Indirect Discovery using Service Graph Connectors

ServiceNow Telecom Discovery using Service Graph Connectors (SGC s) integrates network infrastructure data from external management systems into the Configuration Management Database (CMDB).

This approach helps Communication Service Providers (CSPs) maintain a current and accurate view of their multivendor telecom network resources, services, and configurations.

By leveraging predefined connectors and robust data transformation tools, you can unify your inventory across domains and confirm that the CMDB and Telecom Network Inventory (TNI) reflect real-time network insights aligned with your telecom data model.

Note:

Telecom Service Graph Connectors are part of the TSOM Visibility subscription and extend the capabilities of the standard Service Graph Connector framework.

Service Graph Connector overview

With Telecom SGC, you can:

• Ingest data from EMS/NMS/Controllers using northbound REST APIs.
• Automatically populate and update CMDB and TNI records with enriched, telecom-aligned data.
• Reconcile incoming data with existing CI records using the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE).
• Generate TNI entity records automatically when the TNI plugin is installed.
• Support discrepancy detection and remediation as part of Telecom Discrepancy Identification & Reconciliation.
• Use low-code tools to configure, test, and manage your integrations end-to-end.

Architecture overview

Telecom Service Graph Connectors rely on a modular and scalable architecture:

Table 1. Key components of Service Graph Connector

Component	Role
Service Graph Connector	Defines the integration logic to extract and stage data from EMS/NMS systems (for example, Nokia Altiplano or Nokia NSP).
MID Server	Acts as a secure bridge between your ServiceNow instance and the external network system. For more information, see IntegrationHub ETL.
IntegrationHub ETL (3.2)	Provides a guided UI for creating, testing, and managing ETL transform maps. For more information, see MID Server.
Robust Transform Engine (RTE)	Transforms staged source data into CMDB-compliant records using defined ETL logic. For more information, see Create a robust import set transformer.
Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE)	Ensures data consistency and prevents duplicates by identifying and reconciling CIs. For more information, see the CMDB Identification and Reconciliation (IRE).
CMDB/TNI	Stores structured, accurate telecom infrastructure data for visibility and downstream processes.

Supported Service Graph Connectors

• Nokia Altiplano SGC (sn_sgc_altiplano): Integrates with the Nokia Altiplano Access Network SDN Controller via REST APIs.
• Cisco Meraki SGC (sn_sgc_meraki): Integrates with the Cisco Meraki Dashboard via REST APIs.
• Fortinet SGC (sn_sgc_fortinet): Integrates with FortiManager via REST APIs.
• Arista VeloCloud SGC (sn_sgc_vcloud): Integrates with VeloCloud Orchestrator via REST APIs.

Note:

The connector can coexist with IT and Cloud Service Graph Connectors (e.g., for servers, monitoring tools, IoT, etc.).

Key benefits

• Fast time to value – Use predefined, supported connectors that require minimal configuration.
• Multivendor support – Integrate with various management platforms across access, core, and transport networks.
• Model-aligned visibility – verify telecom-specific hierarchy and relationships are accurately modeled in the CMDB.
• Discrepancy detection ready – Feed network data directly into Telecom Discrepancy Identification & Reconciliation for CMDB compliance.
• Scalable integration – Use ServiceNow’s proven integration framework built for performance and extensibility.

Telecom Network Inventory (TNI) data model

Telecom SGCs include logic to ensure compatibility with the Telecom Network Inventory (TNI) data model:

• When the TNI plugin is installed, each discovered network element automatically includes a TNI entity record.
• A tni_entity is created alongside its corresponding cmdb_ci record, using system-generated payload mappings (e.g., inventory_category).
• This ensures consistency across operational and planning systems.

If TNI is installed, a payload like the following one will be added to the IRE payload for each item (with inventory_category populated based on the className):

related = [{
            "className": "tni_entity",
            "values": {
                "inventory_category": ""
            }
        }];

As a result, the discovered CI is in both the cmdb_ci and tni_entity tables.

Related concepts

• Telecom Discovery via Nokia Altiplano
• Telecom Discovery via Cisco Meraki SD-WAN
• Telecom Discovery via Fortinet SD-WAN
• Telecom discovery via Arista VeloCloud SD-WAN