Discovery status

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 5, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Discovery Status IT Operations Management

    The Discovery Status feature in ServiceNow provides a comprehensive summary of discoveries launched from a schedule, allowing users to monitor and manage ongoing discovery processes. Customers can access the Discovery Status form through the navigation path: Discovery > Status, where detailed records for each discovery execution can be viewed.

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    Key Features

    • Status Records: Each record displays execution details including date, mode, probe messages sent, and sensor records processed. This information is crucial for troubleshooting.
    • Discovery Timeline: A graphical representation showing the activity of each probe and sensor during the discovery process.
    • Discovery Log: Contains logs of classification failures, CMDB updates, and authentication failures associated with the discovery.
    • ECC Queue: Displays the flow of probe and sensor activities along with the XML payloads exchanged with other systems.
    • Device History: Summarizes all devices scanned and actions taken on the CMDB, providing insights into discovery outcomes.
    • Cancel Discovery: Users have the option to manually cancel an ongoing discovery from the Discovery Status record.

    Key Outcomes

    By utilizing the Discovery Status feature, ServiceNow customers can effectively manage their discovery operations, troubleshoot issues, and gain visibility into the performance of probes and sensors. The ability to view detailed logs and device histories enhances operational efficiency and aids in maintaining accurate CMDB records. Note that only 30 days of discovery records are displayed by default, which can be adjusted as needed.

    The Discovery status provides a summary of a Discovery launched from a schedule. You can also cancel a Discovery that is in progress from the status form.

    To access the Discovery Status form, navigate to Discovery > Status and open the status record for a Discovery.

    Each record in the Status list represents the execution of a Discovery by a schedule and displays such high level information as the date of the Discovery, the mode, the number of probe messages sent to devices, and the number of sensor records that were processed. A status record contains data that can help you troubleshoot a failed discovery. Use this data to troubleshoot the behavior of individual probes and sensors or even run those elements separately. Use the status controls to enter probe/sensor threads at any point for a specific Discovery, and then follow the process in either direction. You can also clearly see which classification probe ran and discovered a particular device by viewing the classification probe column in the device list.

    • Refresh: Refreshes the related tabs, including the Discovery Log and ECC Queue for discoveries still in progress.
    • Discovery timeline: The Discovery timeline is a graphical display of a discovery, including information about each probe and sensor that was used.
    • Discovery log entries: The Discovery Log shows information such as classification failures, CMDB updates, and authentication failures. A Discovery Log record is created for each action associated with a discovery status.
    • ECC queue entries: Entries in the ECC queue provide you with a connected flow of probe and sensor activity, as well as the actual XML payload that is sent to or from an instance.
    • Device history: The device history provides a summary of all the devices scanned during discovery, and what action sensors took on the CMDB.
    Note:
    By default, only 30 days of Discovery records are displayed in the status list at a time.
    The following Discovery status record shows the discovery of a load balancer using a pattern.
    Figure 1. Example Discovery status record
    Example Discovery status record
    Field Description
    Number An auto-generated number for the record.
    Description How this Discovery was run. Typically, the description is Scheduled, but if you ran Discovery manually from a Schedule, the record would show Discover Now in the Description field..
    Schedule The name of the Discovery schedule.
    State The state of the discovery:
    • Starting
    • Active
    • Completed
    • Canceled
    Started and Completed The number of probes started and completed during discovery.
    Source Optional read-only field that shows the source of the Discovery, such as Schedule Discovery, or Quick Discovery. If the source of the Discovery was from an API call, the source is DiscoveryAPI.
    From Schedule (Read-only schedule data)
    Discover Shows the Discovery type. The possible types are: Configuration items, IP addresses, Networks, or Processes/Connections (ADM).
    Max Run Time Displays the maximum amount of time Discovery was permitted to run on this schedule.
    Log state changes Indicates that state changes were logged during this Discovery. These states can be seen in the Last and Current fields in theDiscovery Devices list in this form.