Azure virtual machine pattern-based discovery

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Azure virtual machine pattern-based discovery

    The Azure virtual machine pattern-based discovery feature within ServiceNow Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns enables customers to identify and populate detailed configuration items (CIs) for Azure virtual machines (VMs) and their associated resources in the CMDB. This discovery relies on specific prerequisites and can be enhanced by updating the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application.

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    Key Features

    • Pattern-based Azure VM discovery: Uses the Azure - Virtual Machine (LP) pattern to gather comprehensive VM data including state, CPU, memory, disks, network interfaces, and more.
    • Support for VM-related CIs: Discovers and populates CIs such as Instance Scale Sets, Storage Volumes, Block Endpoints, Network Interfaces, Virtual Network Interface Endpoints, Availability Zones, OS Images, and Hardware Types.
    • CI relationships: Automatically creates relationships between discovered CIs, such as which VM is hosted on which datacenter, provisioned from which hardware or image, and network/storage associations. This provides a complete topology of Azure VM infrastructure.
    • Azure Tag collection: Collects and stores Azure tags as key-value pairs linked to VM CIs, enabling better categorization and filtering.
    • License type discovery: Supports detection of Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux license models (BYOL or License Included) for Azure VMs and stores this information in the CMDB.
    • Optional exclusions and configurations: Starting from version 1.30.2, temporary Azure Databricks VMs can be excluded to reduce short-lived CI records. From version 1.31.0, Server CIs can be created during cloud discovery without running IP-based discovery.

    Practical Use and Benefits

    ServiceNow customers can leverage this pattern-based discovery to maintain an accurate, up-to-date CMDB reflecting their Azure VM environments. This enables better asset management, compliance tracking, and operational insights. The detailed CI attributes and relationships support advanced service mapping, impact analysis, and automated workflows.

    By excluding temporary Azure Databricks VMs, customers can reduce noise from transient resources, improving CMDB quality. The ability to create Server CIs without IP-based discovery simplifies discovery workflows in cloud environments.

    What to Expect

    • Accurate population of Azure VM attributes such as VM name, state, CPU, memory, disk count and size, NIC count, and install status.
    • Comprehensive discovery of associated resources and their relationships, forming a clear infrastructure topology.
    • Storage of Azure tags and license information for enhanced asset tracking and compliance management.
    • Improved CMDB cleanliness by optionally excluding temporary Databricks VMs.
    • Flexibility to create Server CIs during cloud discovery without dependency on IP-based discovery.

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns finds Azure virtual machines (VMs) 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 Microsoft Azure discovery prerequisites
    For more information, see the prerequisites section in Microsoft Azure Cloud discovery using patterns.
    (Optional) Exclude temporary Azure Databricks VMs
    Starting with Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns version 1.30.2, you can reduce short-lived configuration item (CI) records by excluding temporary Azure Databricks VMs. For more information, see Exclude temporary Azure Databricks virtual machines.

    Data collected by Discovery during horizontal discovery

    Discovery populates the data in the CMDB when running the Azure - Virtual Machine (LP) pattern.

    Table 1. Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance]
    Field Description
    Name [name] Name of the virtual machine.
    Object ID [object_id] A unique identifier allocated by Azure for this virtual machine.
    VM Instance ID [vm_inst_id] The unique virtual machine identifier assigned by Azure.
    State [state] Power state of the virtual machine.

    Possible values include: On, Off, or Terminated.
    Memory (MB) [memory] Memory capacity of the virtual machine in megabytes (MB).
    CPUs [cpus] Number of virtual CPUs (vCPUs) allocated to the virtual machine.
    Disks [disks] Total number of disks attached to the virtual machine, including OS disk and data disks.
    Disk size [disks_size] Total size of all disks attached to the virtual machine in gigabytes (GB).
    Network adapters [nics] Number of network interface cards (NICs) attached to the virtual machine.
    Install Status [install_status] Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed.
    Table 2. Instance Scale Set [cmdb_ci_instance_scale_set]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] A unique identifier allocated by Azure for this Virtual Machine Scale Set instance.
    Table 3. Storage Volume [cmdb_ci_storage_volume]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] A unique identifier for the managed disk.
    Name [name] Name of the managed disk.
    Table 4. Block Endpoint [cmdb_ci_endpoint_block]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] A unique identifier for the disk endpoint.
    Name [name] Name of the disk endpoint.
    Host [host] The virtual machine object ID to which this disk endpoint is attached.
    Table 5. Cloud Mgmt Network Interface [cmdb_ci_nic]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] A unique identifier for the NIC.
    Primary [primary] Indicates whether this NIC is the primary network interface.
    Table 6. VNIC Endpoint [cmdb_ci_endpoint_vnic]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] A unique identifier for the virtual network interface endpoint.
    Name [name] Name of the virtual network interface endpoint.
    Table 7. Availability Zone [cmdb_ci_availability_zone]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] A unique identifier for the availability zone in the format: region-zone.
    Name [name] A unique identifier for the availability zone in the format: region-zone.
    Install Status [install_status] Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed.
    Table 8. Image [cmdb_ci_os_template] or Cloud Image [cmdb_ci_cloud_os_image]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] A unique identifier for the OS image or custom image.
    Name [name] Name of the OS image or custom image.
    Provider [provider] Cloud provider. The value is set to AZURE.

