What is ServiceNow Service Mapping?
ServiceNow Service Mapping provides clear insights into the IT environment by mapping relationships between devices and applications. By identifying these connections, organizations can manage their IT infrastructure more efficiently, pinpointing potential issues before they cause disruptions. ServiceNow Service Mapping helps understand how various technology components interact to deliver services, enabling IT teams to optimize performance and availability.
Core to its function is its ability to map services from the top down. Starting with a list of IT services, it identifies critical infrastructure elements supporting each service, ensuring all components are accounted for. This distinction from traditional bottom-up discovery methods enhances visibility and control.
Key Features of ServiceNow Service Mapping
Real-Time Monitoring
Real-time monitoring maintains an up-to-date overview of the IT landscape. With ServiceNow Service Mapping, users gain continuous insight into the status of their services and infrastructure. This capability is crucial for detecting and addressing incidents as they occur, minimizing service downtime. The platform's monitoring features provide timely alerts, ensuring that IT teams are promptly informed about changes or disruptions.
Real-time monitoring enhances the ability to make informed decisions. By receiving instant feedback on the current health of IT services, managers can allocate resources more effectively and prioritize issues that require immediate attention.
Automated Discovery
Automated discovery simplifies the process of identifying and cataloging IT components. By automatically detecting hardware, software, and dependencies, it reduces manual effort and risk of errors. This feature ensures that the organization’s CMDB is accurate and complete, essential for effective IT service management.
Automated discovery supports the management of dynamic and ever-changing IT environments. As devices and applications are added or removed, ServiceNow Service Mapping continuously updates its records without requiring manual input.
Visual Service Maps
Visual service maps offer an intuitive way to understand complex IT architectures by providing graphical representations of services and their underlying components. These maps help IT teams quickly identify relationships and dependencies between different systems, applications, and devices. The visual format aids in problem-solving by allowing teams to trace issues back to their source swiftly.
In addition to enhancing troubleshooting, visual service maps facilitate strategic planning. By clearly visualizing the interactions within the IT environment, teams can better understand service impacts, optimize configurations, and plan future expansions or modifications.
Dependency Mapping
Dependency mapping in ServiceNow Service Mapping identifies and maps the interconnections between different IT elements. Understanding dependencies is essential for effective incident management and change analysis. When an issue arises, dependency mapping helps pinpoint which services or components are affected, reducing diagnostic time and improving response efficiency.
Dependency mapping supports change management by providing insights into potential impacts before modifications are implemented. This capacity to foresee how changes will ripple through the system allows for more thoughtful planning and risk mitigation.
Choosing a Method for Discovery and Mapping in ServiceNow Service Mapping
When deciding on a method for discovery and mapping in ServiceNow Service Mapping, consider the available options based on your organization's infrastructure and needs. Service Mapping supports four primary methods:
1. Pattern-based discovery: This method relies on patterns—a sequence of commands that detect attributes of configuration items (CIs) and their connections. It is known for creating accurate maps of application services, providing a reliable view of IT infrastructure. However, configuring credentials and permissions can be time-consuming, particularly for complex networks.
2. Tag-based discovery: Organizations that use tags for asset management can leverage these tags to map services. Tags help Service Mapping discover CIs and populate the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This approach works well for organizations already using tagging systems, but it may overlook CIs if they aren’t properly tagged.
3. Traffic-based discovery: This method uses the traffic flow between CIs to map connections. It complements pattern-based mapping by identifying additional CIs that may be missed. However, it can introduce noise by mapping redundant CIs, potentially cluttering the service map. It is most effective in the early stages of discovery and should be fine-tuned afterward.
4. Discovery based on predictive intelligence: Predictive Intelligence leverages machine learning to suggest connections between application fingerprints, CIs, and processes. It is particularly effective for large deployments with multiple application services, but requires training and frequent discovery cycles to produce accurate results. There is also a risk of incorrect dynamic connections being added or removed.
Using ServiceNow Service Mapping to Manage Application and Networks
Access the Unified Map Feature
To access the Unified Map feature, which provides a hierarchical view of configuration items (CIs) and their relationships, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to All > System Properties > All Properties in the ServiceNow interface.
2. In the search field, enter sn_sm_scoped_app.sa.unified_map.enabled and ensure the property value is set to "true."
3. Go to Workspaces > Service Mapping to access the feature. Note that the Unified Map is only available within the Service Mapping Workspace.
4. Select the Mapped application services widget and check the box next to the desired application service.
5. Click the View map button to open a new tab displaying the Unified Map for that application service within the CMDB Workspace.
This feature allows you to visually explore the relationships and dependencies between CIs, offering limited Service Mapping functionality but a clear overview of how different components interact.
Map Application Services Based on Automated Service Suggestions
To map an application service using automatically generated suggestions from ServiceNow's Automated Service Suggestions, perform the following steps:
1. Ensure Predictive Intelligence is enabled, and confirm that machine learning (ML) readiness is verified, with the necessary data trained.
2. Navigate to Workspaces > Service Mapping and select ML-powered candidates to view a list of suggested application services.
3. Review the candidates and select the one that best fits your needs.
4. Click Preview map to inspect the proposed map. Keep in mind that the preview might differ from the final map, as it may not include absent connections.
5. After reviewing, either create a new application service or add the suggested candidate to an existing service:
6. To create a new service, select Create new service and fill in the required fields, including name, description, service owner, and service group.
7. To add the candidate to an existing service, search for the desired service and select it from the list.
8. Click Map service to finalize the process.
This process simplifies the mapping of services by leveraging machine learning to generate accurate service representations.
Create an Application Service for Unmapped Servers
To create application services for servers that have not yet been mapped, use the Unmapped Servers widget in the Service Mapping workspace. Here's how:
1. Ensure Predictive Intelligence is enabled, and confirm that the necessary machine learning preparations and data training are complete.
2. In the Service Mapping workspace, navigate to the Unmapped servers widget.
3. Select the Unmapped Servers with Candidate ID graph to review a list of servers that have candidate application services.
4. Group the unmapped servers by candidate IDs or server names to prioritize your work.
5. Choose a candidate from the list and click Map application service to map the selected servers to a new or existing application service.
By mapping unmapped servers, you enhance resource utilization and maintain an accurate representation of your IT environment.
Conclusion
ServiceNow Service Mapping provides organizations with insights into their IT infrastructure. By leveraging features such as real-time monitoring, automated discovery, and visual service maps, it simplifies the management of complex environments. Service Mapping enhances visibility into dependencies and relationships between IT components, enabling more effective troubleshooting, incident management, and strategic planning.
Through various discovery methods, including pattern-based, traffic-based, and predictive intelligence, organizations can choose the approach that best fits their needs. This flexibility ensures that Service Mapping can adapt to diverse infrastructures, providing accurate and up-to-date service maps that improve overall IT operations.
Gilad David Maayan is a technology writer who has worked with over 150 technology companies including SAP, Imperva, Samsung NEXT, NetApp and Check Point, producing technical and thought leadership content that elucidates technical solutions for developers and IT leadership. Today he heads Agile SEO, the leading marketing agency in the technology industry.
