Discovery trusted hostname source properties should be enabled Product Success Playbook Discovery trusted hostname source properties should be enabled A step-by-step guide to analyze and remediate discovery configuration issues Table of Contents Summary Goal of this Playbook Audience Problem Overview Executive Summary How this playbook can help you achieve business goals How this playbook is structured Problem Analysis Upstream Causes Downstream Consequences Impact on Your Business Engagement Questions Remediation Plays Summary Play 1: Review your data Play 2: Fix Play Data Governance Summary Goal of this Playbook This playbook helps to remediate issue related to inconsistent hostnames updated by ServiceNow Discovery Details about this playbook Author Bibu Elias Punnachalil Reviewer Douglas Schulze Date 04/07/2023 Addresses HSD # HSD00010817 Applicable ServiceNow Releases All Releases Prerequisites Time Required Approximately 30 minutes Audience Configuration Manager or Configuration Management teamServiceNow Administrator or Discovery Administrator Problem Overview ServiceNow discovery is configurable to use various approaches for updating hostname of the discovered device. Hostnames present in DNS may be inaccurate and hence hostname discovery via reverse DNS lookup may result in inaccurate/inconsistent hostnames in the CMDB. Platform functionalities dependent on the CMDB may be adversely impacted due to these issues. Executive Summary How this playbook can help you achieve business goals Accurate CI information supports full visibility of your infrastructure and services, leading to more control of your environment and better decisions in the areas of service impact analysis, asset management, compliance, and configuration management.Valid hostnames in the CMDB can improve: Operational visibility by ensuring accurate CMDB data,Improved data governance by supporting system integrity, resulting in reliable auditsImproved functioning of platform applications reliant upon CMDB. How this playbook is structured This playbook has 3 plays, Play 1 (a configuration review play) to check trusted hostname source properties.Play 2 (a fix play) to enable the trusted hostname source properties.Play 3 (a governance play) helps to monitor and maintain the trusted hostname source properties. Problem Analysis Upstream Causes Trusted hostname source properties were never evaluated.Root cause analysis of CMDB hostname inaccuracy incidents was not performed. Downstream Consequences Data Consequence Inaccurate or flipping hostname(s) in CMDB. Operation Consequence Users will require special queries to avoid these records leading to additional operational overhead.Erosion of IT service actors’ trust in the system caused by inaccurate hostnames.User frustration will build up towards the system because of these invalid records. App Consequence Binding for Event ManagementCI selection for IncidentAffected / Impacted CI selection for ChangeMost platform apps use Config Items in one way or another and may be using hostname/name for CI identification Impact on Your Business Inaccurate hostname in CMDB may affect below business outcomes, Lower MTTR Data ValidationData Completeness Increase Operational Visibility Process AlignmentLifecycle Management Audit/Compliance System IntegrityData GovernanceProcess Gaps Service Level Awareness Data IntegrationModel Management Process Automation Service AwarenessData AccuracyIntegrity of Relationships Better User Experience Platform AwarenessModel Management Engagement Questions: Consider the answers to these questions: Has it been noticed that there are Config Items lacking host names?Are the hostnames in the CMDB accurate? Remediation Plays SummaryThe table below lists and summarizes each of the remediation plays in the playbook. Details are included later. Play Name Review your data What this play is about Review the trusted hostname source properties Required tasks List the appropriate property values Fix Plays What this play is about Update trusted source properties Required tasks Enable inactive trusted source properties Data Governance What this play is about Monitor hostname accuracy & trusted source properties Required tasks Regularly follow the steps provided in the play Play 1 - Review your data What this Play is about This play will help to list the trusted hostname source properties. Required tasks Navigate to Discovery Definition Properties Review trusted hostname source flags for SSH, WMI and SNMP. Proceed to the next play. Play 2 – Fix Play What this Play is about This play will help in enabling trusted hostname source properties Required tasks If the flags are read only, change the active application to Global application. Please note that these changes are captured in update sets. Enable the trusted hostname source flags for SSH, WMI, and SNMP by checking their checkboxes.Example: Note : WMI, SNMP, SSH trusted will be used first when set to true and DNS(when set to true) will just be a fallback Click “save” to save the configuration Data Governance What this Play is about This play provides an approach for monitoring and managing trusted source property. Required tasks Do a regular analysis of incidents raised for hostname accuracy issues in CMDB. If hostname updates are incorrect, review the trusted hostname source property.Set up review and control process for system property change in production. Congratulations You have completed this Product Success Playbook.