SNOW-CSA Database Administration and CMDB Practice Question
A large enterprise has implemented ServiceNow CMDB with multiple discovery sources including Service Mapping, Cloud Management, and manual imports. Over the past six months, the CMDB has grown to over 2 million CI records, and users are reporting that CMDB queries and reports take a long time to load. The administrator checks the database and finds that the cmdb_ci table has over 1.5 million records, including many retired and historical CIs. The average query time for reports on active hardware CIs is 30 seconds. The instance is hosted on a standard mid-range node. The administrator has verified that no duplicate CIs exist and that all CI classes are properly configured. The instance's performance dashboard shows high database contention. Which action should the administrator take first to improve CMDB performance?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often jump to scaling the infrastructure (Option A) or modifying discovery (Option C) without recognizing that CMDB performance degradation is typically caused by data bloat in the active table, which is resolved by archiving rather than by hardware or process changes.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Run the 'CMDB - Data Archiving' scheduled job to move retired CIs older than 6 months to the archive table.
The primary issue is high database contention caused by an excessive number of historical and retired CI records in the active cmdb_ci table. Running the 'CMDB - Data Archiving' scheduled job moves retired CIs older than 6 months to the archive table, reducing the active table size and query load. This directly addresses the root cause without requiring infrastructure changes or disabling critical discovery sources.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Request a ServiceNow upgrade to a higher performance tier.
Why it's wrong here
Upgrading the instance tier addresses symptoms but not the root cause of bloated data; it is not the first step.
- ✗
Create a new database view that combines cmdb_ci with other tables to improve report efficiency.
Why it's wrong here
Creating a view does not reduce data size and may not significantly improve performance.
- ✗
Disable all discovery sources except Service Mapping to reduce data inflow.
Why it's wrong here
Disabling sources reduces future data but does not address the existing large dataset.
- ✓
Run the 'CMDB - Data Archiving' scheduled job to move retired CIs older than 6 months to the archive table.
Why this is correct
Archiving reduces the active table size, directly improving query performance.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SNOW-CSA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ServiceNow certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SNOW-CSA exam.