Serverless Discovery

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 5, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Serverless Discovery

    Serverless Discovery in the Washingtondc Release allows for the identification of applications on host machines without needing to discover the host first. This method bypasses traditional scanning and classification phases, using infrastructure patterns to locate Configuration Items (CIs) directly.

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    Key Features

    • Types of Serverless Discovery:
      • Standard Serverless Discovery: Discovers remote application CIs on unknown hosts using protocols like REST or HTTP, without requiring the host's IP address. Ideal for discovering web-based applications.
      • Host-Based Serverless Discovery: Finds CIs on already discovered host machines using the host as a proxy. This method does not require the IP addresses of the CIs, simplifying the discovery process.
    • Infrastructure Patterns: Both types require an infrastructure pattern to function, which can specify operations such as WMI Queries.
    • Discovery Schedules: Serverless Discovery is triggered from a Discovery schedule instead of a classifier, allowing for more streamlined operations.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing Serverless Discovery, ServiceNow customers can efficiently locate application CIs without the need for extensive host discovery. This method simplifies the discovery process, enhances operational efficiency, and enables the discovery of CIs that may not have traditional IP addresses. Customers can configure schedules to tailor the discovery process to their specific needs, improving overall resource management.

    Discovery can find applications on host machines without the need to discover the host first. This type of Discovery is referred to as serverless Discovery.

    Serverless Discovery relies on infrastructure patterns to explore CIs on a host. This kind of Discovery skips the scanning and classification phases of Discovery. There are two types of serverless Discovery: standard and host-based. Both types require an infrastructure pattern.

    Standard serverless Discovery

    Standard serverless Discovery finds remote application CIs that reside on an unknown host. This type of serverless Discovery uses protocols, such as REST or HTTP, to find the CIs. The IP address of the host machine is not required. You define input parameters in an infrastructure pattern to connect to a remote resource. Use this type of Discovery when you want to discover web-based applications.

    Host-based serverless Discovery

    Host-based serverless Discovery finds CIs that reside on a host machine that you already discovered. The host acts as a proxy through which you find other CIs. You do not actually run Discovery on the host. Use this type of Discovery when:
    • You do not know the IP address of the CIs you want to discover, or the CIs do not actually have IP addresses.
    • The CIs reside on an already discovered host CI.

    For this type of Discovery, you also need an infrastructure pattern, but you do not need to define input parameters like you do for standard serverless Discovery. The pattern can specify operations, such as a WMI Query, which executes queries on a host. After Discovery connects to the host, it uses the credentials of the host to perform the Discovery of CIs you are exploring in the pattern. You do not need to specify additional credentials. When you run debug mode on the pattern, you can see the details under Temporary Variables on the pattern. You can then create pattern operations that make API calls from the host to the CIs you are trying to discover.

    Serverless Discovery schedules

    The infrastructure patterns that serverless Discovery uses are triggered from a Discovery schedule, rather than from a classifier. Serverless Discovery ignores classifiers. Use a serverless schedule type for both types of serverless Discovery. The serverless schedule allows you to specify: