ServiceNow Discovery Reviews

We use it to gather information from cloud environments such as Azure and GCP. The aim is to conduct scans for various assets, including laptops, desktops, servers, and software. This process extends to retrieving details from the client's database within their cloud infrastructure.

We have several integrations established to receive CI data from various sources. We synchronize this data uniformly. Discovery feature plays a crucial role in consolidating this information into a single repository.

One highly valuable aspect is the use of service accounts, which automates the process of identifying underlying nodes and associated assets. With this feature, there's no need to manually input all IPs or details; instead, it seamlessly navigates from node to node, capturing the relevant assets and relationships automatically.

The current limitation in out-of-the-box features, particularly for fields in tables like servers or laptops, necessitates time-consuming customization through pattern matching involving coding. A more beneficial approach would be to have additional features in the default configuration for easily adding different sets of fields. The manual pattern-matching process is not only time-consuming but also presents challenges during system upgrades, demanding revisits to ensure compatibility.

I have been working with it for one year.

Following the installation and configuration, we encountered minimal issues, and the system has been operating smoothly since then. I would rate its stability capabilities eight out of ten.

Its scalability for data retrieval is robust, but licensing is based on the number of CIs discovered, not usage duration. For instance, purchasing a thousand licenses for a year means tracking the count of CIs discovered. In a production setting, where the number of CIs may grow, planning is vital. Consideration of the roadmap and expected growth is crucial, as bulk license purchases may lead to unused licenses, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful planning. I would rate it eight out of ten.

They primarily provided out-of-the-box solutions. However, when specific modifications were required, we found limited information or resources on their website. I would rate it six out of ten.

Neutral

The initial setup involved engineering lower environments, acquiring a mid-server, and formulating precise queries to extract necessary data from third-party sources. This included understanding the infrastructure, identifying service accounts, collecting IP information, and checking for firewall configurations. Once these preparatory steps were completed, establishing connectivity became possible, followed by the ongoing configuration of switches and other required elements. After ensuring the data flow in the system environment, a similar process was replicated in the production environment. I would rate it six out of ten.

In the deployment process, encountering challenges arose when determining the appropriate mid-server to use. The standard server couldn't be utilized, leading to the setup of distinct mid-servers for different environments to facilitate the discovery phase. However, the absence of clear rules for configuring user IDs and providing access made this task difficult. The lack of a visual representation or clear documentation compounded the complexity. The system was layered, with folders nested within folders, each requiring specific access. The Proof of Concept and the subsequent deployment phase spanned three months. The deployment was handled in-house by a team of two individuals.

Scaling down other integrations becomes a cost-saving benefit for any company. While our implementation is relatively recent, and there's still much progress ahead, my initial estimate would be a seven out of ten for the effectiveness of ServiceNow Discovery.

The pricing is determined based on the CIs.

The system is quite robust and encompasses a comprehensive set of features. While the initial setup might pose some challenges, once installed and configured correctly, it proves to be a reliable solution for the long term. I would rate it eight out of ten.

Our company uses the solution's to discover infrastructures. The ServiceNow instance is in the cloud and the Discovery servers are on-premises. 

We have five licensed configuration management practitioners and 3,000 end users. 

Cloud Discovery is valuable because it finds global, public cloud infrastructures and updates the integration management database, service catalogs, and asset management details. 

The store is a key differentiator because it offers many compatible third-party and OEM plugins for cloud integrations like AWS, Azure, Adobe, and Microsoft. For example, there are service providers for license and asset management, there is a mid-service for Quantum Discovery, and there are plugins from AWS for service or asset management and CMDB integrations. 

The solution too high priced. 

I have been using the solution for seven years. 

The solution is stable but some work is required. 

Only IP-based assets are discoverable. It takes time to get the related OIDs for newer models and patches do not come easily. Sometimes, we have to do research and discovery from the OEM's website to understand and manually create the required OIDs so the solution can identify the actual assets. 

Our main challenges are with network devices for Meraki and proper discovery for storage or backup solutions. 

The solution is very scalable. 

Technical support is always helpful. 

The setup is a bit complex. 

We implemented in-house which can be done if you have administrator or architect-level knowledge. 

Our implementation took ninety days. We went from on-premises Windows and Linux to Windows desktop laptops, to AWS, to Azure. The last step was SaaS integrations for applications like 365, Adobe Cloud, and Creative Cloud. 

The solution is very expensive. Our use is somewhere close to 50GB per user each month. 

