SNOW-CSA Database Administration and CMDB Practice Question
Which THREE of the following are required for ServiceNow Discovery to successfully populate the CMDB?
⚠ Common exam trap
ServiceNow often tests that candidates confuse the IRE as a hard requirement for Discovery, when in fact Discovery can function with the legacy identification engine, making Option E a tempting but incorrect choice.
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
✓
Valid credentials for the target devices
Valid credentials (Option B) are required because ServiceNow Discovery uses SNMP, SSH, WMI, or REST to probe target devices. Without correct credentials, the MID Server cannot authenticate to the device, so it cannot read configuration data or populate CI attributes in the CMDB.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The CMDB CI tables with open ACLs
Why it's wrong here
ACLs do not block discovery; discovery uses internal system access.
- ✓
Valid credentials for the target devices
Why this is correct
Credentials are necessary for authentication.
- ✓
A discovery schedule configured for the IP range
Why this is correct
A schedule defines when and what to discover.
- ✓
A MID Server that can reach the target devices
Why this is correct
The MID server performs the actual discovery probes.
- ✗
The Identification and Reconciliation Engine (IRE) enabled
Why it's wrong here
IRE is optional for discovery; it can write directly to CMDB.
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JA
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.