SNOW-CSA Database Administration and CMDB — 20 Questions

Question 1

A ServiceNow administrator notices that a CI record in the CMDB is not being updated by a scheduled discovery job. The CI is a Linux server that is reachable on the network. Which is the most likely cause?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

The CI is classified under a different CI class in the CMDB.. When a CI is classified under a different CI class in the CMDB, the scheduled discovery job may not update it because discovery uses the IRE to match incoming data against existing CIs based on identification rules. If the CI's class differs from what the discovery payload expects, the IRE may fail to reconcile the record, or the update may be directed to a different class table, leaving the original CI unchanged. This is a common cause of apparent update failures when the CI is reachable and the discovery source is correctly configured.

Answer

The discovery source is not configured for this IP range.

Answer

The Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) is disabled.

Answer

The cmdb_ci table ACL is set to private.

Question 2

Which TWO of the following are valid CI relationship types in ServiceNow?

Accepted Answer

Member of. In ServiceNow CMDB, 'Member of' (C) is a valid CI relationship type used to express containment/hierarchy, where a CI is a member of a group or parent CI (for example, a server being a member of a cluster). 'Depends on' (E) is also a valid CI relationship type that models a dependency in which one CI relies on another to function, such as an application service depending on a database. These are among the standard relationship types defined in the CI Relationship Type [cmdb_rel_type] table. By contrast, 'Uses' (A), 'Connects to' (B), and 'Owns' (D) are not standard CI relationship types in the base ServiceNow CMDB relationship model, so they do not qualify as valid answers here.

Answer

Uses

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Connects to

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Owns

Question 3

Which THREE of the following are required for ServiceNow Discovery to successfully populate the CMDB?

Accepted Answer

Valid credentials for the target devices. Option B is correct because Discovery must authenticate to target devices with valid credentials (for example, SSH, WMI, or SNMP credentials) to log in and collect configuration data; without them, probes and sensors cannot gather CI attributes. Option C is correct because a Discovery schedule defines the IP ranges or targets to scan and triggers the horizontal/vertical discovery process, so no CIs would be discovered without a configured schedule. Option D is correct because the MID Server acts as the execution agent that runs probes and sends results back to the instance, and it must have network reachability to the target devices for Discovery to succeed. Option A is not required because CMDB CI tables do not need open ACLs for Discovery to populate them; ACLs govern user access, not the discovery process itself. Option E is not required because the Identification and Reconciliation Engine is used to identify and reconcile discovered data into CIs, but Discovery can still collect and insert data without IRE being explicitly enabled as a prerequisite.

Answer

The CMDB CI tables with open ACLs

Answer

The Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) enabled

Question 4

A company wants to ensure that only authorized changes to the CMDB are allowed. Which THREE of the following mechanisms can help enforce this?

Accepted Answer

CMDB Health Definitions with remediation tasks. Option B is correct because CMDB Health Definitions include metrics such as duplicate, orphan, and stale CI checks, and their associated remediation tasks flag and correct unauthorized or non-compliant changes, thereby enforcing data integrity in the CMDB. Option D is correct because Access Control Lists (ACLs) on CMDB tables restrict which users and roles can create, read, update, or delete CI records, directly preventing unauthorized modifications. Option E is correct because business rules on the cmdb_ci table execute server-side logic on insert, update, delete, or query operations, allowing the system to validate, block, or revert unauthorized changes before they are committed. Option A is not correct because the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) is used to identify and reconcile discovered CIs and their attributes, not to authorize or block changes. Option C is not correct because scheduled Discovery jobs populate and update the CMDB with discovered data; they do not enforce authorization of changes.

Answer

The Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE)

Answer

Scheduled Discovery jobs

Question 5

An administrator runs a CMDB health report for the CI class cmdb_ci_server and sees the exhibit. Which attribute is the highest priority to populate first?

Accepted Answer

Serial number (serial_number). The CMDB health report shows that the serial_number attribute has the lowest population percentage (e.g., 45%) compared to other attributes. Serial numbers are critical for hardware asset identification, warranty validation, and integration with external asset management systems. Populating serial_number first ensures accurate CI identification and reduces duplicate or orphaned records, which is a foundational step in CMDB data quality.

Answer

Operating system (os)

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Model ID (model_id)

Answer

Manufacturer

Question 6

An administrator wants to ensure that when a user deletes a CI, all its relationships are also deleted to maintain data integrity. What should the administrator configure?

Accepted Answer

A cascade delete rule on the relationship table. A cascade delete rule on the relationship table (sys_cmdb_rel_ci) ensures that when a CI is deleted, all associated relationship records are automatically removed. This maintains referential integrity in the CMDB without requiring custom scripting or manual cleanup.

Answer

An ACL that denies delete unless relationships are removed first

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A CMDB health rule that flags orphaned relationships

Answer

A business rule on the CI table that deletes relationships on delete

Question 7

A company uses ServiceNow CMDB and wants to ensure that CI attribute updates from a discovery tool are not overwritten by manual changes made by administrators. Which configuration best achieves this?

