CIS-DF Practice Questions 1 — 50 Questions

Question 1

Which ServiceNow application houses the CMDB Health Dashboard, Data Certification, and CMDB Data Governance features?

Accepted Answer

Configuration (CMDB). The CMDB Health Dashboard, Data Certification, and CMDB Data Governance features all live within the Configuration (CMDB) application in ServiceNow. This application is the central workspace for managing configuration items, health metrics, and governance policies.

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HR Service Delivery

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Project Portfolio Management

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Customer Service Management

Question 2

In the CSDM framework, which phase or maturity level represents the foundational phase where organizations establish baseline asset and user data?

Accepted Answer

Crawl. The CSDM (Common Service Data Model) framework defines a four-stage maturity progression: Crawl, Walk, Run, and Fly. The Crawl phase is explicitly the foundational stage where organizations establish baseline data — foundational asset records, user/identity data, and core CMDB hygiene — before attempting more advanced service modeling. This matches the question's description of 'foundational phase where organizations establish baseline asset and user data.'

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Fly

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Run

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Walk

Question 3

An administrator configures a CMDB Data Governance policy to check for missing support groups on business applications. When the policy runs, it creates remediation tasks. How can the administrator ensure these tasks are automatically closed when the data is corrected by a user?

Accepted Answer

Automatic re-evaluation and closure upon policy compliance restoration. CMDB Data Governance policies in ServiceNow create remediation tasks when policy violations are detected. When the underlying data is corrected and the policy is re-evaluated, the system can automatically mark the remediation task as closed because the compliance condition is now satisfied. This is the built-in lifecycle behavior of data governance remediation tasks, ensuring tasks do not remain open after the issue is resolved.

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Requiring the user to manually email the data governance team

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Deleting the remediation task manually from the task list

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Writing a custom business rule on the incident table

Question 4

An administrator is troubleshooting an integration where an incoming JSON payload contains relationships between servers and IP addresses. The server is created successfully, but the relationship record in `cmdb_rel_ci` is missing. Upon checking the IRE execution log, the system indicates that the relationship type string was invalid. How should this be resolved?

Accepted Answer

Ensure the relationship type specified in the payload matches an active parent/child relationship name defined in the `cmdb_rel_type` table.. Relationship types specified in payloads must match active record values in the `cmdb_rel_type` table.

Answer

Disable relationship validation in CMDB properties.

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Create a Transform Map to map relationship types.

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Modify the cmdb_rel_ci table dictionary to allow free-text relationship types.

Question 5

An enterprise is setting up automated server discovery across multiple VLANs. Which TWO configuration steps are essential for ensuring Discovery successfully ingests this infrastructure? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Configure Discovery Schedules with target IP ranges and associate appropriate credentials.. Option A is correct because Discovery Schedules define the target IP ranges (or individual IPs) to probe and attach the credentials (Windows, SSH, SNMP, etc.) needed to authenticate and collect data from the discovered servers; without a schedule and valid credentials, Discovery cannot ingest anything. Option B is correct because MID Servers are the on-premises execution components that actually perform the probes and scans; they must have network reachability (routing/firewall rules) to each target VLAN, otherwise the schedules in A have no path to the devices. Option C is incorrect because transform maps typically coalesce on a unique identifier such as serial number, name, or asset tag, not sys_id, which is a system-generated GUID and not a meaningful match key for imported data. Option D is incorrect because Service Mapping uses its own patterns and topology discovery; custom Business Rules on cmdb_ci are not a Discovery ingestion requirement and do not simulate Service Mapping. Option E is incorrect because disabling the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) globally would break deduplication and CI creation/update, harming rather than helping Discovery ingestion.

Answer

Set all transform maps to coalesce on the sys_id field.

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Create custom Business Rules on cmdb_ci to simulate Service Mapping.

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Disable the Identification and Reconciliation Engine globally to speed up server creation.

Question 6

An administrator needs to create a new custom Configuration Item class for specialized industrial IoT gateways that inherit base attributes from the Hardware class. Which table should be the parent table for this new class?

Accepted Answer

cmdb_ci_hardware. Custom CI classes representing physical hardware typically inherit from the cmdb_ci_hardware table to leverage existing hardware attributes and identification rules.

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cmdb_rel_ci

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cmdb_ci

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cmdb

Question 7

Which CSDM domain contains the 'Business Application' table [cmdb_ci_business_app]?

Accepted Answer

Design. The Design domain contains the Business Application table, representing applications from a portfolio and architecture perspective.

