Create inferred services relationships in your ServiceNow instance with other Cloud Observability application services as originally configured in the application by linking an inferred service configuration item (CI) in CMDB with an inferred service from the Cloud Observability application.

Inferred services

The inferred services in the Cloud Observability application are referred to as external services, libraries, or dependencies such as a database or a third-party API that haven’t been instrumented with OpenTelemetry. These types of technologies are manually defined in the Cloud Observability application, and you can import them into your ServiceNow instance through the Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry.

For information about adding inferred services in the Cloud Observability application, see Add inferred services in the Cloud Observability documentation.

Storing inferred services data

The OpenTelemetry Dependency Map [sn_sg_lightstep_dependency_map] data source available with the Service Graph Connector for OpenTelemetry iterates through all the included projects in a Cloud Observability organization and pulls in the inferred services details. Inferred services details include mapping of related services. The data source saves these details in the Inferred service [sn_sg_lightstep_inferred_service] table.

The following attributes in the Inferred service [sn_sg_lightstep_inferred_service] table are populated by the OpenTelemetry Dependency Map [sn_sg_lightstep_dependency_map] data source.
Attribute labelAttribute name
Project project
Organization organization
ID id
Inferred service inferred_service
Inferred service CI inferred_service_ci
Active active
Last scan last_scan
Cloud Observability CI cloud_observability_ci

Due to insufficient information for defining identification rules, the pulled in inferred services don’t automatically bind to a CI in CMDB. However, as a user with the cmdb_inst_admin role, you can manually link a CI to an inferred service. The linking creates appropriate relationships with the related services and generates the inferred service mapping in the respective application service maps of your ServiceNow instance.

Link an inferred service

Link a Cloud Observability inferred service with a CI to create relationships between the inferred service and other Cloud Observability services in your ServiceNow instance.

Before you begin

Role required: cmdb_inst_admin

Procedure

  1. Navigate to All > Service Graph Connectors > OpenTelemetry > Inferred services.
  2. Review the inferred services available from the Cloud Observability app in the Inferred service column.
  3. For an inferred service, double-click the Inferred service CI column cell.
  4. Select the lookup using list icon (Lookup using list icon.) to search for and select an inferred service CI available within the Configuration item [cmdb_ci] table.
  5. Select the save icon (Green check mark icon).
  6. Repeat the steps 3 to 5 for each inferred service that you want to link with a CI.

Result

The Update CI relationship business rule is triggered that creates appropriate relationships for the inferred service with the related services and generates the inferred service mapping in the respective application service maps.
Note:
  • If you remove any mapping later, the Delete CI relationship business rule is triggered to delete any relationships between the inferred service CIs and the Cloud Observability inferred services.
  • For any inferred services that were not last scanned in the Cloud Observability app, the Service Graph Connector automatically deactivates the corresponding records in CMDB and deletes the relationship for the inactive records.