Discovery based on Predictive Intelligence

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Discovery based on Predictive Intelligence

    Discovery based on Predictive Intelligence enhances Service Mapping by leveraging machine learning to generate traffic-based connection suggestions. These suggestions evaluate relationships between application fingerprints, configuration items (CIs), and processes, helping you accurately map application service connections.

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    This feature automates the addition of connections to service instances based on connection rules derived from traffic data and analysis stored in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). It improves the precision and efficiency of service discovery and mapping.

    Key Features

    • Connection Suggestions with Confidence Levels: Predictive Intelligence ranks connection relevancy and assigns confidence levels (High, Medium, Low, Very Low) to indicate the likelihood that a connection is part of a service instance.
    • Connection Rules: You can create and customize rules based on connection suggestions to control which connections are automatically added to services. Rules can target specific confidence levels or particular CIs.
    • Automated Connection Management: Service Mapping applies these rules during service rediscovery, adding one level of CI connections per discovery run and validating existing connections against active rules to maintain accuracy.
    • Rule Evaluation Process: Local rules are evaluated first (up to 20 by default), then global rules, based on their order attribute. Rules can exclude connections from certain services if configured.
    • Decision Attribute Handling: When connections are added by rules, their decision attribute is set to "Added By Rule". If rules become invalid, connections revert to "Undecided" and may be removed unless reassigned by other rules.
    • Configurable Limits: The number of local and global connection rules applied can be adjusted to fit your environment’s needs.
    • Enablement: This feature is controlled by the saml.connectionsuggestions.active property. It is disabled by default if traffic-based discovery was enabled prior to the Quebec release and used before.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Improved Service Mapping Accuracy: Use machine learning-driven insights to discover and maintain more accurate application service connections.
    • Reduced Manual Effort: Automate connection additions and removals based on dynamic traffic and application behavior.
    • Flexible Control: Define and adjust connection rules to match your organizational requirements and service architecture.
    • Ongoing Validation: Ensure service maps remain current by automatically reassessing connections during rediscovery.

    Next Steps

    To leverage this feature effectively, review and configure connection rules based on your service environment’s needs. Adjust discovery schedules to allow full mapping depth as needed. Monitor the confidence levels of connection suggestions and validate service maps regularly. Use the provided related tasks to add or remove CIs using connection rules or suggestions for single or multiple application services.

    Service Mapping uses data processed by Predictive Intelligence to generate suggestions for traffic-based connections.

    Connection suggestions generated using Predictive Intelligence

    Predictive Intelligence evaluates connections between application fingerprints, CIs, and processes, and ranks their relevancy. Service Mapping uses this information to create connections based on connection rules. It also generates connection suggestions for servers and load balancers for you to decide which connections to add or remove from the service instances. The confidence level indicates the likelihood of this connection being part of the service instances.
    • High - This connection is likely to an internal component that is only used by this specific component or application.
    • Medium - This connection is likely to a middleware component used by multiple services, such as IBM MQ or Oracle WebLogic Server.
    • Low - This connection is likely to an application deployed on numerous servers in the organization, typically for monitoring purposes, such as Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Agents or MID Server.
    • Very low - This connection is likely to a central application used by the entire organization, for example, Microsoft Active Directory or Okta.
    If Predictive Intelligence is enabled, Service Mapping automatically adds connections to service instances based on connection rules. These suggestions are generated using traffic-related data from the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and the analysis of application fingerprints, CIs, and processes by Predictive Intelligence.

    Connection rules based on connection suggestions

    Connection rules enhance the connection suggestions generated using Predictive Intelligence. Each rule contains a condition that describes an aspect of a traffic-based connection. The fields available in conditions come from the Connection Suggestion [sa_ml_connection_suggestion] table, which is only populated when you run top-down discovery. You can base your rules directly on the connection suggestions. For example, create a rule for any connection with confidence level High. Alternatively, if you know which CIs must be part of the service instances, you can choose fields that point at these CIs.

    When Service Mapping adds a connection based on connection rules, it performs the following actions:
    1. Associating the connection rule with the connection suggestion.
    2. Changing the connection suggestion Decision attribute to Added By Rule.
    3. During service rediscovery, adding one level of the actual CI connections to relevant application services.

    Every time application services are rediscovered, Service Mapping adds only one level of CI connections. You may want to change the frequency in your discovery schedules to complete mapping of the application services using connection rules.

    Service Mapping evaluates only active connection rules and only for connection suggestions that have the Undecided decision attribute. The system applies the rules using the following algorithm:
    1. Service Mapping checks local rules for a CI connection. If multiple rules are relevant for the same CI connection, Service Mapping uses the Order attribute for the sequence: It evaluates the rules from least to greatest Order value. By default, Service Mapping checks only 20 local rules.
    2. If a connection suggestion matches the connection rule condition, Service Mapping adds this connection to the relevant application service.
    3. If Service Mapping finds no match for local rules, the system starts evaluating and applying global rules in ascending order using the Order attribute. By default, the system checks only 20 global rules.
    4. If a connection suggestion matches the rule condition, the system adds it to all application services. If a rule is configured to exclude suggested connections from certain services, the system does not apply this rule to these services.
    5. Every time Service Mapping rediscovers application services of the manual or discovered type, it validates automatically added traffic-based connections against the active connection rules. That way the system ensures that application services contain only relevant connections based on the current and active connection rules.
    6. If a rule is no longer valid, Service Mapping changes the decision attribute for its corresponding connection suggestion to Undecided. Service Mapping also removes the association between the connection rule and the connection suggestion. Unless Service Mapping can apply a different connection rule to CI connections that became irrelevant, Service Mapping removes them from the application services.

    If necessary, you can modify the number of the local or global connection rules that the system uses in the algorithm, as described in Properties installed with Service Mapping.

    Enabling discovery based on Predictive Intelligence

    Discovery based on Predictive Intelligence works at the product level. The sa_ml.connection_suggestions.active property controls this feature. If traffic-based discovery was enabled in your deployment prior to the Quebec release and you used it to discover at least one application service, discovery based on Predictive Intelligence is disabled by default.