Connection Suggestions list

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Connection Suggestions list

    The Connection Suggestions list in ServiceNow's Service Mapping helps you review and decide which connections between Configuration Items (CIs) are relevant for your application services. This feature supports efficient application service modeling by presenting potential connections discovered through fingerprint-based and predictive discovery methods.

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    Key Features

    • From/To: Displays the source and target CI classes, fingerprints, or processes involved in the connection. The "From" field appears when accessed via Service Mapping administration.
    • Target Host & VIP: Shows the host of the target CI and indicates if it is part of a load balancer (VIP). Selecting a load balancer target automatically includes the load balancer and its members in the application service.
    • IP and Port: Details the IP address and port of the target CI, facilitating precise identification of connection endpoints.
    • Confidence Level: Indicates the likelihood that a suggested connection is part of the application service instance, categorized as High, Medium, Low, Very Low, or N/A (pending fingerprint training). Confidence levels help prioritize which connections to accept or exclude.
    • Decision Status: Reflects the current status of the connection suggestion—whether it was manually added or excluded, undecided, or automatically added by a connection rule.
    • Rule Applied: Identifies any connection rule used by Service Mapping to automatically add the connection.
    • Decision Changed By & Updated: Shows the user or MID Server responsible for the last decision change and the timestamp of the update, providing auditability for connection management.

    Practical Use for ServiceNow Customers

    By leveraging the Connection Suggestions list, you can:

    • Efficiently validate and manage connections within application services to ensure accurate service maps.
    • Understand the confidence level to prioritize connections that are critical or commonly used internally.
    • Handle load balancer-related connections effectively by automatically including related members.
    • Track decisions and changes made by users or automated rules for better governance.
    • Use fingerprint-based discovery to improve accuracy and completeness of application service mapping.

    Related Tasks

    Customers can use connection suggestions to add or remove CIs for individual or multiple application services, streamlining the maintenance of service maps aligned with their IT environment.

    Review details of connection suggestions to decide which connections are relevant for application services.

    Table 1. Connection Suggestions list columns
    Column Description
    From The CI class or fingerprint process of the CI that is the connection source. This field appears only when you access connection suggestions by navigating to Service Mapping > Administration > Connection Suggestions.
    To The CI class, or fingerprint, or process of the CI that is the connection target.
    Target Host The host of the CI that is the connection target.

    If the VIP column shows true, the target host is a load balancer member. When you select such a target host, the system adds the load balancer and all its members as CIs in the application service.
    IP The IP of the CI that is the connection target.
    Port The port of the CI that is the connection target.
    Confidence
    The confidence level indicates the likelihood of this connection being part of the service instances.
    • High - Commonly a connection to an internal component that is only used by this specific component or application.
    • Medium - Commonly a connection to a middleware component used by multiple services, such as IBM MQ or Oracle WebLogic Server.
    • Low - Commonly a connection 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 - Commonly a connection to a central application used by the entire organization, for example, Microsoft Active Directory or Okta.
    If the confidence level appears as N/A, wait until the application fingerprints training is complete.

    Confidence level is available only if fingerprint based discovery is enabled. See Discover applications based on fingerprints for more information.
    Decision This value indicates the outcome of the previous action taken on this connection suggestion:
    • Added manually - You added a connection based on this suggestion.
    • Excluded manually - You removed a connection based on this suggestion.
    • Undecided - You reset the previous decision to add or remove a connection based on this suggestion.
    • Added by rule - Service Mapping added a connection based on a connection rule.
    Rule The rule that Service Mapping applied to add a connection.
    VIP The target host is a load balancer member. The system shows this information only for load balancers that you previously discovered using horizontal discovery.

    This field appears only when you access connection suggestions by navigating to Service Mapping > Administration > Connection Suggestions.
    Decision changed by The user who changed the decision last time.

    If the decision was changed by a rule, this field shows the MID Server user. For more information about setting up MID Server user role, see Create the MID Server user and grant the role.

    This field appears only when you access connection suggestions by navigating to Service Mapping > Administration > Connection Suggestions.
    Updated The timestamp of when this connection last changed.