Oracle pluggable database and container database discovery

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated March 12, 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 Oracle pluggable database and container database discovery

    The ServiceNow Discovery application enables customers to discover Oracle pluggable databases (PDBs) and container databases (CDBs). PDBs are portable collections of schemas and objects that appear as separate databases to Oracle Net clients, while CDBs are collections of PDBs. Proper discovery of these resources often requires updating to the latest Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns application available on the ServiceNow Store.

    Show full answer Show less

    Prerequisites

    • Configure appropriate user credentials and permissions:
      • Applicative credentials or Oracle Wallet authentication (for UNIX)
      • Windows credentials (for Windows)
      • SSH credentials (for UNIX)
      • Oracle database discovery credentials with permissions to query key Oracle tables such as V$DATAFILE, V$TEMPFILE, DBAFREESPACE, V$DATABASE, V$PDBS, and V$PARAMETER
    • Set applicative credentials at the CDB level to discover relationships for PDBs and the CDB size, or at the CDB/PDB level to discover PDB relationships and sizes. Without applicative credentials at the CDB level, no PDB attributes will be discovered.

    Data Collected During Discovery

    The discovery process collects detailed information and relationships about Oracle databases including:

    • cmdbcidborapdbinstance table:
      • PDB instance name (sid)
      • CI name in CMDB, combining sid and hostname
      • Version and edition of the PDB
      • Install directory and Oracle home
      • Name of the containing CDB sid
    • cmdbcidbinstancesize table:
      • Instance name (sid)
      • CI name in CMDB
      • Total allocated size, used size, and free size of the database instance

    These details enable customers to understand the relationships and sizes of their Oracle database components within the CMDB.

    Why This Matters

    Discovering Oracle PDBs and CDBs accurately is critical for maintaining an up-to-date CMDB, understanding database relationships, and managing database sizes effectively. This supports improved database management, troubleshooting, and service mapping within ServiceNow.

    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 website 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