ServiceNow Discovery Reviews

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.

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.

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.

My company uses ServiceNow Discovery to discover multiple CIs, servers, network devices, computers, etc.

In our company, importing and scanning IP addresses with ServiceNow Discovery is a straightforward and easy process.

Whenever you try to discover something with the solution, you get errors that are not descriptive enough. The aforementioned area can be considered for improvement in the solution.

The licensing cost of the solution is an area where ServiceNow can improve.

I have been using ServiceNow Discovery for more than three years.

It is a stable solution.

It is a scalable solution.

My company deals with multiple clients who prefer ServiceNow Discovery. I was involved with the implementation phase of the product for my company's clients.

The initial setup of the product is straightforward.

It doesn't take more than a week to implement the product.

As a part of the deployment process, you first need to understand the infrastructure of ServiceNow Discovery. Once you understand ServiceNow Discovery, you will be in a better position to use your data with the existing data in ServiceNow.

My company has a six-member team to take care of the product's implementation process.

There is a need to make payments every quarter of a year towards the licensing costs of the solution. ServiceNow Discovery is an expensive tool.

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

I like ServiceNow Discovery's overall structure and the way data comes in without creating a different dashboard or interface. 

ServiceNow has a constant development environment. Hence they get constant bugs which result in incorrect performance. It should also improve customer service. 

I have been using the solution for quite some time. 

I would rate the solution's stability a ten out of ten. 

I would rate ServiceNow Discovery's scalability a ten out of ten. One of my current customers has over 10,000 users for the product. 

The product's setup is straightforward. 

The product is not cheap. 

I would rate ServiceNow Discovery a ten out of ten. You would need to go on training before using the solution. 

We are using ServiceNow Discovery for integration and we are populating the CMDB to use it for our ITSM.

The most valuable feature of ServiceNow Discovery is its performance.

ServiceNow Discovery could improve the interface. The navigation bar could improve. It would be helpful to have a landing page to go to find all the elements in one place.

I have been using ServiceNow Discovery for approximately three years.

ServiceNow Discovery is a stable solution.

I rate the scalability of ServiceNow Discovery an eight out of ten.

The scalability of ServiceNow Discovery is good.

We have approximately 5,000. We use the solution continuously in our enterprise-sized organization.

I rate the scalability of ServiceNow Discovery an eight out of ten.

The support from the vendor could improve. When we have an issue we speak to the agent in circles causing delays. There are a lot of unnecessary questions being asked.

I rate the support of ServiceNow Discovery a six out of ten.

Neutral

We did not use another solution prior to ServiceNow Discovery. We were doing everything manually.

The initial setup of ServiceNow Discovery is easy.

I rate the initial setup of ServiceNow Discovery an eight out of ten.

We have seen an ROI using this solution.

ServiceNow Discovery is expensive, but the company has a monopoly and we need to use the solution. We use it because we do not have a choice.

The solution does not require a lot of maintenance. Once the setup is done with schedules it operates well.

I would advise others to test the solution.

I rate ServiceNow Discovery an eight out of ten.

When my team starting any project or learning a new environment, we always implement ServiceNow Discovery which can be used along with other products. We are able to extract details on the environment to help transition services.

This solution provides excellent insights.

Application discovery could be improved. Right now, ServiceNow needs to be coupled with another solution in order to verify the information.

It is a stable product.

This is a scalable product, especially since it is within a public cloud.

We have not needed to use support.

The initial setup is easy but expect to have to take some time to learn the product.

It is an expensive product with a price that depends on the models that you wish to purchase.

This is something that I would recommend for medium or large companies. 

I would rate this a seven out of ten.

We are trying to discover the laptops, machines, network devices, and cloud inventory in our organization by using ServiceNow Discovery. We wanted to have a cross-check between the SCCM and Discovery, and are trying to decide which could be a better choice.

Basically, when we're talking about ServiceNow Discovery, we have our own instances, and we would be giving IP subnets into it. These IP subnets would contain the range of all the CI's, which are available in the network. Then, once we start the Discovery schedules, it can scan the network and fill in the data, whichever is available on the network. 

