AWS IAM Role pattern-based discovery

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated May 13, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of AWS IAM Role pattern-based discovery

    The AWS IAM Role pattern-based discovery enables ServiceNow customers to identify and inventory AWS IAM Roles within their cloud environments using Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns. This discovery process populates relevant data into both CMDB and non-CMDB tables, helping maintain an accurate and comprehensive cloud resource inventory.

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    Key Features

    • Pattern Activation: The AWS IAM Role discovery pattern is disabled by default and must be enabled. Activation or deactivation does not count as customization and patterns reset to their latest versions after upgrades while retaining their last active state.
    • Prerequisites: Customers must verify AWS discovery prerequisites and ensure the AWS IAM Role resource is not listed in the Resource Inclusion List [sacloudinventoryresourcewhitelist] to prevent duplicate discovery.
    • Data Population: The pattern gathers detailed information and populates both CMDB tables (e.g., cmdbcicmpresource) and non-CMDB tables (e.g., AWS-specific tables accessible via Configuration > AWS).
    • CI Relationships and References: The discovery creates relationships such as “Hosted on::Hosts” linking cloud resources and cloud service accounts, supporting comprehensive resource mapping.
    • AWS Tag Collection: Tags associated with IAM Roles are collected and stored in the Key Value [cmdbkeyvalue] table, facilitating tagging and metadata management.

    Key Outcomes

    • Accurate identification and inventory of AWS IAM Roles within ServiceNow's CMDB and extended tables.
    • Enhanced visibility into cloud roles with detailed attributes such as name, ARN, role ID, and operational status.
    • Improved relationship mapping between IAM Roles and other cloud resources or service accounts, aiding dependency and impact analysis.
    • Access to AWS tag information for better resource categorization and management.

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns finds AWS IAM Roles 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 AWS 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 AWS Resource Inventory discovery with Patterns.
    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.

    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 - IAM Role - 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 IAM Role [cmdb_aws_iam_role]
    Field Description
    Name [name] Name of the IAM role.
    Object ID [object_id] The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the IAM role.
    Role ID [role_id] The stable and unique string identifying the role.
    Configuration Item [configuration_item] References the Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource] table.

    Data stored in CMDB tables

    Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application populates data in the CMDB when running the Amazon AWS - IAM Role - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern.

    Table 2. Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource]
    Field Description
    Name [name] Name of the IAM role.
    Object ID [object_id] The ARN of the IAM role.
    Resource type [resource_type] Type of resource. The value is set to AWS::IAM::Role.
    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.

    CI relationships

    The Amazon AWS - IAM Role - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern creates the following relationships and references to support AWS IAM Role discovery. References link to records in other tables and don't appear in the CI Relationship [cmdb_rel_ci] table.

    Table 3. CI relationships
    CI Relationship CI
    Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource] Hosted on::Hosts Cloud Service Account [cmdb_ci_cloud_service_account]
    Table 4. CI references
    CI Field Referenced CI
    AWS IAM Role [cmdb_aws_iam_role] Configuration Item [configuration_item] Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource]
    Key Value [cmdb_key_value] Configuration item [configuration_item] Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource]

    AWS Tag discovery

    The Amazon AWS - IAM Role - Extended Inventory (LP) pattern collects tags and populates them in the Key Value [cmdb_key_value] table.

    Table 5. Key Value [cmdb_key_value]
    Field Description
    Key [key] Tag name.
    Value [value] Tag value.
    Configuration item [configuration_item] References the Cloud Resource [cmdb_ci_cmp_resource] table.