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Manage Technical Services

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Foundation

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Sell/Consume

Question 8

When configuring Relationship Filters within Dependency Views, an administrator wants to ensure that only 'Runs on::Runs' and 'Hosted on::Hosts' relationships are rendered by default for all users. Where is this default view behavior configured?

Accepted Answer

System Properties prefixed with glide.ui.dependency_view. Default Relationship Filters for Dependency Views are controlled by system properties prefixed with glide.ui.dependency_view. These properties define which relationship types are rendered by default when users open a Dependency View, allowing administrators to set global defaults such as 'Runs on::Runs' and 'Hosted on::Hosts'.

Answer

CI Class Manager relationship definition tab

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Service Mapping Properties table

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CMDB Query Builder global settings

Question 9

Which ServiceNow module provides a centralized dashboard view of CMDB data quality metrics, including completeness, correctness, and compliance?

Accepted Answer

CMDB Health Dashboard. The CMDB Health Dashboard provides health calculations across completeness, correctness, and compliance.

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Transform Map Metrics

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Discovery Status Dashboard

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Service Mapping Workbench

Question 10

An administrator needs to create a query that pulls all virtual machines running on ESXi hosts where the host status is 'Maintenance'. Which tool is best suited for building this multi-table query visually without writing SQL or custom scripts?

Accepted Answer

CMDB Query Builder. CMDB Query Builder is the ServiceNow tool specifically designed for visually building multi-table queries across CMDB classes and relationships without writing SQL or scripts. It allows drag-and-drop selection of CI classes, relationship traversal, and filter conditions, making it ideal for queries like 'all VMs running on ESXi hosts with status Maintenance.' It is the recommended tool for ad-hoc CMDB relationship queries.

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Report Designer

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CI Class Manager

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Performance Analytics

Question 11

An enterprise configuration manager needs to audit all manual relationship modifications made to production servers over the last 30 days to ensure compliance with automated discovery policies. Which native audit mechanism tracks this?

Accepted Answer

Audit history on the Configuration Item Relationship [cmdb_rel_ci] table. The Configuration Item Relationship [cmdb_rel_ci] table stores every parent-child relationship between CIs in the CMDB, and ServiceNow automatically maintains an audit history on this table. Any manual insert, update, or delete of a relationship record is captured with the user, timestamp, and old/new values. Auditing this table's history is therefore the native way to identify manual relationship modifications over a defined window such as 30 days.

Answer

CMDB Query Builder execution logs

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Service Mapping traffic log table

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Reconciliation Definition audit table

Question 12

Which TWO of the following criteria determine whether an entity belongs in the Foundation domain?

Accepted Answer

It includes core organizational tables like companies, departments, and users.. Option A is correct because the Foundation domain is defined by core organizational tables such as companies, departments, and users, which are shared across many ServiceNow applications and form the basis for organizational modeling. Option B is correct because Foundation data is foundational reference data used across multiple ServiceNow applications, meaning it is not application-specific but rather common data leveraged by many processes. Option C is incorrect because internal technical infrastructure server CIs belong to the Infrastructure domain, not the Foundation domain. Option D is incorrect because consumer-facing catalog offerings are part of the Service Catalog/Offerings domain, not the Foundation domain. Option E is incorrect because deployable runtime software instances are part of the Application/Software domain, not the Foundation domain.

Answer

It represents internal technical infrastructure server CIs.

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It represents consumer-facing catalog offerings.

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It represents deployable runtime software instances.

Question 13

An administrator is preparing to create a new custom CI class hierarchy. Which TWO actions should be performed as best practice during this process? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Extend the most specific existing parent class (e.g., cmdb_ci_hardware) rather than the base cmdb_ci table.. Option C is correct because best practice when building a custom CI class hierarchy is to extend the most specific existing parent class (for example, cmdb_ci_hardware or cmdb_ci_server) so the new class inherits relevant attributes, relationships, and behaviors instead of duplicating them; extending the base cmdb_ci table directly is discouraged because it produces an overly generic class with unnecessary attributes. Option D is correct because every CI class must have identification rules defined in the CI Class Manager so that discovery sources and imports can correctly match and reconcile CIs (using identifiers such as serial number, name, or MAC address) rather than creating duplicates. Option A is wrong because CMDB Health audits should not be disabled globally; they are used to monitor data quality and can be scoped or tuned, but turning them off undermines governance. Option B is wrong because extending the root cmdb table directly is explicitly discouraged as it maximizes irrelevant inherited attributes and breaks class modeling best practices. Option E is wrong because custom relationships should be created as relationship types in the CI Class Manager or via the relationship type dictionary, not by directly editing the cmdb table dictionary, which risks upgrade and integrity issues.

