ServiceNow CMDB discovery: Should you consider other options?
Table of Contents
- ServiceNow CMDB discovery features
- Benefits of ServiceNow CMDB discovery
- Beyond ServiceNow CMDB discovery: Virima for enhanced discovery
- How Virima CMDB discovery outshines ServiceNow
- Why choose Virima?
Keeping an eye on your infrastructure is like observing a network of moving targets in real-time. ServiceNow CMDB discovery simplifies this challenge by automatically identifying and cataloging your IT assets. Moreover, it provides a clear view of your entire environment, from servers and databases to custom applications.
This data further seamlessly integrates into the ServiceNow CMDB, enabling streamlined IT operations and smarter decision-making. In this blog, we’ll discuss the benefits of ServiceNow CMDB discovery. We will also explore whether other options might better suit your business needs.
ServiceNow CMDB discovery features
ServiceNow CMDB discovery is a powerful feature that helps organizations automatically populate and maintain their CMDB. By mapping applications and their interdependencies ServiceNow CMDB auto discovery ensures the CMDB remains accurate and up-to-date.
Here are a few critical features of CMDB discovery in ServiceNow:
- Comprehensive discovery
It detects both physical and virtual components, such as cloud infrastructure, containers, and on-premise systems.
- Application dependency mapping (ADM)
This feature offers detailed insights by mapping dependencies at the TCP port and process level.
- Multi-cloud support
It provides near real-time visibility into AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and other platforms, supporting IaaS, PaaS, and containers.
- Data integrity and quality
The Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) ensures consistent data by preventing duplicates. Further, it maps data to the right configuration items (CIs).
- Service graph connectors
The ServiceNow CMDB auto discovery also helps import third-party data while keeping it consistent and accurate.
- Scalability and security
The Management Instrumentation and Discovery (MID servers) handle ServiceNow discovery tasks securely across various protocols. Altogether, it ensures scalability without sacrificing data security.
Benefits of ServiceNow CMDB discovery
Using ServiceNow CMDB discovery offers major advantages for IT management:
- Better visibility: It provides a clear and comprehensive view of your IT infrastructure, improving resource management.
- Informed decisions: Accurate data helps with better IT planning and decision-making.
- Easy setup: Pre-built discovery patterns and a guided setup speed up implementation, saving time.
- Reliable data: Consistent data modeling enhances report reliability and ensures smooth integration with the CMDB.
- Future flexibility: With no-code/low-code tools, ServiceNow CMDB discovery can adapt to your needs without complex updates.
These features make ServiceNow CMDB discovery an essential tool for efficient configuration management in modern businesses.
Beyond ServiceNow CMDB discovery: Virima for enhanced discovery
Although ServiceNow CMDB discovery provides a strong base for CMDB management, certain organizations might need more sophisticated features. Here’s how Virima improves CMDB discovery:
Detailed CI information for CMDB accuracy
IT discovery from Virima captures critical configuration details, including hardware attributes, software versions, patches, certificates, and running services. This also ensures accurate and up-to-date CMDB data.
Secure CMDB discovery
Virima’s platform is built on AWS, ensuring strong security. It uses a multi-tenant setup with full data segregation. Role-based access control helps restrict data access to authorized users only. Your configuration items’ credentials are encrypted and never sent to the cloud, keeping your data secure.
Agentless IT discovery tool keeps CMDB updated
Virima CMDB discovery doesn’t require agents to be installed. You can download the Discovery App onto a server and scan your network. It also automatically detects your configuration items with pre-configured probes. Plus, it lets you create custom probes. Scheduled scans further help you keep your CMDB updated without extra effort.
Continuous updates with Virima’s automation
Virima automates updates to CMDB, reflecting near real-time changes in the IT environment. This also eliminates manual errors and saves significant time for IT teams. Unlike manual methods or inconsistent tools, Virima’s automation ensures CMDB remains aligned with operational realities.
Discovery agents for software usage metering
For more frequent monitoring, Virima offers Discovery agents for Windows and Linux. These agents track daily configuration changes and software usage on network-connected PCs and servers. They also help track CI usage for software metering reports. Thus, you can identify underutilized configuration items, which can help you reclaim licenses.
Automated data collection and compliance
- Data standardization: Virima CMDB collects and standardizes data from multiple sources. Subsequently, it ensures reliable and compliant CMDB data for reporting and audits.
- Integration with NVD: Virima automatically links discovered CIs to vulnerabilities by referencing the National Vulnerability Database (NVD).
How Virima CMDB discovery outshines ServiceNow
Virima and ServiceNow both offer strong CMDB discovery tools. However, Virima stands out due to its affordability, simplicity, and integration.
Virima: A centralized platform
Virima offers CMDB discovery, service mapping, and dependency visualization in one platform. Consequently, this reduces the need for separate licenses and provides all essential features in one package. Virima’s transparent pricing ensures you get value without hidden costs.
On the other hand, the ServiceNow CMDB discovery tool is expensive. Along with CMDB licensing, it charges separately for service mapping. This pricing structure can also quickly add up, especially for smaller businesses.
Virima CMDB discovery is simple to implement
ServiceNow CMDB auto discovery often requires complex customization and expert knowledge, leading to longer deployment times. Businesses may also need extra resources for training or hiring specialists. Virima, on the other hand, simplifies implementation, saving both time and effort.
ViVID™ for dependency visualization
The Virima Visual Impact Display (ViVID™) power starts with Virima’s automated discovery and service mapping, which simplifies traditional service mapping by reducing manual effort. Virima Discovery feeds both near real-time and historical data into the CMDB. Later, it creates dynamic relationships and dependencies among infrastructure components, applications, and services.
This ensures that your CMDB, CIs, and their relationships are always up-to-date, providing trustworthy data. Moreover, ViVID™ enables users to view infrastructure relationships, application dependencies, communication flows, and network and storage topologies. With the ability to filter, sort, save, and share these views, users can access the precise data they need.
Any changes to the CMDB, whether discovered automatically or manually, are instantly reflected in ViVID service maps. This also ensures your team has the most current CI and relationship data to make fast, informed decisions.
Virima’s ITSM integration
The bi-directional integration displays ITSM data on CIs in CMDB, offering insights for incident, change, and problem management. It also supports self-service options, reducing the workload on support teams. Overall, users gain easy access to necessary information.
Why choose Virima?
Virima’s tools are easy to integrate and use, helping businesses quickly identify, map, and manage IT assets. The platform further scales well, making it perfect for companies of all sizes wanting to optimize IT operations affordably.
By choosing Virima, you save on costs, avoid complexity, and get an efficient CMDB discovery solution. Discover how Virima can improve your IT management today!
