ServiceNow CMDB

Link a ServiceNow configuration item (CI) to the stratum for the component it records. The saved tab shows what the CMDB believes about that component: its class, lifecycle, environment, the groups that own and support it, when Discovery last saw it, how it relates to other CIs and, if you choose, the open incidents and changes recorded against it. Changing the record stays in ServiceNow.

Any record in cmdb_ci or a class that extends it can be linked: servers, network gear, application services, business applications. IP-address and network-adapter records are found too, but rank below the device with the same name.

Connect

1. You need an Enterprise licence, edit access to the blueprint, and continuum_integrations.manage on the connection's organisation or team.
2. In ServiceNow, create a dedicated integration user. Give it the cmdb_read role, which reads every CMDB table. If the instance enables the REST API ACL, add snc_platform_rest_api_access as well. Tick Web service access only on the user, and keep it out of any policy that demands interactive multi-factor authentication: the connection signs in with the password on every call and cannot answer a prompt.
3. In Blueprintr, open Settings → Continuum on the organisation or team, go to Operational integrations, choose New integration, and select ServiceNow CMDB as the Type.
4. Enter the Instance URL (https://acme.service-now.com, reachable from the public internet), the Username, and the password, set the options below, and choose Connect & verify.

Connection options

Each dropdown opens on Use default, which stores the first option.

Field	Options	Effect
Snapshot audience	Blueprint editors (recommended), All Blueprint readers	Who can read the saved tab. Readers includes anonymous readers, embeds and exports on a public blueprint
Saved detail	Detailed (default), Summary	Summary withholds the IP address, FQDN, MAC address, serial number, asset tag, location and description from the tab and from its saved data
Open work	Not imported (default), Open incidents and changes	Adds open incident and change counts for the CI, with the five newest task numbers and links to the filtered lists

Verification reads one record from each table the connection will use: cmdb_ci, cmdb_rel_ci, and with open work switched on, incident and change_request. A table the user cannot read fails verification with its name and the role that grants it, for example "The ServiceNow account cannot read cmdb_rel_ci (HTTP 403 Forbidden). Grant cmdb_read, plus snc_platform_rest_api_access when the REST API ACL is enabled."

Open work needs sn_incident_read and sn_change_read from the ITSM Roles plugin, or itil. Those roles may count as a fulfiller licence on your instance; check with your account team before granting them.

On a domain-separated instance the user sees only its own domain, and so does the tab.

Link a configuration item

Open the stratum and choose Continuum Link, then search by any of these.

What you type	What happens
A name, FQDN, serial number or asset tag	Substring match on those four columns, up to 20 results
An IP address	Exact match on the CI's IP address column, plus a name match
A MAC address, with colons or hyphens	Exact match on the MAC address column in either form
A 32-character sys_id	The record itself

Each result shows its class, IP address, location and lifecycle, so two records with the same name can be told apart, and its sys_id in the preview.

Scan and Suggest resolve hostnames, FQDNs, IP addresses, serial numbers and MAC addresses from the diagram. Identifiers of one kind are folded into a single query of up to 50, so a full site drawing costs a handful of reads.

What the panel shows

Section	Contents
Configuration item	Name, class, environment, classification, lifecycle stage, install status, operational status, model, manufacturer, and in Detailed mode the location, FQDN, IP address, MAC address, serial number, asset tag and description, then the record's last update in UTC
Ownership	Support group, managed-by group and change group. People are never imported
Discovery and attestation	When Discovery last and first saw the record and from which source, or "Never", and the attestation status and date
Open work	With open work switched on: open incident and change counts, then the five newest of each with priority, state and a link
Relationships	Up to 25 relationships as seen from this CI ("Depends on", "Used by", "Located in"), with the other CI's name and class, and the total when there are more
In ServiceNow	Links to the record's own form, the Dependency Views map and, with open work on, the filtered incident and change lists

The headline reads the install status and operational status together, for example "Installed · Operational". ServiceNow keeps the two fields independently, so a record retired through install status is shown with a warning even while its operational status still says Operational. On order, in stock, in maintenance, repair, standby and ready states are shown as informational. The CSDM lifecycle stage appears as its own row.

Environment is the record's own environment field. Older records that only set the legacy "Used for" field show that value instead.

Dates come from the stored value and are labelled UTC. If an instance returns only display values, the date is shown as ServiceNow formatted it, without a zone label.

Counting and its limits

Relationships stop at 25; the section title then reads "Relationships (25 of 61)". Open incidents and changes are read up to 25 each; the count states how many were retrieved when the total is higher.

What is never imported

Person fields (owned by, managed by, assigned to, attested by), comments, work notes, incident and change descriptions, and any custom column. Only the named columns are requested, and the saved data is projected from them, so a column the instance returns anyway never reaches the blueprint.

Audience

New connections save snapshots for blueprint editors only. Choose All Blueprint readers only when the class, ownership, relationships and, in Detailed mode, the addresses and serials are appropriate for everyone who can read the blueprint. Changing the audience applies to later refreshes and does not recall copies already shared, exported or answered by AI.

Refreshing and recovery

Snapshots become due for refresh after one day, which is a reminder rather than automatic polling. A failed CI read keeps the previous snapshot and adds a warning. A relationship read or task read that fails marks the panel incomplete and says which table could not be read; the rest of the panel still saves. A rate limit answered by ServiceNow with Retry-After is reported with the number of seconds and is never retried in a loop.