Analytics and Reporting for Cloud Resources

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Analytics and Reporting for Cloud Resources

    The Analytics and Reporting for Cloud Resources solution in the Yokohama release provides prepackaged Performance Analytics and Reporting content designed to work with other ServiceNow AI Platform products. It delivers aggregated views and detailed insights into cloud resource usage across multiple cloud providers, facilitating effective monitoring and management.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • Performance Analytics Content Pack for Cloud Resources: Offers an aggregated dashboard to view all cloud resources, with filtering capabilities by service account, datacenter, or resource group (specific to Microsoft Azure).
    • Supported Cloud Providers: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, VMware vCenter, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP, supported from version 1.2.1 onwards).
    • Dashboard and Reporting: Displays aggregate counts of cloud resources and latest Cloud Discovery error logs. While GCP resources do not have default widgets, users can create custom reports and widgets using relevant data tables or via the Cloud Discovery Workspace application.
    • Data Update Mechanism: Separate scheduled jobs run every 30 minutes for each cloud provider to update cloud resource analytical tables, ensuring dashboards reflect up-to-date information.
    • Job Management: Scheduled jobs query new database views to insert and update records. Jobs have a maximum timeout of 360 minutes, configurable via a system property.

    Roles and Permissions

    • ServiceNow AI Platform Administrator (admin): Responsible for installing, activating, and configuring the solution, including system properties.
    • Performance Analytics Administrator (paadmin): Manages indicators, breakdowns, widgets, dashboards, data collection, and sharing with stakeholders.
    • Cloud Dashboard User (sndiscocd.user): Has read-only access to cloud resource analytics tables and dashboards, and can view cloud resource widgets.
    • Cloud Dashboard Administrator (sndiscocd.admin): Can view, add, or edit dashboard widgets and reports and has read-only access to the analytics tables. This role inherits the user role by default.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    This solution enables customers to comprehensively monitor cloud resources across multiple providers within ServiceNow, facilitating proactive management and governance. The automated data updates and customizable dashboards support timely decision-making and tailored reporting, improving cloud resource visibility and operational efficiency.

    Platform Analytics Solutions contain prepackaged Performance Analytics and Reporting content for use with other ServiceNow AI Platform products.

    Performance Analytics Content Pack for Cloud Resources overview

    The Performance Analytics Content Pack for Cloud Resources shows the aggregated view of all your Cloud Resources. You can filter on specific information for more details. There are also analytics tables and views that associate tags with resources so that you can build your own custom dashboards and reports.

    The Performance Analytics Content Pack for Cloud Resources works with Discovery and Cloud Provisioning and Governance and it supports the following cloud providers:
    • Amazon Web Services
    • Microsoft Azure public clouds
    • VMware vCenter
    • Google Cloud Platform (GCP) (Supported with Performance Analytics Content Pack for Cloud Resources version 1.2.1 and higher).

    The aggregate count of each cloud resource and the latest Cloud Discovery error logs are displayed on the dashboard. You can filter the cloud resources by the service account, datacenter, or resource group (only for Microsoft Azure) under a specific provider and view the resource count and the resources.

    The base-system Performance Analytics Content Pack for Cloud Resources dashboard doesn’t contain any widget for the GCP resources. You can create the reports and widgets by consuming data from the appropriate tables. For more information on the tables that contain the GCP resources data, see Cloud Resources dashboard. Alternatively, you can install the Cloud Discovery Workspace application to view the GCP reports and widgets. For more information, see Cloud Discovery Workspace.

    For each cloud provider, a separate scheduled job is triggered every 30 minutes. The latest CI data is updated in the cloud resource analytic tables, which allows the dashboard to be more realistic and have the updated count. The information about each scheduled job is available in the Cloud Dashboard Job Status [sn_disco_cd_cloud_dashboard_job_status] table. The job details including the provider type, status, start time, end time, and duration are stored in this table.

    The reports for the cloud dashboard widgets are generated from the cloud resource analytical tables. The analytical tables are populated through the scheduled job. The scheduled job queries the new database views, and inserts and updates the records into the analytical tables.

    The scheduled job can run for a maximum of 360 minutes. The maximum job timeout value is set using the system property (sn_disco_cd.scheduled_job_time_out_in_mins). If the scheduled job exceeds 360 minutes, or the time set in this property, then the job is canceled.

    Required roles

    The following roles and tasks are associated with this solution:
    • ServiceNow AI Platform administrator (admin): Install and activate this Analytics and Reporting Solution and can make any necessary changes to system properties.
    • Performance Analytics administrator (pa_admin): Review the indicators, breakdowns, widgets, and dashboards. Set up and start data collection and share the dashboards with appropriate stakeholders.
    • Cloud Dashboard user (sn_disco_cd.user): Crew the cloud resource widgets in the Cloud Dashboard and has read-only access on the Cloud Resource analytics tables and the dashboard reports.
    • Cloud Dashboard administrator (sn_disco_cd.admin): View, add, or edit the dashboard widgets and reports and has read-only access on the Cloud Resource analytics tables. By default (sn_disco_cd.admin) contains the (sn_disco_cd.user) role and (discovery_admin) contains the (sn_disco_cd.admin) role.