Answer

Disable CMDB Health audits globally before creating the class table.

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Always extend the root cmdb table directly to maximize attribute availability.

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Create custom relationships directly on the cmdb table dictionary.

Question 14

An administrator is configuring a Service Graph Connector. They notice that the integration is failing because the inbound payload uses a custom field name for the serial number instead of the standard IRE attribute name `serial_number`. How should this mapping discrepancy be resolved without altering the external source system?

Accepted Answer

Configure an RTE field mapping to translate the custom source field name to the standard `serial_number` attribute expected by the IRE payload.. RTE field mappings are designed to translate source field names to target IRE payload attributes. By configuring an RTE field mapping, the custom source field name is mapped to the standard `serial_number` attribute expected by the IRE, allowing the integration to succeed without modifying the external system. This is the intended use of RTE's mapping layer.

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Modify the target CI table dictionary to rename the `serial_number` column to match the external system's custom field name.

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Create a Business Rule on the staging table to drop the custom field.

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Update the CI Class Manager identification rule to use the custom field name.

Question 15

Which tool enables administrators to define rules that automatically retire or archive CIs based on their operational status and last update date?

Accepted Answer

CMDB Data Manager. CMDB Data Manager enables administrators to create automated lifecycle policies for archiving, retiring, and deleting CIs.

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Service Portfolio Workspace

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Discovery Schedule Manager

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CI Class Manager

Question 16

When analyzing a service map in Service Mapping, an administrator wants to see live network connections and traffic flows captured between application nodes. Which feature provides this insight?

Accepted Answer

Traffic Connections view. The Traffic Connections view in Service Mapping displays live network connections and traffic flows between application nodes, providing visibility into actual communication paths. It is the specific feature designed to show real-time traffic data captured by Service Mapping. This makes it the correct answer for analyzing live network connections.

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Dependency Views baseline diff

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CMDB Query Builder topology export

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Discovery Schedule Log

Question 17

Which table stores the actual relationship records connecting configuration items in the ServiceNow CMDB?

Accepted Answer

cmdb_rel_ci. In ServiceNow, the cmdb_rel_ci table stores the actual relationship instances between configuration items — each row represents one directed relationship (parent, child, type) linking two CIs. The relationship type itself is defined in cmdb_rel_type, but the concrete records connecting CIs live in cmdb_rel_ci.

Answer

cmdb_ci_rel

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task_cmdb_ci_rel

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sys_m2m_cmdb

Question 18

Your organization implements a hybrid cloud strategy where an Application Service relies on both an on-premises Oracle database and an AWS RDS instance. How should both databases be linked to the Application Service in the CSDM framework?

Accepted Answer

Connect both database CIs directly to the Application Service using 'Depends on / Used by' relationships.. In the CSDM framework, an Application Service represents a logical grouping of application functionality that relies on underlying CIs. Both the on-premises Oracle database and the AWS RDS instance are separate database CIs that the Application Service depends on, regardless of their hosting location. The correct approach is to connect each database CI directly to the Application Service using the 'Depends on / Used by' relationship, which accurately models the dependency without merging distinct CIs or creating artificial hierarchies. This maintains data integrity and reflects the true operational dependency.

Answer

Merge the on-premises database and AWS RDS instance into a single physical CI record.

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Link only the primary database to the Application Service and nest the secondary database inside the Business Application.

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Create a separate Business Application for each database and link them together.

Question 19

When configuring an identification rule for a custom hardware CI class, an administrator can select multiple attributes to form a compound identification rule. What is the operational significance of selecting multiple attributes within a single rule entry?

Accepted Answer

All specified attributes in the rule entry must match an existing CI record for the IRE to identify it as a match.. In a compound identification rule, all specified attributes must match an existing CI for the IRE to consider it a match.

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The IRE will consider it a match if any single attribute matches the incoming payload.

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The IRE will automatically merge records if any two attributes match.

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Multiple attributes are only used for reporting and have no effect on CI identification.

Question 20

An auditor requests evidence that all critical databases have an identified support group. Which built-in CMDB feature allows an administrator to quickly run an on-demand check for this specific completeness rule without waiting for scheduled dashboard refreshes?

Accepted Answer

Run Policy evaluation from CMDB Data Governance. The CMDB Data Governance module includes a Policy evaluation feature that allows administrators to run on-demand checks against defined policies, such as ensuring all critical databases have an identified support group. This bypasses the need to wait for scheduled dashboard refreshes, providing immediate compliance evidence.

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Run a background script using GlideRecord

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Export the cmdb_ci table to Excel and filter manually

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Execute a Full Discovery Scan