CIS-DF · domain
Configuration
This domain covers building and maintaining the ServiceNow CMDB: creating custom CI classes, choosing correct parent tables, modeling relationships, and querying multi-table data. Questions test practical configuration decisions—class hierarchy design, relationship record storage, and which tool fits a given query or modeling task within CMDB and CSDM structures.
Focused practice
Practice Configuration questions
Scored sessions drawing only from this domain — pick a length below.
Start 20-question practice test →What this domain covers
What to know about Configuration
You must be able to design CI class hierarchies with correct parent tables, model relationships in cmdb_rel_ci, and build multi-table queries using CMDB Query Builder. The most important thing: pick the right parent class so inherited attributes and relationships behave correctly.
Selecting correct parent tables (e.g., Hardware) when creating custom CI classes for new device types
Using CMDB Query Builder to visually construct multi-table queries across CI and relationship tables
Applying best practices for custom CI class hierarchy design, including inheritance and naming conventions
Identifying cmdb_rel_ci as the table storing relationship records connecting configuration items
Watch out for
Common Configuration exam traps
- ▸Creating a custom CI class under the wrong parent, breaking inheritance of base attributes like serial number and asset tracking.
- ▸Assuming relationships are stored on the CI record itself rather than in the separate cmdb_rel_ci relationship table.
- ▸Building multi-table CI queries with raw SQL or scripts when CMDB Query Builder is the intended visual tool.
Question index
All Configuration questions (57)
Click any question to see the full explanation, or start a practice session above.
Your enterprise has acquired a company that uses custom naming conventions, causing duplicate CIs to be created during discovery. Which tool should you use to examine and adjust how incoming CIs are matched against existing records in the CMDB?
Medium2A project team wants to establish a parent-child relationship between a Business Application CI and several Server CIs to represent hosting dependencies. Which relationship type should they configure?
Medium3When defining a Reconciliation Definition in ServiceNow to manage attribute precedence, which THREE configurations or behaviors apply? (Choose three.)
Hard4You notice that a specific data source (e.g., SCCM) is overwriting critical configuration attributes that are manually maintained by your infrastructure team. How should you prevent this data source from updating those specific attributes?
Medium5When configuring CMDB health metrics, which of the following represents one of the three core pillars measured by the CMDB Health Dashboard?
Easy6An administrator needs to create a new custom Configuration Item class to track specialized network routers. Where should this class be created within the ServiceNow platform?
Easy7Which table stores the actual relationship records connecting configuration items in the ServiceNow CMDB?
Easy8An 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.)
Medium9When designing class hierarchy extensions in the CMDB, which THREE best practices should an implementation specialist follow? (Choose three.)
Hard10When configuring the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) for a complex multi-source data environment, which THREE components or concepts are critical to understand and configure properly? (Choose three.)
Hard11Which TWO metrics are tracked out-of-the-box as part of the CMDB Health Dashboard? (Choose two.)
Medium12When configuring a new identification rule for a custom CI class using the CI Class Manager, you need to specify criteria that take precedence over other criteria. What element of the identification rule controls this priority?
Hard13You need to review the inheritance chain of a specific custom class called cmdb_ci_cloud_firewall. Which ServiceNow module provides a centralized UI to inspect class definitions, attributes, and relationships?
Easy14Your team is troubleshooting a problem where discovery payloads for network gear are failing identification because multiple network devices share the same MAC address due to virtual routing and switching configurations. How can you resolve this in the CI Class Manager?
Hard15Your team is planning to introduce a new class of CIs that will store sensitive cryptographic keys. These CIs should only be accessible and modifiable by a specific security team. In ServiceNow CMDB architecture, how are class-level access controls typically managed?
Hard16When designing a custom class hierarchy in the CMDB, an architect must adhere to best practices to ensure optimal performance and maintainability. Which TWO of the following practices are recommended when creating and configuring custom CI classes? (Choose two.)
