Oracle pluggable database and container database discovery

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Oracle pluggable database and container database discovery

    The ServiceNow Discovery application supports discovering Oracle pluggable databases (PDBs) and container databases (CDBs). PDBs are portable collections of database objects that appear as separate databases to Oracle Net clients, while CDBs are collections of PDBs. To fully utilize this capability, customers may need to update to the latest Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application from the ServiceNow Store.

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    Prerequisites

    • Configure appropriate credentials for discovery:
      • Applicative credentials or Oracle Wallet authentication for UNIX systems
      • Windows credentials for Windows environments
      • SSH credentials for UNIX systems
    • Grant database user permissions to query key Oracle tables: V$DATAFILE, V$TEMPFILE, V$LOG, DBAFREESPACE, V$DATABASE, V$PDBS, and V$PARAMETER.
    • Set applicative credentials at the CDB level to discover PDB relationships and CDB size. For detailed PDB/CDB size and relationship discovery, credentials can be set at both CDB and PDB levels. Without credentials at the CDB level, PDB attributes will not be discovered.

    Data Collected During Discovery

    The discovery process collects detailed configuration and size data for both PDBs and CDBs, which populate the CMDB with:

    • cmdbcidborapdbinstance: Includes PDB instance name (SID), combined CI name, version, edition, install directory, Oracle home, and associated CDB name.
    • cmdbcidbinstancesize: Contains database instance size details such as total allocated size, used size, and free space, for both CDB and PDB instances.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Gain visibility into Oracle database environments at both container and pluggable database levels.
    • Accurately track configuration items, their versions, editions, and storage metrics within the CMDB.
    • Enable better dependency mapping and relationship discovery between CDBs and PDBs for improved IT service management and impact analysis.

    The ServiceNow Discovery application can discover Oracle pluggable databases (PDBs) and container databases (CDBs). Discovering some of these resources may require updating to the latest version of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application from the ServiceNow Store.

    A PDB is a portable collection of schemas, schema objects, and non-schema objects that appear to an Oracle Net client as a separate database. A collection of PDBs is called a container database (CDB).

    For more information about PDBs and CDBs, see What are CDBs, PDBs and Containers?

    Request apps on the Store

    Visit the ServiceNow Store to view all the available apps, and for information about submitting requests to the store. For cumulative release notes information for all released apps, see the ServiceNow Store version history release notes.

    Prerequisites

    Set the user credentials and grant permissions:
    Note:
    Set applicative credentials at the CDB level to discover relationships for PDBs and the CDB size only. Alternatively, set applicative credentials at the CDB/PDB level to discover relationships for PDBs and the CDB/PDB size. If you do not set applicative credentials at the CDB level, no PDB attributes are discovered.

    Data collected during Discovery

    Discovery collects the following data:
    Table and field Description
    cmdb_ci_db_ora_pdb_instance: Relation Type : Managed By​​
    sid Name of the PDB instance​​
    name Name of the CI in CMDB. This is a combination of sid and the hostname​.
    version Version of the PDB as taken from the CDB instance​​
    edition Edition of the PDB as taken from the CDB instance​​
    install_directory Install directory of the PDB as taken from the CDB instance
    oracle_home​ Oracle home of the PDB as taken from the CDB instance
    cdb_name Name of the cdb sid that contains the PDB. This refers to the Oracle database instance configuration item (CI​)
    cmdb_ci_db_instance_size: Relation Type : Contained By​​
    sid Name of the Oracle database CDB/PDB instance​​
    name Name of the CI in CMDB. This is a combination of the sid and the hostname.
    db_size Total size allocated to the database instance
    used_size Size used by the database instance
    free_size Size of the free space on the database instance

    The following is a dependency view of the relationship between PDBs, CDBs, and containers.

    Dependency view of relationship between PDBs, CDBs, and containers