SNOW-CSA Database Administration and CMDB Practice Question
You are responsible for the CMDB at a large enterprise. The CMDB is used for change management and incident management. Recently, during a major incident, it was found that several critical CIs were missing from the CMDB, causing delays in troubleshooting. Further analysis reveals that the Discovery probes were not running on those devices due to schedule conflicts. You need to ensure that all critical devices are discovered regularly. What is the most effective solution?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse 'horizontal discovery' (which expands discovery scope) with 'prioritization' or 'scheduling,' leading them to select Option B, when in fact horizontal discovery does not address frequency or schedule conflicts.
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 dedicated Discovery schedule for critical devices with a higher frequency.
Creating a dedicated Discovery schedule for critical devices ensures they are discovered at a higher frequency without being affected by schedule conflicts that impact the general discovery schedule. This approach guarantees that critical CIs are consistently updated in the CMDB, which is essential for effective change and incident management. By isolating critical devices into their own schedule, you avoid the overhead of increasing frequency for all devices while meeting the specific requirement for regular discovery of critical assets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Manually add the missing CIs and set a reminder to check every week.
Why it's wrong here
Manual processes are error-prone and do not guarantee regular discovery.
- ✗
Use horizontal discovery to prioritize critical devices.
Why it's wrong here
Horizontal discovery discovers many devices in a range, but does not provide scheduled priority.
- ✓
Create a dedicated Discovery schedule for critical devices with a higher frequency.
Why this is correct
A dedicated schedule ensures critical devices are discovered consistently regardless of other schedules.
- ✗
Increase the frequency of Discovery schedules for all devices.
Why it's wrong here
This would strain resources and may not resolve the specific scheduling conflict for critical devices.
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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.