Citrix NetScaler SDX discovery

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated June 2, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Citrix NetScaler SDX discovery

    The ServiceNow Discovery application enables customers to discover Citrix NetScaler SDX devices using a dedicated discovery pattern. This process populates the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) with detailed data about Citrix NetScaler SDX appliances and their related resources. The discovery leverages an advanced classification mechanism introduced in the Quebec release to ensure robustness by isolating probe failures. It specifically uses the Interactive Probe Shell over SSH to gather device information.

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    Prerequisites

    • Ensure the CMDB CI Class Models and Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns applications are updated to the latest versions, available from the ServiceNow Store.
    • Create SSH credentials with the necessary permissions to access Citrix NetScaler SDX devices securely.
    • The Discovery user must have admin permissions on the device to run key commands such as show vmdevice and show hardware. Shell access is required for some commands.
    • If full admin access is not possible, the user should at least be able to execute read-only commands like show systemstatus and show hostname to gather essential device details.

    Data Collected

    Upon running the Citrix NetScaler SDX discovery pattern, the following key information is populated in the CMDB:

    • Citrix NetScaler SDX CI [cmdbcicitrixnetscalersdx]: Name, Serial Number, IP Address, Object ID (combining serial and IP), Description, and OS Version.
    • Citrix NetScaler Load Balancer CI [cmdbcilbnetscaler]: Name, Serial Number, and IP Address.

    CI Relationships and Visualization

    The discovery process establishes relationships between Citrix NetScaler SDX devices and registered Citrix NetScaler load balancers, supporting comprehensive dependency mapping. These relationships are visible in the Dependency Views map, enabling customers to understand the interconnections of their Citrix networking infrastructure within their ServiceNow environment.

    The ServiceNow Discovery application can discover Citrix NetScaler SDX devices using the Citrix NetScaler SDX pattern. Discovering some of these resources may require updating to the latest version of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application from the ServiceNow Store.

    The classification mechanism introduced in Quebec triggers the pattern. The classification mechanism prevents the whole probe from failing if a sub probe in a multi-probe fails.​

    The classification mechanism includes a trigger_probe_m2m table, which defines which classification probe to trigger in relation to the relevant protocol. For this pattern, it triggers the Interactive Probe Shell over the ssh protocol.​

    Request apps on the Store

    Visit the ServiceNow Store website to view all the available apps and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.

    Prerequisites

    Verify that the following applications are up to date
    • CMDB CI Class Models
    • Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns
    • Visibility Content
    Create SSH credentials
    Create SSH credentials for the Citrix NetScaler SDX device. For more information, see SSH credentials.
    Verify permissions for the following commands
    Verify that the Discovery user has admin permissions and can run the following commands. The show hardware command requires shell access as well.
    Command Description
    show vmdevice Get virtual machine (VM) instances.
    show hardware Provides a quick overview of all configurable settings for the Citrix NetScaler SDX devices.

    If the Discovery user doesn't have shell access or admin permissions, verify that the user can run the following read-only commands in the NetScaler CLI instead:

    Command Description
    show systemstatus Retrieve the current system status of the SDX appliance, including serial number, build number, and product name.
    show hostname Retrieve the hostname of the SDX appliance.

    Data collected by Discovery during horizontal discovery

    Discovery populates the data in the CMDB when running the Citrix NetScaler SDX pattern.

    Table 1. Citrix NetScaler SDX [cmdb_ci_citrix_netscaler_sdx]
    Field Description
    Name [name] The name of the Citrix NetScaler SDX device.
    Serial number [serial_number] The serial number of the Citrix NetScaler SDX device.
    IP Address [ip_address] The IP address of the Citrix NetScaler SDX device.
    Object ID [object_id] The CI identifier of the Citrix NetScaler SDX device, which includes the serial_number and ip_address​.
    Description [short_description] The description of the Citrix NetScaler SDX device.
    OS Version [os_version] The version of the Citrix NetScaler SDX device.​
    Table 2. Citrix Netscaler [cmdb_ci_lb_netscaler]
    Field Description
    Name [name] The name of the Citrix NetScaler load balancer​.
    Serial number [serial_number] The serial number of the Citrix NetScaler load balancer.
    IP Address [ip_address] The IP address of the Citrix NetScaler load balancer​.

    On the Dependency Views map you can see all discovered Citrix NetScaler SDX resources in your organization, and the relationships between them.

    Citrix NetScaler SDX dependency

    CI relationships

    These relationships are created to support Citrix NetScaler SDX discovery:

    CI Relationship CI
    Citrix Netscaler [cmdb_ci_lb_netscaler] Registered on::Has registered Citrix NetScaler SDX [cmdb_ci_citrix_netscaler_sdx]