AWS IAM Policy pattern-based discovery enables ServiceNow customers to find and map AWS IAM Policies within their cloud environments using Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns. This process helps populate both CMDB and non-CMDB tables with detailed information about IAM policies, supporting comprehensive cloud resource management.

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    Key Features

    • Prerequisites and setup: Ensure AWS discovery prerequisites are met and remove any relevant resources from the Resource Inclusion List to prevent duplicate discoveries.
    • Pattern activation: The AWS IAM Policy discovery pattern is disabled by default and must be enabled manually. Activating or deactivating patterns no longer counts as customization, allowing updates after upgrades without losing configuration.
    • Data population: The discovery populates AWS IAM Policy data into both non-CMDB and CMDB tables when running the Amazon AWS - IAM Policy - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern.
    • Tag collection: IAM policy tags are collected and stored in the Key Value table, linking tags to their respective cloud resources for better categorization and filtering.
    • CI relationships and references: The pattern creates relationships between cloud resources and cloud service accounts, supporting detailed configuration item (CI) mapping and dependency tracking.

    Key Outcomes

    • Comprehensive IAM policy inventory: Customers gain visibility into IAM policies, including names, ARNs, policy IDs, and whether policies are customer-managed or AWS-managed.
    • Enhanced CMDB accuracy: IAM policies are represented as configuration items with operational and installation status, resource type classification, and linked metadata.
    • Improved resource tagging and classification: Automatic discovery and association of AWS tags enable better resource management and reporting within ServiceNow.
    • Robust CI relationships: Mapping between IAM policies, cloud resources, and service accounts facilitates impact analysis and service dependency understanding.

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns finds AWS IAM Policies 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.

    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 - IAM Policy - 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 IAM Policy [cmdb_aws_iam_policy]
    Field Description
    Name [name] Name of the IAM policy.
    Object ID [object_id] The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the IAM policy.
    Policy ID [policy_id] The stable and unique string identifying the policy.
    Is Customer Managed [is_customer_managed] Indicates whether the policy is customer-managed.
    • Policies managed by customers: the value is true
    • Policies managed by AWS: the value is false
    Configuration Item [configuration_item] References the Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource] table.

    Data stored in CMDB tables

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in the CMDB when running the Amazon AWS - IAM Policy - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern.

    Table 2. Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource]
    Field Description
    Name [name] Name of the IAM policy.
    Object ID [object_id] The ARN of the IAM policy.
    Resource type [resource_type] Type of resource. The value is set to AWS::IAM::Policy.
    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.

    CI relationships

    The Amazon AWS - IAM Policy - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern creates the following relationships and references to support AWS IAM Policy discovery. References link to records in other tables and don't appear in the CI Relationship [cmdb_rel_ci] table.

    Table 3. CI relationships
    CI Relationship CI
    Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource] Hosted on::Hosts Cloud Service Account [cmdb_ci_cloud_service_account]
    Table 4. CI references
    CI Field Referenced CI
    AWS IAM Policy [cmdb_aws_iam_policy] Configuration Item [configuration_item] Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource]
    Key Value [cmdb_key_value] Configuration item [configuration_item] Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource]

    AWS Tag discovery

    The Amazon AWS - IAM Policy - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern collects tags and populates them in the Key Value [cmdb_key_value] table.

    Table 5. Key Value [cmdb_key_value]
    Field Description
    Key [key] Tag name.
    Value [value] Tag value.
    Configuration item [configuration_item] References the Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource] table.