Amazon EC2 VPC Peering Connection pattern-based discovery

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated June 16, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Amazon EC2 VPC Peering Connection pattern-based discovery

    The Amazon EC2 VPC Peering Connection pattern-based discovery in ServiceNow allows customers to identify and map AWS VPC Peering Connections within their cloud environments. This capability is part of the Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application, which discovers various AWS services and updates the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and related non-CMDB tables accordingly.

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    Key Features

    • Pattern Activation: The VPC Peering Connection discovery pattern is disabled by default and must be enabled manually. Starting with Visibility Content version 6.28.0, enabling or disabling patterns is no longer considered a customization and will be maintained through upgrades.
    • AWS Discovery Prerequisites: Customers must ensure AWS discovery prerequisites are met, including removing relevant resources from the Resource Inclusion List to prevent duplicate discovery.
    • Support for GovCloud Accounts: Discovery supports AWS GovCloud (US) by requiring the use of specific datacenter URLs when configuring AWS service accounts.
    • Data Population: The pattern populates both CMDB and non-CMDB tables:
      • Non-CMDB table: cmdbawselasticcomputecloudvpcpeeringconnection stores VPC Peering Connection details such as ARN, VPC name, and status.
      • CMDB table: cmdbcicloudgateway stores resource metadata including install and operational status, description, and unique identifiers.
    • CI Relationships: The discovery pattern automatically creates relationships between the Cloud Gateway CI and AWS Datacenter CI to accurately represent hosting and references within the CMDB.
    • AWS Tag Discovery: Tags associated with VPC Peering Connections are collected and stored in the cmdbkeyvalue table, capturing tag names and values for enhanced resource context.

    Practical Considerations for ServiceNow Customers

    • Ensure compliance with AWS discovery prerequisites and remove resources from the whitelist to avoid duplicate entries.
    • Activate the VPC Peering Connection discovery pattern post-upgrade to leverage the latest features and updates.
    • Configure discovery schedules appropriately, especially when working with AWS GovCloud environments.
    • Use the populated CMDB and non-CMDB tables to gain comprehensive visibility into VPC Peering Connections, their statuses, and associated metadata for improved cloud infrastructure management.
    • Leverage CI relationships and tag data to enrich service mapping and facilitate impact analysis and operational decision-making.

    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 VPC Peering Connection - 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 - VPC Peering Connection [cmdb_aws_elastic_compute_cloud_vpc_peering_connection]
    Field Description
    Object Id [object_id] The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) uniquely identifying the VPC Peering Connection.

    The ARN consists of the region, account ID, and VPC ID in the following format: arn:aws:ec2:<region>:<accountId>:vpc-peering-connection/<vpc_id>.
    Name [name] The unique identifier of the VPC involved in the peering connection.
    Status [status] The current status of the VPC peering connection.
    Configuration Item [configuration_item] References the Cloud Gateway [cmdb_ci_cloud_gateway] table.

    Data stored in CMDB tables

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

    Table 2. Cloud Gateway [cmdb_ci_cloud_gateway]
    Field Description
    Object ID [object_id] The ARN uniquely identifying the VPC Peering Connection.

    The ARN consists of the region, account ID, and VPC ID in the following format: arn:aws:ec2:<region>:<accountId>:vpc-peering-connection/<vpc_id>.
    Name [name] The unique identifier of the VPC involved in the peering connection.
    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::EC2::VPCPeeringConnection.

    CI relationships

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

    CI Relationship CI
    Cloud Gateway [cmdb_ci_cloud_gateway] Hosted on::Hosts AWS Datacenter [cmdb_ci_aws_datacenter]
    AWS Elastic Compute Cloud - VPC Peering Connection [cmdb_aws_elastic_compute_cloud_vpc_peering_connection] References Cloud Gateway [cmdb_ci_cloud_gateway]

    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.