How Agent Client Collector for Visibility Content works

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of How Agent Client Collector for Visibility Content works

    Agent Client Collector for Visibility Content (ACC-VC) enhances ServiceNow's Discovery capabilities by using the Agent Client Collector (ACC), which is based on Sensu-Go open-source software. ACC-VC requires the ACC to be installed on target hosts and uses scheduled Checks and Policies to collect and process data from these hosts. It operates in various scenarios such as periodic schedules, CI deletions, MID Server restarts, host restarts, and network interruptions.

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    Key Features

    • Policy-based Scheduling: ACC-VC uses the Enhanced Discovery Check and Policy, which by default runs every 24 hours, to trigger data collection.
    • Data Collection and Processing: The ACC-VC Check Type “EnhancedDiscovery” delegates processing to a script include that transforms data into a format compatible with the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) and manages non-CI data reconciliation like running processes and TCP connections.
    • Integration with MID Server: The MID Server acts as an intermediary, receiving ECC Queue records from the ServiceNow instance, communicating securely with ACC via WebSocket over TLS, and delivering relevant assets or plugins tailored to the host’s OS and architecture.
    • Customizability: Customers can edit and modify all ACC-VC components including checks, policies, and check definitions to tailor the solution to their environment.
    • Support for Virtual and Cloud Environments: ACC-VC can associate discovered CIs with existing Virtual Machine or Cloud Server Instance CIs in the CMDB, supporting vendors such as vCenter, AWS, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure.

    Practical Outcomes for ServiceNow Customers

    • Automated and consistent host data collection on a scheduled or event-driven basis, improving CMDB accuracy and completeness.
    • Seamless handling of host lifecycle events (like reboots or network interruptions) to ensure discovery data remains current.
    • Enhanced reconciliation of both CI and non-CI data, resulting in richer visibility into running processes and network connections.
    • Strong integration with MID Server infrastructure ensures secure and efficient data transfer tailored to each host’s specific environment.
    • Support for hybrid environments including physical hosts, virtual machines, and cloud instances, enabling comprehensive infrastructure visibility.

    Agent Client Collector for Visibility Content (ACC-VC) requires installation of ServiceNow Agent Client Collector (ACC) on the target host. ACC is a derivative of Sensu-Go, an open-source software.

    ACC-VC use cases

    ACC-VC applies Checks and Policies to schedule and collect host data. ACC-VC is triggered in the following cases:
    • Periodic scheduling: A policy-based approach where Discovery is triggered on a periodic basis.
    • On CI delete: When the computer or server CI record is deleted.
    • MID Server cycle: When the MID Server goes down and comes back up.
    • Target host cycle: When the target host goes down and comes back up.
    • Network break: When there is a break in the network link to the target.
    Note:
    Discovery is triggered for those agents whose hosts are already present. Agents whose hosts are not present are discovered through ACC-F.

    ACC-VC checks and policies

    The ACC-VC assets are stored as Agent plugins with the main entry point [acc_visibility_main] and other modules for OS families. There is one main system Discovery Check definition, called Enhanced Discovery, which is used by the Enhanced Discovery Policy. This ACC-VC policy runs off a schedule, which is defaulted to 24 hours (86,400 seconds). This policy configuration is synced to all agents as defined in the ACC-VC policy.

    When the payload is returned from the MID Server to the instance, the ACC-VC Check Type, EnhancedDiscovery, delegates tasks to the EnhancedDiscoveryHandler script include provided by ACC-VC. The script contains logic to process the data from the check and handles tasks such as:
    • Data transformation into an identification and reconciliation engine (IRE) compatible payload
    • Non-CI data reconciliation (cmdb_running_processes, cmdb_tcp_connections, and so on)

    The ACC-VC Check Definition, Enhanced Discovery, is initiated by the ServiceNow Instance. Then, an ECC Queue record with topic, MonitoringProbe, is created on the output queue with relevant Check information. The MID Server then processes the check by sending a message to the ACC via WebSocket over TLS.

    During this time, the MID Server also serves any relevant Assets or Plugins that the ACC requests, making sure it is relevant to the particular Operating System, platform, OS version, and architecture on which the ACC is running.

    You can edit and modify all parts of the ACC-VC application including check type, policy, and check definition. See Checks and policies for more information.

    Virtual machines and cloud instances

    ACC-VC associates a target, discovered via Discovery, with a pre-existing virtual machine (VM) Instance CIs. ACC-VC associates the discovered CI record with any pre-existing VM Instance record or Cloud Server Instance record with appropriate CMDB relationships.

    The following variants of virtualization and cloud server vendors are supported for ACC-VC:
    • vCenter
    • Amazon AWS Cloud
    • Google (GCP)
    • Microsoft Azure