We evaluated Manage Engine's ServiceDesk Plus, Jira Service Management, and Remedy. At the end of the day, the solution was the best fit during that time for our organizational strategy. 

Right now, we are looking for an alternate because the solution is very expensive. 

I recommend the solution and rate it an eight out of ten. 

ServiceNow helps us keep our CMDB updated and populated with all the necessary information. 

ServiceNow Discovery works better than other products I've used. 

In a few instances, ServiceNow has failed to discover some basic things. Some other tools are better at network discovery than ServiceNow. I'm not talking about database servers or any other infrastructure—only networking. Cloud discovery could also be better.  

We have used ServiceNow Discovery for nine or ten years.

I rate ServiceNow Discovery seven out of 10 for stability.

ServiceNow Discovery is scalable enough. It could work for businesses of any size, depending on the use case. For example, if you're working with mostly cloud infrastructure, you might want to use something that is specifically designed for that. 

I rate ServiceNow support seven out of 10. Their support technicians can usually provide a solution, but they sometimes lack adequate knowledge and we need to escalate through multiple teams. 

Neutral

Deploying ServiceNow Discovery is straightforward. It takes three or four months, depending on your use case. For larger use cases, you might need seven to 10 people, including various kinds of solution architects. 

The price is somewhat high, but if you're buying multiple products from the same line as a bundle, you can get a discount. However, if you buy Discovery as a standalone product, it will be expensive. 

I rate ServiceNow Discovery eight out of 10. When implementing Discovery, you must first understand your use case and the solution's capabilities before you dive into it. ServiceNow might not be able to do everything you want out of the box, but it's customizable.

ServiceNow Discovery provides features for discovering information about infrastructure, such as software details and CI (Configuration Item) data, quickly and efficiently.

I believe one of the great functionalities or improvements in ServiceNow Discovery is its ability to gather information about any Configuration Items (CIs). In the future, enhancing the model or software related to CIs would be beneficial.

I think ServiceNow Discovery's configuration management capabilities are effective in enhancing our IT operations. While there may be areas for improvement, overall, it's a good application.

I believe there is room for improvement in ServiceNow Discovery, particularly in providing more detailed information about network usage and communication between ServiceNow and the infrastructure. This improvement would enhance the overall effectiveness of the tool.

I have been using ServiceNow Discovery for the past three years. 

The solution is stable and reliable.

I would rate the scalability of this solution as an eight. While it offers good scalability overall, the reason for not giving it a ten is because the scalability greatly depends on having good processes and support in place. Without these, the scalability could be limited.

I would rate the technical support as medium. In cases where there is an urgent issue impacting the availability of ServiceNow, the response is very fast, but overall, it's a medium-level support.

Positive

I rate my experience with the initial setup of ServiceNow Discovery as a nine. It was quite easy to set up and integrate with our organization's systems. 

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

Primarily for discovering and managing organizational assets and tools. We maintain the hierarchy of all the assets, and if there are any issues, we can remotely configure them without any problems. So, it's useful for that purpose and a high-level overview.

There were various types of organizations, and we had three types of laptops. We could manage the different model numbers in a hierarchy, and the discovery helped us with IP ranges and network changes.

The most valuable feature is its integration with CMDB, as it collects all the data.

Another best feature for me is the ability to set up MID Serve remotely, which is a really nice addition. With MID Serve, we can do the configuration remotely, which saves us a lot of time and effort.

In my opinion, it's quite slow compared to other tools, like Device42. Also, there are predefined fields in Device42 that are not available in ServiceNow. These are the basic things I think can be improved here.

I have been using this solution for three to four months. 

It is stable and works reliably.

I'd rate the stability at around eight out of ten. It works here. But, there are some hiccups that can be encountered, similar to any other solution.  Overall, it's quite stable.

I would rate the scalability around eight out of ten. It's pretty good, especially considering that ServiceNow Discovery is using MariaDB, which enhances its scalability.

There are more than 15 users using this solution in our organization.

The support is good. The documentation was quite good, and the guided setup makes it extremely easy to use, provided you know the right steps, like creating a directory user, for example.

Positive

I would rate my experience with the initial setup a seven out of ten, with one being difficult and ten being easy to set up. 

We had a team of five to six people working on the deployment. Each person had specific skills required for different tasks, such as service mapping, network setup, and the actual discovery process. Having a diverse skill set in the team proved to be beneficial for completing the work quickly and efficiently.

At the basic level, it took me around a week. However, at the organization level, there were a lot of configurations to be edited, and extensive mapping was required. So, in total, the initial setup took around a month.

