Create or modify a discovery pattern and define its basic attributes.

Before you begin

Make sure that the application for which you want to create a pattern, has a corresponding configuration item (CI) type and a CI classification. If the CI type you require is not in the list, create it as described in Create CI types for Service Mapping and Discovery.

If your ServiceNow instance uses domain separation and you have access to the global domain, log in to the relevant domain. The selected domain must be a domain without any child domains.

Role required: pd_admin

Basic knowledge of programming is desirable.

About this task

Patterns can be of the infrastructure or application type. Infrastructure patterns are used only by Discovery for creating lists of devices. Application patterns serve both Service Mapping and Discovery, which use the same application patterns for their purposes.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to All > Pattern Designer > Discovery Patterns.
  2. Click New or select the relevant pattern from the list.
  3. Define the basic pattern attributes on the Basic tab.
    FieldDescription
    Pattern type
    • Select Application for an application pattern. It can be used both for top-down discovery performed by Service Mapping and horizontal discovery performed by Discovery.
    • Select Infrastructure for an infrastructure pattern used for the horizontal host discovery performed by Discovery.
    Name Enter the pattern name. This name must be unique to this pattern. Use self-explanatory names such as Apache on Unix pattern.
    CI type Select the CI type which you want this pattern to discover.
    Note: Discovery can find multiple CIs that belong to the same CI type.
    Operating system [Application patterns only] Select the operating system that the selected CI runs:
    • Click All if the CI runs on more than one operating system.

      Or

    • Select the relevant operating systems from the list.
    Run Order [Application patterns only] For an application pattern used by Service Mapping, define when the pattern runs
    1. Select the order in which this pattern always runs:
      • Before
      • After
    2. Then select the other applicable pattern. This field is only relevant if a particular pattern can be confused with another pattern.
    For example, both IIS and MS Exchange applications have an HTTP entry point. However MS Exchange uses some of the components of IIS. Therefore, if the IIS pattern ran first, discovery might incorrectly identify MS Exchange as IIS. To prevent this error, in the Run Order field in the MS Exchange pattern definition, select Before and IIS.
    Description Provide a description for this pattern.
  4. (Optional) When creating an application pattern, make the MID Server run this pattern only if the process identified on a CI matches the classification criteria for this pattern, select Enforce Process Classification.
    All simplified patterns created from generic applications, have this attribute enabled. For more information about creating process classification, see Discovery classifiers.
  5. Define a set of identification steps for every incoming connection of a configuration item (CI).
    1. In the Identification Section, click New and then configure the following parameters.
      FieldValue
      Name Unique name for the identification section.
      Entry Point Types [Application patterns only]

      Select all relevant entry point types. Every CI has incoming connections that are referred to in Pattern Designer as entry points. You base your CI identification process on the CI entry points creating steps and defining step operations and variables for every entry point separately.

      For application patterns used by Discovery, enter either TCP or All.
      Find Process Strategy [Application patterns only] Select the appropriate strategy for finding the process that populates the Process variable in the Temporary Variables table.
      • Listening Port: The entry point is the listening port.
      • Target Port and IP: The entry point port communicates with another server.
      • None: The process variable is not populated.

      Typically, the port type of the entry point determines the strategy.
      Order Select a number that determines the order in which Service Mapping or Discovery use identification sections. The section with the lowest order number is used first.
    2. Click Save.
    3. Click the identification section name.
    4. Define discovery steps as described in Define discovery steps.
    5. Click Save.
  6. If necessary, create more identification sections.
  7. Save the pattern.
  8. Upload the updated set of patterns onto the MID Server:
    1. Navigate to Discovery > MID Servers.
    2. Alternatively, navigate to Service Mapping > MID Servers.
    3. Click Pattern Sync to Mid.

What to do next

For application type patterns, continue with Define the connection section.