SNOW-CSA Database Administration and CMDB Practice Question
An administrator is managing a CMDB that contains both physical and virtual servers. The company uses a custom field 'u_os_version' to track the operating system version. When new servers are discovered, the field is populated correctly. However, when the operating system is updated manually by the IT team, the field is not updated. The administrator wants the CMDB to automatically reflect manual changes made to server operating systems. Which approach should be taken?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse 'Reconcilable' fields with automatic update propagation, but reconciliation only resolves conflicts during data source merges, not for manual 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
✓
Create a business rule on the server table to update the CI when the OS is changed.
A business rule on the server table can detect when the 'u_os_version' field is manually updated and automatically update the corresponding CI record. This ensures that changes made outside of Discovery are reflected in the CMDB without requiring re-discovery or scheduled jobs, leveraging ServiceNow's event-driven architecture.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure the Discovery probe to re-discover the server after an OS update.
Why it's wrong here
Proactive re-discovery is unreliable and slow; business rules provide immediate updates.
- ✓
Create a business rule on the server table to update the CI when the OS is changed.
Why this is correct
A business rule can trigger on update events and populate the custom CMDB field accordingly.
- ✗
Use the CI Class Manager to set the field as 'Reconcilable'.
Why it's wrong here
The 'Reconcilable' attribute is for IRE, not for catching manual updates.
- ✗
Use a scheduled job to query the server's actual OS version periodically.
Why it's wrong here
Scheduled jobs introduce latency and increased system load; not real-time.
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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.