To start the deployment, we used a target set that can be installed in the MID Server. From the MID Server, we initiated the discovery process using IP ranges provided by the organization or obtained through their routers. This allowed us to discover all the Configuration Items (CIs). However, we encountered an issue with service mapping, which took some time to resolve.

I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, where one being cheap and ten being expensive. 

My advice would be to familiarize themselves with ServiceNow CMDBs and understand how the discovery process works. ServiceNow CMDB is a crucial table management tool for discovery needs. Also, considering the importance of CMDB health management, incorporating it into the usage would be beneficial.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Our primary use case for the solution is compliance, understanding our assets, and mapping it against our business for services.

The ability to build CI relationships against our portfolio, services or applications is valuable. It has given us an understanding of each layer from a server application, network and the topography of how it's linked to an application or business process.

The price could be lower.

We have been using the solution for approximately four years.

The solution is stable. We've had some hurdles because whenever we changed networks, IPs or hardware, we forgot to ensure it reflected in ServiceNow Discovery. So we've added it as part of our process, but the solution has been stable. I rate the stability a nine out of ten.

The solution is scalable. Twenty-five people are currently using it in our organization. I rate the scalability a nine out of ten.

We haven't had many instances where we connected with support but when we have it has been a good experience. They provide a resolution within a good time frame. I rate them a nine out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup is straightforward. We initially had challenges because we had very tight security and firewalls that were a bit off, so we had to set up many rules around it to ensure the solution worked. Deployment took approximately three months.

We implemented through a vendor team, specifically by an integrator FlyForm.They are one of the best integrators we have used.

The solution is a good product, but it is slightly expensive. It is one of the most costly applications in terms of subscription costs. I rate the price a five out of ten.

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good, but the price could be lower.

We primarily use the solution for consolidating all the CIs and to make sure we've discovered all the network devices, servers, etc. It helps us maintain what we have and actually pulls all the information together horizontally and vertically in order to create a data model. We throw it into the CMDB where we can import the information and assign CIs for optimal IT operations. We use that probably twice a year, depending upon how much the changes are happening on the data center.

From the ideal perspective, IT operations actually enhance your operational functionality and give you insights into the health and visibility of your IT platforms on a daily basis. You can pull reports in 24-hour increments to take a look at physical instances and capacity issues. 

In ServiceNow this is ITSM and there's ITIL. So far, we've found that ITSM is the most popular. 

The ability to pull reports to check the health of the IT platforms is quite useful. You can pull reports daily to look at everything from capacity issues to physical instances.

The service mapping is excellent.

The maturity of the solution is very good. We're driving our customers to obtain that level of maturity in their own IT space.

The process involving the original setup of the solution is excellent.

The solution needs to improve the cost of the solution. There are a few different solutions and they do act the same and have the same types of capabilities, however, the cost is quite high.

I've been using the solution for three and a half years now.

The solution has very good stability. I don't recall witnessing many bugs or glitches on the product. It doesn't crash. It's reliable overall.

The solution is very scalable. A company wouldn't have any problems expanding if it needed to.

We have about 96,000 people in our organization.

I am a solutions consultant and a Discovery certified professional, so I could troubleshoot any issues myself if I needed to. With that being the case, I don't really need to reach out to technical support, so I can't speak to the quality of service.

I've worked on EMC extensively as well. We have used other tools. However, we use Discovery extensively.

Service Now has a great drag and drop functionality, which makes it easier to use, than, say EMC. It's dedicated itself to designing an easy to use tool for IT defense. I understand EMC is coming out with a new tool that rivals Service Now, however, in general, Service Now's tool gives users better leverage.

The initial setup is pretty good. It's what differentiates it from the competition.

The solution is quite expensive.

We have evaluated other services in the past, including EMC.

We're partners with the solution.

I would recommend the solution to other organizations. If you are already using Service Now products, Discover makes for a good complimenting solution. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

We use ServiceNow Discovery to update our CMDB and to discover the used software assets. In one flow, we can run all the scripts necessary for ITOM for the CMDB and software asset management.

The CMDB is an important database for the whole organization, not just operationally but increasingly for security. For example, in ServiceNow Discovery, we can find servers or services we were unaware of and stumble on vulnerabilities from those devices. Increasingly, our CMDB is the golden source when that wasn't the case four years ago.