    This field is only populated in the Cloud Image [cmdb_ci_cloud_os_image] table.
    Note:
    When using the Image [cmdb_ci_os_template] table to store Cloud OS images, you may notice an unusually large number of records. To avoid this issue, you can store the discovered OS images in the Cloud Image [cmdb_ci_cloud_os_image] table. For more information, see Enable Cloud OS Image discovery.
    Table 9. Hardware Type [cmdb_ci_compute_template] or Cloud Hardware Type [cmdb_ci_cloud_hardware_type]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] The VM size Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) name.
    Provider [provider] Cloud provider. The value is set to AZURE.

    This field is only populated in the Cloud Hardware Type [cmdb_ci_cloud_hardware_type] table.
    Note:
    When using the Hardware Type [cmdb_ci_compute_template] table to store the hardware types, you may notice an unusually large number of records. To avoid this issue, you can store the discovered hardware types in the Cloud Hardware Type [cmdb_ci_cloud_hardware_type] table. For more information, see Enable the Cloud Hardware Type class extension.

    CI relationships

    The Azure - Virtual Machine (LP) pattern creates these relationships to support Azure VM discovery.

    CI Relationship CI
    Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] Managed by::Manages Instance Scale Set [cmdb_ci_instance_scale_set]
    Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] Hosted on::Hosts Azure Datacenter [cmdb_ci_azure_datacenter]
    Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] Provisioned From::Provisioned Hardware Type [cmdb_ci_compute_template] or Cloud Hardware Type [cmdb_ci_cloud_hardware_type]
    Storage Volume [cmdb_ci_storage_volume] Hosted on::Hosts Azure Datacenter [cmdb_ci_azure_datacenter]
    Block Endpoint [cmdb_ci_endpoint_block] Implement End Point To::Implement End Point From Storage Volume [cmdb_ci_storage_volume]
    Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] Use End Point To::Use End Point From Block Endpoint [cmdb_ci_endpoint_block]
    Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] Use End Point To::Use End Point From VNIC Endpoint [cmdb_ci_endpoint_vnic]
    VNIC Endpoint [cmdb_ci_endpoint_vnic] Implement End Point To::Implement End Point From Cloud Mgmt Network Interface [cmdb_ci_nic]
    Resource Group [cmdb_ci_resource_group] Contains::Contained by Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance]
    Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] Provisioned From::Provisioned Image [cmdb_ci_os_template] or Cloud Image [cmdb_ci_cloud_os_image]
    Image [cmdb_ci_os_template] or Cloud Image [cmdb_ci_cloud_os_image] Hosted on::Hosts Azure Datacenter [cmdb_ci_azure_datacenter]
    Availability Zone [cmdb_ci_availability_zone] Contains::Contained by Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance]
    Azure Datacenter [cmdb_ci_azure_datacenter] Contains::Contained by Availability Zone [cmdb_ci_availability_zone]
    Availability Set [cmdb_ci_availability_set] Contains::Contained by Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance]
    Key Value [cmdb_key_value] References Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance]

    Azure Tag discovery

    The Azure - Virtual Machine (LP) pattern collects tags and populates them in the Key Value [cmdb_key_value] table.

    Table 10. Key Value [cmdb_key_value]
    Field Description
    Key [key] Tag name.
    Value [value] Tag value.
    Configuration item [configuration_item] References the Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] table.

    Azure BYOL discovery

    The pattern extension section discovers the following license types for Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) VMs:
    • Bring Your Own License (BYOL)
    • License included
    The pattern stores the license type and model in the Key Value [cmdb_key_value] table.
    Note:
    • For Windows VM using a custom image, Discovery populates key values only when the primary OS disk details are available.
    • For RHEL VMs, Discovery populates information only for VMs that use Marketplace images.
    Table 11. Key Value [cmdb_key_value]
    Field Description
    Key [key] The license type key, which is one of the following:
    • Windows_OS_License_Type_automatic
    • RHEL_OS_License_Type_automatic
    Value [value] The license model, which is one of the following:
    • BYOL
    • License Included
    Configuration item [configuration_item] References the Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] table.