Data collected by Discovery on storage devices

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated August 5, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Data Collected by Discovery on Storage Devices

    The Discovery feature identifies and classifies storage devices, capturing essential information to enhance visibility and management of your IT infrastructure. It collects data across various categories such as storage disks, file shares, pools, ports, host bus adapters (HBAs), servers, and volumes, and establishes relationships between these components.

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    Key Features

    • Storage Disks: Information like name, computer reference, interface type, size, free space, manufacturer, and model ID are collected.
    • Storage File Shares: Captures the name and path of the file share.
    • Storage Pools: Records name, size, free space, and hosting computer reference.
    • Storage Ports: Gathers details on name, Worldwide Port Name (WWPN), and speed.
    • Storage HBAs: Includes name, model ID, and computer reference.
    • Storage Servers: Collects name, manufacturer, model ID, operating system, OS version, and a brief description.
    • Storage Volumes: Identifies name, unique ID, state, size, and type of storage volume.
    • Relationship Mapping: Establishes connections between NAS devices and client servers, ensuring accurate data flow and management.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the data collected through Discovery, ServiceNow customers can expect improved management of storage resources, enhanced visibility of storage relationships, and optimized performance across their IT infrastructure. Accurate mapping of storage components facilitates better resource allocation and troubleshooting, ultimately leading to more efficient operations.

    Discovery identifies and classifies information about storage devices.

    Table 1. Resources discovered on the Storage Disks [cmdb_ci_storage_disk] table
    Field Description
    Name Name of the storage disk.
    Computer Reference to the host CI.
    Interface Interface type with which the storage disk is connected to the host.
    Size Size of the storage disk.
    Free disk space (GB) Free space in GV available on the disk.
    Manufacturer Manufacturer of the storage disk.
    Model ID Model name of the disk.
    Table 2. Resources discovered on the Storage File Shares [cmdb_ci_storage_fileshare] table
    Field Description
    Name Name of the CI.
    Path Path to the file share.
    Table 3. Resources discovered on the Storage Pools [cmdb_ci_storage_pool] table
    Field Description
    Name Name of the storage pool.
    Size Size of the storage pool.
    Free space Free space available in the pool.
    Hosted by Reference to the CMDB CI.
    Table 4. Resources discovered on the Storage Ports [cmdb_ci_storage_port] table
    Field Description
    Name Name of the storage port.
    WWPN Unique Worldwide Port Name (WWPN) for the storage port.
    Speed Speed of the storage port.
    Table 5. Resources discovered on the Storage HBAs [cmdb_ci_storage_hba] table
    Field Description
    Name Name of the Storage Host Bus Adapter (HBA).
    Model ID Model name of the HBA.
    Computer Reference to the computer CI.
    Table 6. Resources discovered on the Storage Servers [cmdb_ci_storage_server] table
    Field Description
    Name Name of the CI.
    Manufacturer Manufacturer of the storage server.
    Model ID Model name of the storage server.
    Operating System Operating system (OS) of the storage server.
    OS Version OS version of the storage server.
    Description Short description of the storage server.
    Table 7. Resources discovered on the Storage Volumes [cmdb_ci_storage_volume] table
    Field Description
    Name Name of the storage volume.
    Object ID Unique ID for the storage volume.
    State State of the storage volume.
    Size Size of the storage volume.
    Storage Type Type of storage volume.

    Storage relationships

    Discovery establishes the correct relationships between Network-Attached Storage (NAS) storage devices and remotely mounted client servers that consume the storage. Discovery maps NAS file shares. It maps by taking the IP or hostname of a remote mounted disk on the client computer. It then matches it to the IP or hostname of the storage server providing the exported file system.

    Discovery creates the following relationships for storage CIs running on Storage Area Networks.

    Table 8. SAN CI relationships
    Parent Component Relationship Child Component
    Storage Volume [cmdb_ci_storage_volume] Exports to::Imports from Fibre Channel Disk [cmdb_ci_fc_disk]
    Storage Volume [cmdb_ci_storage_volume] Exports to::Imports from iSCSI [cmdb_ci_iscsi_disk]

    Discovery maps NAS file shares. It maps by resolving the hostname of a remote mounted disk on the client computer to an IP address. It then matches it to the IP address of the storage server that provides the exported file system. Discovery extracts the hostname or IP address from the NAS path to determine the identity of the storage server. If the hostname is an actual hostname, the system immediately resolves that value into an IP address. It also stores it in the nas_ip_address field of the NAS File System [cmdb_ci_nas_file_system] table.

    Discovery creates the following relationships for storage CIs running on Network Attached Storage (NAS). These relationships are the same between Linux and Windows operating system hosts.

    Table 9. NAS CI relationships
    Parent Component Relationship Child Component
    NAS File System [cmdb_ci_nas_file_system] Allocated from::Allocated to Storage File Share [cmdb_ci_storage_fileshare]