Amazon EC2 Amazon EBS Snapshot pattern-based discovery

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 20, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Amazon EC2 Amazon EBS Snapshot pattern-based discovery

    The Amazon EC2 Amazon EBS Snapshot pattern-based discovery feature in ServiceNow’s Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application enables automated detection and inventory of Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) snapshots within your AWS cloud environment. This discovery populates critical configuration item (CI) data into the ServiceNow Configuration Management Database (CMDB), helping you maintain accurate visibility of your AWS resources.

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    Key Features

    • Pattern Activation: The EBS Snapshot discovery pattern is disabled by default and must be enabled to start discovery. Patterns are updated automatically and retain activation status after upgrades.
    • AWS Prerequisites: Ensure AWS discovery prerequisites are met and that EBS snapshot resources are not listed in the Resource Inclusion List to prevent duplicate discovery.
    • GovCloud Support: Discovery schedules can be configured to support AWS GovCloud (US) by using appropriate datacenter URLs during AWS service account setup.
    • CMDB Data Population: The discovery populates detailed snapshot information in the cmdbcistoragevolsnapshot table, including unique identifiers (ARN), state, encryption status, size, associated volume, and operational status.
    • CI Relationships: The pattern establishes relationships between EBS snapshots and AWS datacenters, modeling hosted-on relationships for comprehensive asset tracking.
    • AWS Tag Discovery: Captured AWS tags from snapshots are stored in the cmdbkeyvalue table, enabling enhanced filtering and reporting based on tags.

    Practical Benefits

    By leveraging this pattern-based discovery, ServiceNow customers can automate the detection of EBS snapshots, ensuring an up-to-date and accurate CMDB. This facilitates improved asset management, compliance tracking, and operational insight into the state and configuration of AWS EBS snapshots. The integration of tag data further supports business context and cost allocation.

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns finds AWS services on your cloud environment. Discovering some of these resources may require updating to the latest version of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application from the ServiceNow Store.

    Pattern-based discovery and mapping requirements

    Verify the AWS discovery prerequisites
    For more information, see the prerequisites section in AWS discovery using patterns.
    Remove resources from the Resource Inclusion List table
    Verify that the relevant resource isn't listed in the Resource Inclusion List [sa_cloud_inventory_resource_whitelist] table to avoid duplicate discovery. For more information on removing resources from the Resource Inclusion List, see AWS Resource Inventory discovery with Patterns.
    Enable the relevant pattern
    The pattern for this service is disabled by default. Starting with Visibility Content version 6.28.0, activating or deactivating a pattern won't be considered a customization, and it will continue to receive updates. Patterns that were previously activated or deactivated will reset to the latest predefined version after upgrading while retaining the last active field value. For more information on enabling patterns, see Activate a disabled pattern.
    Configure the Discovery schedule to support GovCloud
    Discovering AWS GovCloud (US) accounts requires using a datacenter URL when setting up an AWS service account. For more information, see Create AWS service accounts.

    Data stored in CMDB tables

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in the CMDB when running the Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud EBS Snapshot - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern.

    Table 1. Storage Volume Snapshot [cmdb_ci_storage_vol_snapshot]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) uniquely identifying the EBS Snapshot.

    The ARN consists of the AWS region, account ID, and snapshot ID in the following format: arn:aws:ec2:<region>:<accountId>:snapshot/<snapshot_id>.
    Name [name] The unique identifier for the EC2 snapshot.
    State [state] The current state of the snapshot. For example: pending or completed.
    Install Status [install_status] Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed.
    Encrypted [is_encrypted] Indicates whether the snapshot is encrypted.
    Operational status [operational_status] Operational status of the resource. Default value is Operational.
    Description [short_description] Type of resource. The value is set to AWS::Elastic Compute Cloud::EBS Snapshot.
    Size (GB) [size] The size of the resource expressed in gigabytes (GB).
    Size bytes [size_bytes] The size of the snapshot in bytes.
    Volume Name [volume_name] The identifier of the volume associated with the snapshot.

    CI relationships

    The Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud EBS Snapshot - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern creates these relationships to support Amazon EC2 Amazon EBS Snapshot discovery.

    CI Relationship CI
    Storage Volume Snapshot [cmdb_ci_storage_vol_snapshot] Hosted on::Hosts AWS Datacenter [cmdb_ci_aws_datacenter]

    AWS tag discovery

    The pattern collects tags and populates them in the Key Value [cmdb_key_value] table.
    Table 2. Key Value [cmdb_key_value]
    Field Description
    Key [key] Tag name.
    Value [value] Tag value.