Discovery resource utilization

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Discovery Resource Utilization

    This document provides insights into the network bandwidth consumption associated with standard discovery operations in ServiceNow across various operating systems. Understanding these metrics helps customers optimize their Discovery implementations based on the expected network load during device scanning.

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    Key Features

    • Bandwidth Consumption Tables: Detailed tables present bandwidth usage in megabytes for different operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, and storage devices during various discovery stages.
    • Initial vs. Subsequent Discoveries: The document compares bandwidth requirements for initial discoveries of three-tier applications versus subsequent runs, highlighting efficiency improvements over time.
    • Patterns Detection: It includes data on bandwidth usage for creating and updating patterns across different OS types, allowing customers to assess the impact of pattern management on network traffic.

    Key Outcomes

    By reviewing this information, ServiceNow customers can:

    • Estimate the network impact of Discovery operations based on the specific operating environments they manage.
    • Plan and allocate network resources effectively to minimize disruptions during discovery processes.
    • Enhance the efficiency of ongoing discovery operations by analyzing the differences in bandwidth consumption between initial and subsequent scans.

    Standard transactions on Windows and Unix generate various amounts of network traffic, depending on what is being discovered.

    These tables show the bandwidth consumption for each data flow segment of a typical discovery using probes and patterns over different operating systems.

    Table 1. Discovery Bandwidth Over Different Operating Systems (in Megabytes)
    Device Type MID > Instance Instance > MID MID > Target Target > MID Total
    Windows 2016 0.104966 0.101271 0.77739 2.364353 3.34798
    Windows 2012 0.126327 0.07928 1.177146 3.70751 5.089804
    Windows 2008 0.141816 0.104674 1.032673 3.594784 4.873947
    Windows 10 0.091466 0.075601 0.642313 2.221103 3.030483
    Linux CentOS 0.164232 0.111376 0.148742 0.690117 1.114467
    Mac OSX 0.103707 0.068302 0.021681 0.461365 0.655055
    HP-UX 0.120358 0.106676 0.042669 0.101149 0.370852
    Solaris 0.130551 0.099414 0.060243 0.346605 0.636813
    Cisco UCS Switch 0.029655 0.027465 0.094918 0.097444 0.249492
    F5 Load Balancer 0.043935 0.03689 0.017179 0.012132 0.110136
    A10 Load Balancer 0.046631 0.032266 0.018313 0.03182 0.12903
    EMC Storage 0.4776 0.373828 1.215954 4.741926 6.809308

    The following table shows the bandwidth comparison between an initial discovery for three-tier applications and for each subsequent discovery. Bandwidth is broken up into the three tiers: UI (Apache), application (Websphere), and data (Oracle). This measures the total data transfer for each discovery run once for a device class.

    Table 2. Discovery Bandwidth for Three Tier Applications (in Megabytes)
    Device Type MID > Instance Instance > MID MID > Target Target > MID Total
    Three-tier application - Initial discovery 0.712829 0.678862 7.084678 9.430181 17.90655
    F5 Load Balancer 0.017179 0.012132
    Apache on Linux 0.540161 1.107108
    Websphere on Linux 0.729403 1.165112
    Oracle on Windows 5.797935 7.145829
    Three-tier application - subsequent discovery 0.150882 0.107409 2.536535 0.560122 3.354948
    F5 load balancer 0.001347 0.012132
    Apache on Linux 0.136366 0.79392
    Websphere on Linux 0.341042 0.11365
    Oracle on Windows 2.05778 0.354948

    This table shows discovery of different OS types using patterns. This measures, in megabytes, the total amount of data created and the total amount of data in subsequent scans for each device.

    Table 3. Discovery Bandwidth for Patterns over Different Operating System Types (in Megabytes)
    Device MID > Instance Instance > MID MID > Target Target > MID Total
    Linux Create 0.39 0.486 0.098 0.273 1.247
    Update 0.382 0.499 0.093 0.264 1.238
    Windows Server Create 0.289 0.316 5.628 8.508 14.741
    Update 0.273 0.306 5.621 8.458 14.658
    Solaris Create 1.222 1.4 0.383 0.917 3.922
    Update 1.24 1.42 .399 .675 3.734
    HPUX Create 0.176 0.222 0.063 0.13 0.591
    Update 0.178 0.247 0.062 0.128 0.615
    Citrix Netscaler Create 0.424 1.919 0.019 0.042 2.404
    Update 0.355 0.619 0.016 0.041 1.031
    F5 Create 0.087 0.135 0.026 0.047 0.295
    Update 0.132 0.171 0.026 0.047 0.376
    L3 Switch Create 0.172 0.125 0.282 0.478 1.057
    Update 0.178 0.126 0.282 0.479 1.065
    Note:
    These measurements were taken with base operating configurations. Your local system results may vary.