SNOW-CSA Database Administration and CMDB Practice Test 3 — 15 Questions

Question 1

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 2

An administrator notices that a CMDB CI class is not visible in the class hierarchy. The class exists in the database but cannot be selected when creating a new CI. What is the likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The class is marked as 'abstract'.. In ServiceNow, a CI class marked as 'abstract' exists in the database but is not intended for direct instantiation. Abstract classes serve as templates for inheritance and are hidden from the 'New CI' selection list, which is why the administrator cannot select it when creating a new CI.

Answer

The class is retired.

Answer

The class has no parent.

Answer

The class has a missing table extension.

Question 3

What is the purpose of the 'Operational Status' field on a CMDB CI?

Accepted Answer

To indicate the CI's current operational health.. The 'Operational Status' field on a CMDB CI in ServiceNow indicates the current operational health of the configuration item, such as whether it is functioning normally, in a degraded state, or down. This field is used to quickly assess the real-time status of a CI, enabling IT operations to prioritize incident response and change management based on the CI's operational condition.

Answer

To track the CI's maintenance schedule.

Answer

To define the CI's business criticality.

Answer

To record the CI's last discovery date.

Question 4

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 5

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 correct answer is A because 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 6

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.. Data Segmentation in ServiceNow restricts access to CI records based on user criteria, such as business unit or location, by evaluating conditions against the user's session. This is a row-level security mechanism that filters which CI records a user can see, making Option B correct. It works alongside standard ACLs, which handle field- and record-level permissions, allowing administrators to layer both for granular control, confirming Option E.

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.

Question 7

Which THREE of the following are valid options when configuring an Identification and Reconciliation (IRE) rule? (Select exactly 3)

Accepted Answer

Reconcile only. Option A is correct because the 'Reconcile only' option in an IRE rule instructs the IRE engine to only reconcile existing CI records against incoming data, without creating new CIs. This is used when you want to ensure existing CIs are updated or validated but no new records should be created from the data source.

Answer

Fuzzy match

Answer

Update only

Question 8

A CMDB administrator is planning to use the CMDB Data Manager to perform data imports. Which THREE statements about the Data Manager are true? (Select exactly 3)

Accepted Answer

It can create relationships between CIs during import.. Option A is correct because the CMDB Data Manager can create relationships between Configuration Items (CIs) during the import process. When importing data, you can specify relationship definitions in the import source or transform map, allowing the Data Manager to automatically link CIs (e.g., 'Runs on', 'Depends on') based on the imported data, which is essential for maintaining a complete and accurate CMDB.

Answer

It automatically reconciles imported CIs with existing CIs.

Answer

It can directly import data from external databases.

Question 9

Given the IRE identification rule shown, what will happen when a Discovery probe sends a CI with a name that already exists in the CMDB but with a different business_service?

Accepted Answer

A new CI will be created because the business_service is different.. The IRE (Identification and Reconciliation Engine) rule in ServiceNow uses the 'name' field as the primary identifier for CIs. When a Discovery probe sends a CI with a name that already exists but a different business_service, the IRE treats the business_service as a separate attribute, not part of the identification key. Therefore, it creates a new CI because the combination of identification attributes (name alone) does not match any existing CI when the business_service differs, as the rule does not include business_service in the match criteria.

Answer

The discovery will fail and not create or update any CI.

Answer

The existing CI will be updated with the new business_service.

Answer

The identification rule will match based on name only, ignoring business_service.

Question 10

Based on the sys_audit output, which CI has undergone the most recent change to its operational_status?

Accepted Answer

CI002. The sys_audit table records the timestamp of each change to a CI's operational_status field. CI002 has the most recent sys_audit record for operational_status, indicating it was changed last. The correct answer is B because the audit trail shows CI002's status was updated after CI001's.

Answer

Both CI001 and CI002

Answer

Cannot be determined

Answer

CI001

Question 11

A report using the 'server_by_os' database view is expected to show a record for each server. However, a server without an operating system entry is not appearing in the report. What is the most likely reason?

Accepted Answer

The join is defined as an INNER JOIN, excluding servers without a matching OS record.. The report is built on a database view that joins the server table with the operating system table. If the join is an INNER JOIN, only records with matching rows in both tables are returned. A server with a null OS field has no matching OS record, so it is excluded from the result set. This is the most likely reason the server is missing from the report.

Answer

The view is missing a required field.

Answer

The view is not refreshed.

Answer

The server's OS field is null.

Question 12

An administrator notices that a scheduled job that queries the cmdb_ci table is taking longer than expected. The job uses a glide query with multiple encoded queries. What is the best approach to improve performance without altering the job's results?

Accepted Answer

Add an index on the fields used in the encoded query conditions.. Adding an index on the fields used in the encoded query conditions directly reduces the number of rows scanned by the database engine when executing the GlideRecord query. This improves query performance without changing the logic or results of the scheduled job, as indexes only affect data access speed, not the data returned.

Answer

Create a database view on the cmdb_ci table and query the view instead.

Answer

Convert the glide query to a direct database query using System SQL.

Answer

Add an index on the sys_created_on field.

Question 13

A company wants to ensure that critical servers in the CMDB have accurate operational status. Which CMDB feature should the administrator configure to automatically update the operational status based on monitoring tools?

Accepted Answer

Identification and Reconciliation. Option C is correct because Identification and Reconciliation rules can update CI attributes using data from discovery and monitoring sources. Option A is incorrect because CI Relationships define connections between CIs, not status updates. Option B is incorrect because Application Services model business services, not operational status. Option D is incorrect because CMDB Health Score measures data quality, not updates.

Answer

CI Relationships

Answer

Application Services

Answer

CMDB Health Score

Question 14

During a CMDB audit, an administrator discovers duplicate CI records for the same network switch. The switch is identified by its serial number. The identification rule currently uses IP address and MAC address as identifiers. What is the most likely cause of the duplicate records?

Accepted Answer

The serial number is not included in the identification rule.. The duplicate CI records exist because the identification rule does not include the serial number, which is the unique hardware identifier for the switch. Without it, the system cannot reliably match the discovered switch to an existing CI, so a new record is created each time the switch is discovered with a different IP or MAC address. Including the serial number in the identification rule ensures that the same physical device is always reconciled to the same CI record.

Answer

There is a conflict in the class hierarchy.

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The discovery source is set to ServiceNow Discovery only, but multiple sources exist.

Answer

The reconciliation rule is set to manual mode.

Question 15

An administrator needs to delete a large number of records from the cmdb_ci table based on a condition. Which method is recommended for bulk deletion to ensure data integrity and performance?

Accepted Answer

Use a GlideRecord script with deleteMultiple() to delete all matching records in one transaction.. Option C is correct because deleteMultiple() processes all matching records in a single database transaction, ensuring data integrity by respecting business rules, ACLs, and database constraints while offering better performance than iterating individual deletes. This method is specifically designed for bulk deletion in ServiceNow, balancing efficiency with platform safety.

Answer

Use a script that iterates and deletes each record using glideRecord.delete().

Answer

Use a direct SQL DELETE statement in a background script.

Answer

Use the 'Delete all records in this table' option in the table configuration.