SNOW-CSA Database Administration and CMDB Practice Question
Your organization has implemented ServiceNow CMDB with multiple data sources including ServiceNow Discovery, SCCM, and manual imports. You notice that for a critical group of Windows servers, the 'os_version' attribute is being overwritten frequently. Upon investigation, you find that Discovery reports the correct version, but SCCM imports an older version that overwrites it. The Discovery source runs daily at 2 AM, and SCCM imports run at 4 AM. Currently, all data sources have equal priority. You need to ensure that the Discovery value is the authoritative source for os_version on these servers, but you do not want to block SCCM from updating other attributes. What is the best course of action?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently confuse reconciliation rules with disabling reconciliation entirely or assume that removing a data source is the only way to prevent overwrites, missing the attribute-level granularity that reconciliation rules provide.
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 reconciliation rule that gives Discovery higher priority than SCCM for the os_version attribute on the Windows Server CI class.
Reconciliation rules allow you to define attribute-level priority between data sources without blocking SCCM from updating other attributes. By creating a rule that gives Discovery higher priority than SCCM specifically for the os_version attribute on the Windows Server CI class, Discovery's value will be authoritative for that attribute while SCCM can still update other attributes. This approach preserves the multi-source CMDB integrity without disabling reconciliation or removing SCCM entirely.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Remove SCCM as a data source for these servers.
Why it's wrong here
This would stop all updates from SCCM, not just os_version.
- ✗
Disable reconciliation for the Windows Server CI class.
Why it's wrong here
This would prevent conflict resolution entirely, leading to undefined behavior.
- ✗
Set the 'Preserve manual changes' flag on the CI class.
Why it's wrong here
This would prevent Discovery from updating if a manual change was made, but the issue is between automated sources.
- ✓
Create a reconciliation rule that gives Discovery higher priority than SCCM for the os_version attribute on the Windows Server CI class.
Why this is correct
This targets the specific attribute and source priority.
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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.