Accepted Answer

Configure the 'Preserve manual changes' setting in the CMDB CI Class Manager.. The 'Preserve manual changes' setting in the CMDB CI Class Manager ensures that when a CI attribute is manually updated by an administrator, subsequent discovery runs will not overwrite that specific attribute. This setting works at the class level and compares the source of the last update; if the source is 'Manual', the attribute is preserved even if the discovery tool reports a different value. This directly addresses the requirement to prevent discovery from overwriting manual changes without disabling discovery entirely.

Answer

Set the CI source to 'Manual' to prevent discovery updates.

Answer

Create a business rule to prevent updates from discovery.

Answer

Disable the reconciliation process for the affected CIs.

Question 8

An organization is planning to implement CMDB for a large-scale environment with multiple data sources. They need to ensure that the most trustworthy data source takes precedence when conflicts occur. Which feature should they use?

Accepted Answer

Data Source Priority. Data Source Priority (Option D) is the correct feature because it allows administrators to define a hierarchy of data sources in the CMDB, ensuring that when multiple sources provide conflicting attribute values for the same CI, the source with the highest priority (lowest numeric value) is trusted and its data is used. This directly addresses the requirement to make the most trustworthy data source take precedence in a large-scale, multi-source environment.

Answer

Identification & Reconciliation engine

Answer

Reconciliation

Answer

Set source precedence in the CI class manager for each CI

Question 9

A company's CMDB has been populated with configuration items (CIs) from various discovery sources. However, when querying the CMDB for all Windows servers, the result set is missing some servers that are known to exist. The administrator has verified that the servers are discovered and appear in the discovery logs. What is the most likely cause of this issue?

Accepted Answer

The missing servers are classified under a different CMDB class than the one being queried.. The CMDB organizes CIs into a hierarchical class structure (e.g., cmdb_ci_server, cmdb_ci_win_server). If a Windows server is classified under a different parent class (e.g., cmdb_ci_linux_server due to misclassification or a custom class), a query filtering specifically on the Windows server class will exclude it. Discovery populates the CI with the correct class based on the identification and classification rules, but manual reclassification or an incorrect identification rule can place the CI in a different class, making it invisible to class-specific queries.

Answer

The missing servers are duplicates and have been merged into other CIs.

Answer

The missing servers have a status of 'Retired' in the CMDB.

Answer

The user running the query does not have the cmdb_read role.

Question 10

Which TWO are valid methods to populate the CMDB with configuration items?

Accepted Answer

Running ServiceNow Discovery to automatically identify and populate CIs.. ServiceNow Discovery (B) automatically scans the network and populates the CMDB with CIs identified through probes and sensors. Importing a CSV file using the Import Set feature (E) is also a valid method, as it allows structured data to be loaded into the CMDB via a staging table and transform maps. Option C, manually creating CIs, is not considered a 'populate' method as it is a manual, one-at-a-time entry. Option A, the 'CMDB Import' application, does not exist as a standard application. Option D, LDAP integration, synchronizes users and groups, not CIs.

Answer

Using the 'CMDB Import' application to upload data from external tools.

Answer

Manually creating CIs using the 'New' button on the CMDB module.

Answer

Configuring LDAP integration to synchronize user and computer objects.

Question 11

Refer to the exhibit. What is the primary purpose of this Business Rule?

Accepted Answer

To update a timestamp field on the parent CI whenever a child CI is updated.. The Business Rule shown is an 'After' update rule that triggers on the 'cmdb_ci' table. It uses a 'setValue' call on the parent record (via 'current.parent') to update the 'sys_updated_on' field, which is the system timestamp. This ensures that whenever a child CI is updated, the parent CI's timestamp is refreshed, maintaining an accurate audit trail of changes in the CMDB hierarchy.

Answer

To prevent updates to child CIs if the parent CI has not been updated recently.

Answer

To log all changes made to a CI in a custom table.

Answer

To delete child CIs when the parent CI is deleted.

Question 12

Match each database table type to its description.

Accepted Answer

Core table: A base table that contains common fields used by many other tables.. Understanding table types is key for data modeling in ServiceNow. Core tables provide common fields, extension tables inherit from parents, task tables track work, and journal tables store logs.

Answer

Core table: A table that inherits fields and behaviors from a parent table.

Answer

Extension table: A base table that contains common fields used by many other tables.

Question 13

Match each ServiceNow update set state to its meaning.

Accepted Answer

Draft: The update set is in the initial stage and is not yet ready for review.. Update set states track progress: Draft (building), Complete (ready), Testing (validating), Committed (applied). Common confusions involve mixing Committed with Draft or Testing with Complete.

Answer

Draft: The update set has been applied to the target instance.

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Complete: The update set is being validated in a test environment.

Question 14

A CMDB administrator wants to identify which user last updated a CI record. Which table contains this information?

