Relation types that are dependencies of Discovery, Service Mapping Patterns and other CMDB related features can be renamed or deleted from cmdb_rel_type table - Known Error

Relation types that are dependencies of Discovery, Service Mapping Patterns and other CMDB related features can be renamed or deleted from cmdb_rel_type table Description There are CMDB Relationship Type records included out-of-the-box that are dependencies of Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns, and other CMDB related functionality.

Relation types can be renamed or removed from cmdb_rel_type table. Code that has the relationship type sys_id or Name hard-coded will either break, or insert invalid relationship records.

At least the following records need to be protected:

Applicative Flow To::Applicative Flow From - 85d98503ff100200d699ffffffffff8c Cluster of::Cluster - a99d39118f10310091769012cbbe4429 Contains::Contained by - 55c95bf6c0a8010e0118ec7056ebc54d Depends on::Used by - 1a9cb166f1571100a92eb60da2bce5c5 Hosted on::Hosts - 5f985e0ec0a8010e00a9714f2a172815 Impacts::Impacted By - 11ee47317f723100ed1c3b19befa91f9 Implement End Point To::Implement End Point From - 45e94a74532221007c949096a11c0861 Runs on::Runs - 60bc4e22c0a8010e01f074cbe6bd73c3 Use End Point To::Use End Point From - e7490a74532221007c949096a11c08b2 Connects to::Connected by - 5599a965c0a8010e00da3b58b113d70e ??? Virtualized by::Virtualizes - d93304fb0a0a0b78006081a72ef08444 Instantiates::Instantiated by - 1bb40e370a0a0b323d85a1ce84f8feae ...and there are more.

Once the OOTB records are deleted, it is possible that new records of the same name are created with different sys_ids, which also breaks any code with hard-coded sys_ids. This appears to happen automatically sometimes.

This also breaks other OOTB records in other tables that reference relationship type using the original sys_ids, including: cmdb_metadata_containment / cmdb_metadata_hosting - Will break IRE inserts/updates cmdb_rel_filter - e.g. the "All CIs" view on Dependency maps cmdb_rel_type_suggest and others...

Steps to Reproduce

Open Configuration - Relationships - CI Relation Types /cmdb_rel_type_list.do Delete entries, such as "Instantiates::Instantiated by" which is used by the "Windows OS - Post Sensor" post pattern script Alternatively, rename the parent and/or child descriptor of one, such as "Virtualized by::Virtualizes" to "Virtualised by::Virtualises", which a UK company may chose to do. In this example, a discovery of a virtual Windows Server will cause cmdb_rel_ci records to be inserted with broken relationship type references, and those broken relations will go on to cause problems for the Identification Engine, CMDB health and all the applications using those relationship records.

Workaround This problem has been fixed. If you are able to upgrade, review the Fixed In or Intended Fix Version fields to determine whether any versions have a planned or permanent fix.

When this has happened, any repair by a customer needs to include scripts for replacing values in records that reference the type, if a new sys_id has already been re-created and then used. Only then can you delete the duplicate types, and import a full set from a clean instance.

The "CMDB and CSDM Data Foundations Dashboards" store app has some Get Well Playbook KBs, and one of those has a script for replacing relationship type sys_ids: https://hi.service-now.com/kb_view.do?sysparm_article=KB0829857