Hard17Which TWO methods can be used to add a custom attribute to a CI class in ServiceNow? (Choose two.)
Medium18During an audit of the cmdb_ci_computer table, you notice that several records lack standard manufacturer and model attributes that are present in the parent cmdb_ci_hardware table. What architectural feature of ServiceNow tables explains why these attributes exist across multiple hardware sub-classes?
Medium19Where can an administrator view overall metrics regarding CMDB data quality, including completeness, correctness, and compliance?
Easy20Which TWO statements are true regarding Configuration Item (CI) relationships in ServiceNow? (Choose two.)
Medium21An integration script is passing a complex payload containing multiple related CIs to the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) via the script include 'JSONUtils' or 'CmdbUtil'. Which payload structure is required for the IRE to correctly process related CIs in a single transaction?
Hard22Your organization is designing a custom subclass for specialized network appliances that require unique attributes not found in the standard cmdb_ci_netgear class. When creating a custom CI class extending cmdb_ci, what is the best practice recommendation regarding table extension?
Medium23Which TWO tools or features in ServiceNow allow you to investigate and visualize relationships between configuration items? (Choose two.)
Medium24A CMDB administrator needs to allow discovery sources to automatically create relationships between a server CI and its network adapter CI, but only when the network adapter's 'Installed on' relationship is explicitly provided by the discovery source. The administrator wants to enforce that a specific relationship type is used only for this class pair and that the relationship is not created if the parent CI is missing. Which feature in the CMDB Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) should be configured to meet these requirements?
Medium25A user wants to view the parent-child relationships and upstream/downstream dependencies of a core router in a graphical map format. Which ServiceNow feature should they open?
Easy26An administrator is troubleshooting an issue where duplicate CIs are being created by an external data feed despite having an identification rule configured. Upon inspecting the payload, they notice the payload uses a custom identifier field not included in the IRE rule. What is the correct way to resolve this?
Medium27An implementation specialist is configuring dependency relationships where a virtual machine must be marked as dependent on a physical ESXi host. When utilizing CI relationships, what is the significance of setting the 'Depends :: Used by' relationship direction correctly?
Medium28An 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?
Easy29An organization is utilizing CSDM (Common Service Data Model) and needs to relate technical CIs to business services and applications. Which THREE relationship types or foundational concepts are core to proper CSDM alignment in the CMDB? (Choose three.)
Hard30An administrator needs to deprecate an old custom CI class that is no longer in use. What is the recommended best practice in the CI Class Manager?
Medium31A company needs to store custom serial number attributes for specific physical storage devices. Where should an administrator add these custom attributes to ensure they are properly managed and tracked?
Medium32A CMDB administrator needs to ensure that all new Configuration Items (CIs) of a certain class are automatically assigned a specific support group based on the CI's location. Which feature should be used to achieve this?
Easy33An enterprise is planning to deploy a complex multi-tier application architecture. They want to ensure that application services are mapped using the correct relationship types between technical CIs and logical service nodes. Which recommended relationship type represents the connection between a logical application service and its running software instance?
Hard34An architect is troubleshooting relationship cardinality and integrity issues in the CMDB. Which THREE mechanisms or tools help maintain relationship health? (Choose three.)
Hard35A ServiceNow architect is designing a CMDB architecture where CIs from multiple disparate discovery tools need to be ingested. To prevent race conditions and conflicting updates between tools updating the same CIs simultaneously, what mechanism should be utilized?
Hard36When reviewing relationship data in your CMDB, you notice a large number of 'Orphan' CIs reported on the CMDB Health Dashboard. What does an orphan CI represent?
Medium37When designing a custom CI class hierarchy, what is the primary benefit of inheriting from an existing parent class rather than creating an entirely independent base table?
Easy38Your organization has deployed multiple datacenters, and engineers want to restrict visibility of specific server CIs so that regional support teams only see their local hardware. Which mechanism should be used to achieve class-level or record-level data segregation in the CMDB?