The initial setup is pretty easy.

The solution is fairly stable.

The security is very good. We have encryption supported from ServiceNow and therefore I haven't found any issues surrounding safety concerns. 

The solution lacks the capability of discovering the devices which are not in the network. That is an area where they could improve upon. In the next release, we are actually looking for a solution for the devices which don't come into the network. Nowadays, because of this pandemic, most of the users are logging in from home, and we don't have any way to discover those assets. We are looking for a solution that can help us to discover those kinds of user devices.

During the initial setup, we get some errors and the solution doesn't exactly understand what they mean or how to fix them. They need to have more of an explanation so that we can accurately go about fixing the errors as they arise.

Technical support has not been helpful when we have come across problems. They take too long to respond and then don't provide helpful information.

I've been using the solution for more than three years at this point.

The stability overall has been very good. It doesn't crash or freeze. There are no bugs and glitches. It's good.

We have been increasing pretty extensively. The users are running on a daily basis, and it is becoming one of the major sources for updating all the CI's that exist in the network.

We have an IT team of about 30 or more individuals that are on the solution.

We've had to reach out to technical support in relation to the errors we get during setup. They have not been very helpful overall. In most cases, when you raise a ticket, even when it is critical, they take two to three days to respond. Even then, the response really doesn't help us address the issue. We're not very satisfied with their level of support at this time.

It is not complex when setting up Discovery. It's pretty straightforward. That said, what happens is that after you set up the Discovery, there are different errors that you might get when you actually run the product, and that is something that needs to be improved. We get some errors and the solution doesn't give us the full information about what is causing the issue.

In terms of deployment times,  it has taken four months for the implementation of ServiceNow Discovery. The strategy was very straightforward. We just we activated the ServiceNow Discovery plugin and then we analyzed the data and started filling in the Discovery details.

We are implementing ServiceNow Discovery for our clients.

I do not know the exact cost, however, I do know that there is one particular subscription charge for the number of the CI spots we use.

We're also looking at SCCM and comparing the two solutions to see which would fit our organization better. The difference between the two, for the most part, is that ServiceNow is agentless, whereas, with SCCM, you need an agent.

We are an implementor. We implement this product for our clients.

We are using the latest version of the solution.

We use different deployment models - both on-premises and on the cloud.

This is one of the best tools for organizations looking for a tool with agentless applications. You do not need to install an agent in any of the CI's. However, if you go for the other solution like SCCM, that is an agent-based solution, where you need to install the agent on all your end-user computers. Therefore, if an organization is looking for an agentless solution, then probably ServiceNow Discovery is a great good option.

Users should have a thorough understanding of how CMDB data tables are structured, and they should also know how Discovery works. You should also have an idea whether you would be integrating asset management along with ServiceNow Discovery or not. If you are going with a flat ServiceNow Discovery, then later on, if you want to implement asset management, then it could be quite difficult. 

Overall, I would rate the solution at a seven out of ten. I would rate it higher, however, they aren't transparent when it comes to the meanings of errors we sometimes get during setup.

We primarily use this solution for three things: hardware asset management, software asset management, and IT service management.

Within our organization, there are 500 employees using this solution. We definitely plan to continue using this solution.

I find that the Discovery and scripting features are the most useful.

On the Software Asset Management part of it, I expect additional reconciliation and Discovery features there.

I have been using this solution for a year and a half.

ServiceNow Discovery is definitely stable. 

ServiceNow Discovery is easy to scale. It's got different bolt-ons, so you can scale up or scale down, as you require.

I have raised tickets with them. I've not had to deal with them that much, but I've raised a few tickets when dealing with them, and they're quite good.

The is no installation process. There are plugins, but most of the product is in the cloud. That's the attraction. It's a SaaS product, so a lot of it's in the cloud.

There is a subscription for ServiceNow Discovery. It's expensive, but I think it's one of the best solutions on the market, so it's worth it.

I would absolutely recommend ServiceNow Discovery to others. Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I would give this solution a rating of seven.