ServiceNow is agentless. This has advantages if you're not utilizing the CPU space of the machines you are discovering. However, the downside is that you always have to discuss logging into servers. It also requires credentials and figuring out where to store them, so an agent solution is likely easier because you only have the credential issue when installing it. After that, you are always in direct contact with your devices. This is also true for cloud because it tends to be immutable once deployed, and an agent makes it much easier to get on those devices. I believe ServiceNow is planning to add an agent, but it does not have that feature today.

Regarding additional features, I believe ServiceNow is planning an introduction in more countries and adding service mapping, which goes beyond the discovery. The addition will try logging into a machine and discovering what connections one node has to another node or a database. Based on that, it will update the connections in the CMDB. So rather than observing the infrastructure and CIs, it observes the services. That will be another part of a separate contract.

We have been using this solution since 2018, using the platform release of San Diego. It is deployed both on-premises and cloud. We install net servers in any data center we want to discover, and there is also a net server running on AWS.

The stability is good and doesn't increase the load of the to-be-discovered machines. I think it's about 1% and it's not a burden for the owners of the machines. The solution works, and we discover our full network every day.

The solution can be scaled differently, and a new net server can be installed. The net server is the distributed solution for ServiceNow Discovery, so it doesn't discover from the SaaS solution and needs a server that runs in the data center that it needs to operate. So if we need more, we install more net servers and do the work in parallel or depending on the need. We can also install it on half of your Windows machines.

ServiceNow Discovery is used only by the operators of the discovery function, which is limited to a team of five to ten people. However, the result can go into the CMDB, which thousands of people use.

We use three to four people for deployment and maintenance. We currently use this solution to full capacity. The on-premises data centers in the Netherlands are fully discovered, similar to cloud. I believe a couple of data centers are yet to be discovered in Japan or Spain. We have 15 different operating countries, and most of them have their own servers in the data center locally, requiring net servers to be installed in those locations. Some of those countries already have it, and a couple of countries don't, but we can probably expand by another ten to 20 percent.

There are a lot of discussions with ServiceNow because improvements are required with the scripts used to collect the information from servers. We usually discuss the level of detail it brings, ensuring that it discovers all the nodes in a certain IP range when it finds a node and what data it collects.

There is a hotline where you can post your tickets, and ServiceNow responds in an adequate amount of time. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Positive

We were using TOPdesk for service management, and no discovery feature was included, so we didn't proceed with it. ServiceNow Discovery is not the cheapest solution, and the pricing model is based on discovered nodes, so if you discover a lot, it becomes expensive. For public cloud, if you set everything to get to discovery, the public cloud makes the pricing model expensive.

We eventually decided that mixing solutions did not help fulfil our strategy, so we stuck with ServiceNow Discovery. We explored other brands like Device42 and Tanium, but in the end, we didn't use them.

The difficulty in installing ServiceNow Discovery is not different from ServiceNow. The networks tend to be separated from freelance, and they all have firewalls you need to go through. So implementing a solution like ServiceNow Discovery, which is quite intrusive on a data center, you always need to work with security on how to implement it safely and practically. For a lot of products, practicality vs security is always a challenge. Deployment is completed in-house with our engineers.

We have not seen an ROI. It is hard to calculate because the data in the CMDB is not quantifiable. For example, we can't quantify the price for a security incident not being resolved or the price for something that is not in the CMDB. The CMDB must become the center and motor of IT operations which is what we are establishing and trying to do. This all subscribes to running IT as a business.

We have a contracted price, but I am unsure of the exact price. We have a three-year contract, and then we agree on a certain amount of nodes to be discovered. ServiceNow will provide a quote which will then be part of the contract. While the contract is in effect, it is possible to overspend, and then we will have new discussions with ServiceNow.

There are no extra costs, ServiceNow does an evaluation every couple of months, and then they monitor whether we are overconsuming. If we are notified, we will discuss the possible expansion of the contract.

I rate this solution an eight out of ten. Regarding advice, I would say don't consider a discovery feature as technology in isolation. Discovery contributes to the configuration goal, which is part of IT service management. It needs to be considered as a whole IT service management, where there is a service management tool, monitoring solutions, and configuration. So if there is an incident, we want to know where the incident occurs and the configuration items. If we monitor and then find something, we want to know what the configuration item is to be able to raise an incident.

I would also advise others not to consider Device42 in isolation if you still need to decide on all the different capabilities. For example, if you have service management already in place and are looking to expand towards discovery, then Device42 is okay. In addition, I wouldn't recommend using ServiceNow for service management and Device42 for the discovery part because there is a benefit in having just one platform with one language.