How Discovery populates Location for ESX servers and whether physical location can be derived from IP address - Support and Troubleshooting

How Discovery populates Location for ESX servers and whether physical location can be derived from IP address Summary .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } Customers may observe that the Location field on an ESX server CI is populated with the vCenter location or another inherited value, instead of the ESX host’s actual physical location. They may ask whether Discovery can determine the physical location automatically from the ESX host IP address, or whether there is any out-of-box script, sensor logic, Script Include, or pattern that supports this behavior.

Explanation Out of box, the Location field on discovered CIs is typically populated using one of the following mechanisms:

1.Assigned to based location If the CI has a value in the Assigned to field, and that user record has a Location populated, a CMDB business rule can set the CI Location from the user’s Location.

2.Discovery Schedule based location If the CI is discovered through a Discovery Schedule, Discovery can set the CI Location from the Location field defined on that Discovery Schedule. This is handled by Discovery sensor logic that reads the location from the active discovery schedule.

Also, once the Location is set by one method, another method does not automatically overwrite it.

For ESX servers specifically, Discovery does not have out-of-box logic to determine the exact physical location of the host by using its IP address. There is no out-of-box Discovery pattern or script that reliably maps an ESX host IP address to a physical site, building, room, rack, or datacenter location.

What is supported out of box ServiceNow Discovery can populate Location from:

- the Discovery Schedule Location

- the Assigned to user’s Location

This means the Location can reflect an operational or schedule-based location, but not a true host-specific physical location derived from network identity alone.

Recommended approach If the requirement is to reflect physical site location for ESX hosts, the following are the practical options:

1. Use Discovery Schedule Location If ESX hosts are discovered site by site, configure separate Discovery Schedules with the appropriate Location value so the discovered CIs inherit that site location.

Conclusion Out of box, Discovery cannot determine an ESX server’s physical location from its IP address. Location population is generally driven by Discovery Schedule configuration or Assigned to user data. If accurate host-level physical location is required, this must be implemented through custom logic or maintained mapping data.

Reference KB0864114 - Discovery: How Location field is set for a CI / Why is the Location field empty on a CI? / How to set location for CIs