Medium39An administrator wants to ensure that all database instance CIs have a populated 'Assigned to' field. Which CMDB Health metric configuration should be updated to track this requirement?
Medium40Which TWO of the following actions can be performed directly within the CI Class Manager? (Choose two.)
Medium41A team is importing legacy server data into the CMDB using an Import Set. To ensure that relationships between servers and switches are created accurately alongside the CI imports, which feature should they leverage?
Medium42An architect is reviewing data ingestion methods for the CMDB. Which THREE integration mechanisms natively support or integrate with the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE)? (Choose three.)
Hard43When configuring identification rules for a custom CI class via the CI Class Manager, an administrator includes multiple criteria attributes. How does the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) process these criteria?
Hard44An administrator is configuring a Robust Transform Engine (RTE) integration to populate the CMDB from a third-party asset management system. Why is RTE recommended over a standard Transform Map for CMDB data loads?
Hard45Which module allows an administrator to visualize the relationships between CIs in a graphical node-and-link format?
Easy46A company deploys a multi-tenant cloud environment. They need to ensure that CIs belonging to Tenant A are logically segregated and cannot be viewed or modified by users belonging to Tenant B, while utilizing a single shared CMDB. Which ServiceNow feature should be configured?
Hard47An administrator is troubleshooting a scenario where relationships created between Application Service CIs and underlying Server CIs are disappearing after a Discovery scheduled job runs. Upon reviewing CI class manager settings, which feature or setting most likely caused this behavior due to incorrect payload identification?
Hard48An administrator is planning a custom CMDB extension project. Which THREE factors should be evaluated when deciding whether to create a new CI class or add attributes to an existing class? (Choose three.)
Hard49An 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?
Medium50Where in ServiceNow should an administrator navigate to inspect the current list of CMDB classes, review class attribute counts, and check identification rules?
Easy51During a review of the CMDB class hierarchy, an architect notices that a custom class extending cmdb_ci_hardware was created without a corresponding identification rule in the Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE). What is the primary risk of this configuration?
Hard52An administrator is reviewing class hierarchy design principles in the CMDB. Which TWO statements describe the purpose of extending existing CI classes rather than creating independent base tables? (Choose two.)
Medium53An implementer is reviewing the base tables of the CMDB. Which table serves as the ultimate parent class for virtually all Configuration Item classes in ServiceNow?
Easy54Your organization wants to understand the impact of a failing database server on dependent business applications. Which component of the CMDB architecture must be configured to establish this dependency link?
Medium55When designing class hierarchy relationships and investigating class behaviors in the CI Class Manager, which THREE options represent capabilities or configurations managed within the CI Class Manager? (Choose three.)
Hard56An administrator needs to ensure that specific critical attributes of a Server CI cannot be overwritten by low-priority discovery sources, while higher-priority integrations can update them. Where is this behavior configured?
Medium57A CMDB administrator is reviewing the CMDB Health Dashboard and notices a low score for 'Duplicate CIs'. They need to identify the root cause. Which action should they take first?
HardOther domains
All CIS-DF exam domains
Frequently asked questions
- What does the Configuration domain cover on the CIS-DF exam?
- You must be able to design CI class hierarchies with correct parent tables, model relationships in cmdb_rel_ci, and build multi-table queries using CMDB Query Builder. The most important thing: pick the right parent class so inherited attributes and relationships behave correctly.
- How many questions are in this domain?
- This page lists all 57 Configuration questions in the CIS-DF question bank. The actual exam draws from this domain proportionally to its weighting in the official exam blueprint.
- What is the best way to practise this domain?
- Start with a short focused session (10 questions) to identify gaps, then work through explanations. Repeat with a longer session once the weak areas feel solid.
- Can I practise only Configuration questions?
- Yes — the session launcher on this page filters questions to this domain only. Choose any session length for inline explanations and scoring.