Accepted Answer

sys_audit. The sys_audit table stores the audit history of all field-level changes made to CI records, including the user who made the update, the timestamp, and the old and new values. When a CMDB administrator needs to identify the last user to update a CI, querying sys_audit with the appropriate filter on the record's sys_id and ordering by the 'sys_created_on' field descending will reveal the most recent change and its author.

Answer

sys_user

Answer

sys_ci

Answer

sys_metadata

Question 15

After upgrading to a new version, a CMDB administrator notices that many CI records have been flagged as 'unverified' and their operational status changed. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

A scheduled job from the Discovery application marked CIs as unverified.. After a version upgrade, the Discovery application's scheduled jobs (e.g., 'Discovery Status Update' or 'Operational Status Update') automatically flag CIs as 'unverified' and reset their operational status to 'In Use' or 'Unverified' to force re-validation. This is a built-in safety mechanism to ensure that CIs discovered under the old version's logic are re-assessed under the new version's rules, preventing stale or incorrectly reconciled data from persisting.

Answer

The IRE was reconfigured during upgrade.

Answer

The CMDB Data Manager job ran with incorrect parameters.

Answer

The identification and reconciliation rules were updated.

Question 16

A company wants to restrict access to CI records based on the business service they belong to. What feature should they use?

Accepted Answer

CMDB Data Segmentation. CMDB Data Segmentation (option C) is the correct feature because it allows administrators to restrict access to CI records based on the business service they belong to, using a segmentation rule that filters CIs by their 'business_service' field. This is specifically designed for multi-tenant or service-based access control in the CMDB, ensuring users only see CIs associated with their assigned business services.

Answer

ACLs on cmdb_ci table

Answer

CMDB Application Access Control

Answer

Condition-based ACLs

Question 17

A CMDB administrator runs a report and finds that the count of CIs in a certain class is unexpectedly low. They suspect that some CIs were deleted accidentally. How can they verify this?

Accepted Answer

Check the sys_audit table for delete records.. The sys_audit table records all insert, update, and delete operations on CMDB CIs. By querying this table for records with the operation type 'delete' and the affected CI class, the administrator can confirm whether CIs were deleted and identify when and by whom. This is the standard method for auditing historical changes in ServiceNow.

Answer

Query the sys_archive table.

Answer

Use the CMDB Rollback feature.

Answer

Restore from backup.

Question 18

An organization uses ServiceNow Discovery to populate the CMDB. They notice that some CIs are missing required relationships after discovery. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The discovery probes and sensors are not configured to create relationships.. Discovery probes and sensors are responsible for collecting data from devices, but they do not automatically create relationships unless specifically configured to do so. If the probes and sensors lack the necessary configuration to identify and record relationships, the discovered CIs will remain isolated in the CMDB. This is the most common cause of missing relationships after a Discovery run.

Answer

The discovered CIs are in different classes that do not have relationship rules.

Answer

The IRE is set to 'reconcile only' and not 'create'.

Answer

The relationship type is not defined in the CMDB.

Question 19

A CMDB administrator wants to ensure that all changes to CI records are tracked with the user who made the change. What system property must be set to true?

Accepted Answer

glide.record.audit. The `glide.record.audit` system property, when set to true, enables auditing for all records in the system, including Configuration Items (CIs) in the CMDB. This ensures that any change to a CI record is tracked with the user who made the modification, as required by the CMDB administrator. The property is a global audit toggle that applies to all tables, making it the appropriate choice for tracking CI changes.

Answer

glide.cmdb.track.ci.changes

Answer

glide.cmdb.audit.enable

Answer

glide.sys.audit.all

Question 20

A ServiceNow administrator is configuring Data Segmentation for CMDB. Which TWO statements are true about Data Segmentation? (Select exactly 2)

Accepted Answer

It can be used to restrict access to CI records based on user criteria.. Option B is correct because Data Segmentation in ServiceNow is designed to restrict access to CI records based on user criteria, such as user groups, roles, or other defined conditions, ensuring that only authorized users can view or modify specific CMDB records. Option E is correct because Data Segmentation works alongside standard ACLs to provide granular control; segmentation handles record-level access restrictions while ACLs can further refine field-level and operation-level permissions, and the two mechanisms complement each other. Option A is incorrect because Data Segmentation operates at the record level (restricting access to entire CI records), not at the individual CI field level; field-level control is handled by ACLs or field-level security. Option C is incorrect because Data Segmentation is not configured under a 'Data Segmentation module' in System Security; it is configured through the CMDB Data Segmentation feature, typically via the Data Segmentation module within the CMDB/Configuration application, not System Security. Option D is incorrect because Data Segmentation does not require a separate CMDB product license subscription; it is a built-in capability available with the CMDB, though it may require appropriate roles and configuration.

Answer

It can be applied to individual CI fields.

Answer

It is configured in the Data Segmentation module under System Security.

Answer

It requires the subscription of a separate CMDB product license.