Domain Separation and Discovery

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Domain Separation and Discovery

    Domain separation in ServiceNow Discovery allows service providers (SPs) to logically segregate data, processes, and administrative tasks into distinct domains. This ensures that users only see and access data within their assigned domain or its child domains, enhancing data privacy and security across multiple customers within a single ServiceNow instance. Discovery supports domain separation at the Standard support level, requiring SPs to retain administrative control without delegating administration to child domains.

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    How Domain Separation Works in Discovery

    • Multiple domains can be supported by a single MID Server, unlike earlier releases where one MID Server supported a single domain.
    • Discovered Configuration Items (CIs) are assigned to domains based on the MID Server user or the user who created the Discovery schedule, depending on whether the MID Server supports multiple domains.
    • The MID Server impersonates its user during sensor processing to assign discovered data to the correct domain.
    • Discovery configuration elements (classifiers, probes, sensors) are not domain-separated.
    • Service providers typically use IP-based Discovery, assigning distinct IP subnets to each customer/domain for clear segregation.
    • When overlapping IP address spaces exist, SPs may use network address translation (NAT) to maintain domain separation during Discovery.
    • Visibility and access to discovered data are controlled through the platform’s domain hierarchy, with SPs having cross-domain visibility and control.

    Domain Separation for MID Server Files

    Specific MID Server policy records related to MIB files, JAR files, and script files can be domain-separated, allowing only MID Servers within the same domain to use those records. By default, these records belong to the global domain but can be overridden for domain-specific use. Note that attachments on these records may not be visible in a domain-separated environment due to attachment table data separation.

    Domain-Separated Tables in Discovery

    Records in all tables extending the Base Configuration Item (cmdb) table can be domain-separated. This also applies to several specialized tables such as Serial Number, TCP Connection, Fibre Channel Initiator and Target, IP Address to DNS Name, Service, KVM Virtual Device, Load Balancer VLANs, and Switch Port. This ensures granular data segregation within Discovery’s CMDB structure.

    Configuring Domain-Separated Discovery Schedules

    Setting the "Run as" user in a Discovery schedule is essential for directing discovered CIs to the correct domain. This configuration maintains data isolation and proper assignment of discovered assets within the domain hierarchy.

    Domain separation is supported in Discovery. Domain separation enables you to separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can control several aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data.

    Support level: Standard

    • Includes all aspects of Basic level support.
    • Application properties are domain-aware as needed.
    • Business logic: The service provider (SP) creates or modifies processes per customer. The use cases reflect proper use of the application by multiple SP customers in a single instance.
    • The instance owner must configure the minimum viable product (MVP) business logic and data parameters per tenant as expected for the specific application.

    Sample use case: An admin must be able to make comments required when a record closes for one tenant, but not for another.

    For more information on support levels, see Application support for domain separation.

    Domain separation overview

    Service Providers (SPs) use domain separation to segregate data for each customer. Users in a given domain have visibility only to the data in their own domains or in child domains. SPs typically control the top-level domain, which gives them visibility to data associated with all domains. Given that Discovery domain separation support is considered Standard there is no delegated administration to the child domains. The SPs must retain administrative control.

    How domain separation works in Discovery

    Multiple domains can be supported by a single MID Server. In releases prior to Kingston, each MID Server could support only a single domain. In newer releases, segregating domains by MID Server is useful when the domain is large, or when the domain's resources are held in a customer's data center rather than the SP's. For Discovery on MID Servers supporting a single domain, the discovered CIs are assigned to the domain of the MID User used to authenticated against the ServiceNow instance. In multi-domain MID Servers, the discovered CIs are assigned to the domain of the user who created the Discovery schedule.

    Discovery implements data domain separation through the MID Server by impersonating the MID Server user during sensor processing. Discovery uses the domain, that the MID Server user is in, to determine which domain the discovered data should be put into. Discovery configuration information, including classifiers, identifiers, probes, and sensors, is not domain separated.

    Service providers generally use IP-based Discovery. In cases where the SP controls the network addressing, they divide the address space among their customers to ensure that each domain has a distinct IP address space. The SP assigns one or more subnets to a customer or domain and creates Discovery schedules for those subnets.

    If the SP is remotely managing their customer's data center, there will often be some overlap between address spaces different customers use. In these cases, the SP can use network address translation (NAT) on the IP range and run a Discovery schedule.

    Once the CIs are assigned to the correct domain, the visibility and read/write access control are provided by the platform through the domain hierarchy. Schedules are visible to users in their respective domains. Cross-domain schedule visibility is not possible, except for the SP who controls the parent domain and has visibility to all domains.

    Domain separation for MID Server files

    You can create versions of these specific MID Server policy records that only a MID Server from the same domain can use. This process separation is supported for records in tables that extend MID Server Synchronized Files [ecc_agent_sync_file]:
    • MID Server MIB File [ecc_agent_mib]
    • MID Server JAR File [ecc_agent_jar]
    • MID Server Script File [ecc_agent_script_files]

    By default, all records in these tables are members of the global domain. A user can override the default global domain and create a version of these policies for use in the user's own domain.

    Note:
    Attachments on MIB or JAR file records might not appear as they did in a non-domain separated environment. The attachments do not appear because the Attachments [sys_attachment] table is data separated. When data is separated between domains, a record in a child domain cannot access records in a parent domain.

    See MID Server domain separation for instructions on setting up domain separation through the MID Server.

    Domain-separated tables

    Records in all tables that extend the Base Configuration Item [cmdb] table can be domain-separated. In addition, records in these tables can also be domain-separated:
    • Serial Number [cmdb_serial_number]
    • TCP Connection [cmdb_tcp]
    • Fibre Channel Initiator [cmdb_fc_initiator]
    • Fibre Channel Targets [cmdb_fc_target]
    • IP Address to DNS Name [cmdb_ip_address_dns_name]
    • Service [cmdb_ip_service_ci]
    • KVM Virtual Device [cmdb_kvm_device]
    • Load Balancer Service VLAN [cmdb_lb_service_vlan]
    • Load Balancer VLAN Interface [cmdb_lb_vlan_interface]
    • Switch Port [cmdb_switch_port]