Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Reserved Instance pattern-based discovery

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated June 16, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) Reserved Instance pattern-based discovery

    This pattern-based discovery in ServiceNow’s Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application enables customers to identify and map AWS EC2 Reserved Instances within their cloud environments. It supports integration with the CMDB to provide detailed, structured data about Reserved Instances, including lifecycle states, instance types, and relationships to other CIs.

    Show full answer Show less

    To use this functionality effectively, customers must ensure they meet AWS discovery prerequisites, update to the latest version of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application, and configure the discovery schedule appropriately, especially for AWS GovCloud accounts.

    Key Features

    • Pattern Activation: The EC2 Reserved Instance discovery pattern is disabled by default; activating it in Visibility Content version 6.28.0 or later ensures ongoing updates without customization conflicts.
    • Resource Inclusion List Management: Customers must verify that resources are not duplicated by ensuring they are not listed in the Resource Inclusion List table before discovery.
    • Data Population: Discovered EC2 Reserved Instance data populates both CMDB tables (such as cmdbcivminstance) and non-CMDB AWS-specific tables, allowing comprehensive resource management.
    • Tag Collection: AWS resource tags are collected and stored in the cmdbkeyvalue table, supporting enhanced resource categorization and reporting.
    • CI Relationships: The pattern establishes relationships between Reserved Instances, virtual machine instances, and AWS datacenters to provide context within the CMDB.

    Practical Application

    Customers using ServiceNow for cloud operations can leverage this discovery pattern to maintain an accurate and up-to-date inventory of their AWS EC2 Reserved Instances. This enables:

    • Improved cloud cost management by understanding reserved capacity usage.
    • Enhanced operational insight by linking Reserved Instances to virtual machines and datacenters.
    • Better governance and compliance through tag-based classification and tracking.

    By following the prerequisites, enabling the pattern, and configuring discovery schedules properly, ServiceNow customers can seamlessly integrate AWS Reserved Instance data into their CMDB, supporting informed decision-making and efficient cloud resource management.

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns finds AWS services on your cloud environment. Discovering some of these resources may require updating to the latest version of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application from the ServiceNow Store.

    Pattern-based discovery and mapping requirements

    Verify the AWS discovery prerequisites
    For more information, see the prerequisites section in Amazon AWS Cloud components discovery using patterns.
    Remove resources from the Resource Inclusion List table
    Verify that the relevant resource isn't listed in the Resource Inclusion List [sa_cloud_inventory_resource_whitelist] table to avoid duplicate discovery. For more information on removing resources from the Resource Inclusion List, see Amazon Web Services (AWS) Resource Inventory.
    Enable the relevant pattern
    The pattern for this service is disabled by default. Starting with Visibility Content version 6.28.0, activating or deactivating a pattern won't be considered a customization, and it will continue to receive updates. Patterns that were previously activated or deactivated will reset to the latest predefined version after upgrading while retaining the last active field value. For more information on enabling patterns, see Activate a disabled pattern.
    Configure the Discovery schedule to support GovCloud
    Discovering AWS GovCloud (US) accounts requires using a datacenter URL when setting up an AWS service account. For more information, see Create AWS service accounts.

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in both CMDB and non-CMDB tables.

    Data stored in non-CMDB tables

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in the non-CMDB table when running the Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud Reserved Instance - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern.

    You can review the non-CMDB AWS tables by navigating to All > Configuration > AWS. You can also search the navigation filter for the specific pattern name.

    Table 1. AWS Elastic Compute Cloud - Reserved Instance [cmdb_aws_elastic_cloud_compute_reserved_instance]
    Field Description
    Object Id [object_id] The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) uniquely identifying the Reserved Instance.

    The ARN consists of the region, account ID, and instance ID in the following format: arn:aws:ec2:<region>:<accountId>:reserved-instances/<instance_id>.
    Name [name] The unique identifier assigned to the EC2 instance.
    State [state] The current status or lifecycle state of the EC2 instance.
    Configuration Item [configuration_item] References the Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] table.
    Instance Type [instance_type] The type of EC2 instance. For example: t2.micro or m5.large.
    Scope [scope] The reservation scope. For example: Regional or Availability Zone.

    Data stored in CMDB tables

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in the CMDB when running the Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud Reserved Instance - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern.

    Table 2. Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] The ARN uniquely identifying the Reserved Instance.

    The ARN consists of the region, account ID, and instance ID in the following format: arn:aws:ec2:<region>:<accountId>:reserved-instances/<instance_id>.
    Name [name] The unique identifier assigned to the EC2 instance.
    Install Status [install_status] Install status of the resource. Default value is Installed.
    Operational status [operational_status] Operational status of the resource. Default value is Operational.
    Description [short_description] Type of resource. The value is set to AWS::Elastic Compute Cloud::Reserved Instance.

    CI relationships

    The Amazon AWS - Elastic Compute Cloud Reserved Instance - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern creates these relationships to support Amazon EC2 Reserved Instance discovery.

    CI Relationship CI
    Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance] Hosted on::Hosts AWS Datacenter [cmdb_ci_aws_datacenter]
    AWS Elastic Compute Cloud - Reserved Instance [cmdb_aws_elastic_cloud_compute_reserved_instance] References Virtual Machine Instance [cmdb_ci_vm_instance]

    AWS tag discovery

    The pattern collects tags and populates them in the Key Value [cmdb_key_value] table.
    Table 3. Key Value [cmdb_key_value]
    Field Description
    Key [key] Tag name.
    Value [value] Tag value.