Recommended Approach to Document Cloud Data Center Locations in CMDB<!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .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: ; } } .kb-wrapper { font-family: 'Lato', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.7; color: #000000; max-width: 100%; } .kb-wrapper h2 { font-family: 'Lato', sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; font-weight: 900; color: #032D42; border-bottom: 2px solid #e8fce4; padding-bottom: 4px; margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 12px; } .kb-wrapper p, .kb-wrapper li { font-family: 'Lato', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.7; color: #000000; } .kb-wrapper ul { padding-left: 22px; } .kb-wrapper code { font-family: 'Consolas', 'Courier New', monospace; background: #e6f0f5; color: #032D42; border: 1px solid #b8cfd8; padding: 1px 5px; border-radius: 3px; font-size: 11pt; } .kb-wrapper pre { font-family: 'Consolas', 'Courier New', monospace; background: #e6f0f5; color: #032D42; border: 1px solid #b8cfd8; padding: 10px 14px; border-radius: 4px; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.5; overflow-x: auto; white-space: pre-wrap; margin: 12px 0; } .kb-wrapper pre code { background: transparent; border: 0; padding: 0; } .kb-wrapper .kb-callout-info { border-left: 4px solid #52B8FF; background: #e6f4ff; padding: 10px 14px; margin: 12px 0; } .kb-wrapper .kb-callout-warning { border-left: 4px solid #e6a817; background: #fff4e0; padding: 10px 14px; margin: 12px 0; } .kb-wrapper .kb-steps { list-style: none; counter-reset: kb-step; padding-left: 0; margin: 12px 0; } .kb-wrapper .kb-steps > li { counter-increment: kb-step; position: relative; padding-left: 42px; margin-bottom: 10px; min-height: 28px; } .kb-wrapper .kb-steps > li::before { content: counter(kb-step); position: absolute; left: 0; top: 0; width: 28px; height: 28px; background: #032D42; color: #63DF4E; border-radius: 50%; font-weight: 900; font-size: 12pt; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; font-family: 'Lato', sans-serif; } .kb-wrapper .kb-related a { color: #032D42; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; } .kb-wrapper .kb-disclaimer { font-family: 'Lato', sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; color: #444; margin: 4px 0 10px 0; } Issue Customers using cloud infrastructure need a consistent way to document cloud data center locations in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB). The goal is to accurately represent the relationship between cloud vendors, vendor regions, and the Configuration Items (CIs) that depend on them, so that downstream reporting, service mapping, and impact analysis reflect where workloads run. Typical requirements include: Representing the data center, cloud vendor, and vendor region structure.Associating CIs such as servers, virtual machines, and storage to their respective data centers.Identifying which countries or business units consume the services hosted in each data center. Symptoms Cloud-hosted CIs exist in the CMDB but are not associated with any data center, making location-based reporting incomplete.No clear pattern exists to model the cloud vendor, region, and resource hierarchy, leading to inconsistent custom tables or free-text fields being introduced.Service Mapping, Application Service, or impact-analysis views cannot determine the location of cloud workloads.Reports that filter by country, business unit, or vendor region return incomplete results because the location relationship is missing. Facts The CMDB includes an out-of-the-box class, Logical Datacenter (cmdb_ci_logical_datacenter), designed to represent both physical and cloud-hosted data centers.The Logical Datacenter class is part of the base CMDB CI class hierarchy and inherits standard platform behavior such as Life Cycle Controls, relationships, and audit history.Cloud Discovery and Service Graph Connectors can automatically populate this table for supported cloud providers when configured. Manually created entries can coexist with discovered entries.Standard CI relationships (for example, Hosted on / Hosts, Located in) are used to associate dependent CIs with a Logical Datacenter record. Release All currently supported ServiceNow releases. Cause This is a CMDB modeling and data-population question rather than a product defect. The gap typically appears when: Cloud resources are imported through integrations or Discovery without a corresponding Logical Datacenter entry, so the location relationship cannot be created.Custom tables or attributes are introduced to represent cloud regions before the out-of-the-box cmdb_ci_logical_datacenter table is evaluated.Existing Logical Datacenter records are present but are not linked to dependent CIs through CI relationships. Resolution Use the out-of-the-box Logical Datacenter table (cmdb_ci_logical_datacenter) to represent both vendor-managed cloud locations and private infrastructure. This avoids custom modeling and keeps location data aligned with the rest of the CMDB. To view existing records, navigate to: <instance_url>/cmdb_ci_logical_datacenter_list.do?sysparm_query=GROUPBYname Recommended approach: Create a record for each cloud vendor. Use a consistent naming convention so reports can group by vendor.Define data center entries for each region the organization consumes. Populate attributes such as Location, Country, and Owned by where the information is known.Associate dependent CIs through CI relationships. Link virtual machines, containers, load balancers, storage, and other cloud resources to the appropriate Logical Datacenter entry using standard relationship types such as Hosted on / Hosts or Located in.Where available, let Discovery and Service Graph Connectors populate the relationships. Supported cloud providers automatically create and maintain Logical Datacenter records and the relationships to dependent CIs during scheduled discovery.Use business-context fields (for example, Business unit, Department, Owned by) on the dependent CIs to identify which countries or business units consume each data center. This is preferred over adding the same fields directly to the Logical Datacenter record. Why use the out-of-the-box table: Using cmdb_ci_logical_datacenter instead of a custom table preserves out-of-the-box behavior. CI Class Manager Life Cycle Controls, identification and reconciliation rules, audit history, and compatibility with Discovery, Service Mapping, and reporting all continue to work without additional configuration. Avoid: Creating custom tables or columns to track cloud regions. This fragments the data model, breaks compatibility with out-of-the-box reports and dashboards, and creates ongoing maintenance overhead when new vendors or regions are added. Related Links Configuration Management Database (CMDB) — ServiceNow Product Documentation CMDB CI Class Models — ServiceNow Product Documentation ServiceNow Discovery — Product Documentation Define CI Relationships — ServiceNow Product Documentation