Cloud Resources Explorer

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 6 minutes to read
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    Summary of Cloud Resources Explorer

    The ServiceNow® Cloud Resources Explorer provides a comprehensive dashboard for filtering and visualizing the distribution of cloud resources across multiple cloud environments, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, VMware vCenter, and Google Cloud Platform (with specific version requirements). It enables organizations to gain operational insights such as identifying stale Configuration Items (CIs), monitoring cloud event inflow rates, and assessing the health and size of the Configuration Management Database (CMDB).

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    Access to this tool requires the sncloudopsws.cloudopsadmin role, and it is available via the Cloud Discovery Workspace in the ServiceNow platform.

    Key Features

    • Multi-cloud support: Visualize resources from public clouds and on-premises VMware environments.
    • Operational indicators: Track Cloud Discovery errors, stale CIs (those not updated for over 30 days), and event processing rates to maintain CMDB accuracy and health.
    • Data visualizations:
      • Top 10 CI classes discovered over time.
      • Distribution of CIs by region (datacenter).
      • Top service accounts by number of discovered CIs.
      • Trends of incoming cloud resource events.
      • Daily counts of resources spread across on-premises and public clouds to monitor public cloud adoption and VM counts.
    • Filters: Flexible cascading filters allow selection by cloud provider, region, service account, CI class, and resource group (specific to Azure), enabling tailored analysis.
    • Day navigator: Enables slicing of historical resource count data by specific days of the month over up to one year for trend analysis.
    • Integration requirements: Uses scheduled jobs consistent with the Performance Analytics Content Pack for Cloud Resources, and requires specific Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns versions and configuration for OS image details.

    Key Outcomes

    • Gain clear visibility into the inventory and distribution of cloud resources and configuration items across multiple cloud platforms.
    • Identify and address stale or duplicate CIs to improve configuration data accuracy and CMDB health.
    • Monitor cloud event trends to understand operational activity and potential issues.
    • Track cloud adoption trends and resource counts across on-prem and public clouds to support strategic planning.
    • Leverage detailed filtering and reporting capabilities for targeted insights tailored to roles and organizational needs.

    Use the ServiceNow® Cloud Resources Explorer to filter and visualize the distribution of resources across your multi cloud estate. Gain insight into operational information such as stale resources and cloud event inflow rates.

    Figure 1. Cloud Resources Explorer
    Cloud Resources Explorer.
    The Cloud Resources Explorer supports the following cloud providers:
    • Amazon Web Services.
    • Microsoft Azure public clouds.
    • VMware vCenter.
    • Google Cloud Platform (GCP) (Supported with Performance Analytics Content Pack for Cloud Resources version 1.2.1 and higher).

    Required ServiceNow AI Platform roles

    The sn_cloud_ops_ws.cloud_ops_admin role is required to view the Cloud Resources Explorer.

    Access the Cloud Resources Explorer

    To open the Cloud Resources Explorer, navigate to All > Cloud Discovery Workspace > Cloud Resources Explorer.

    Use cases

    For examples of how different people in your organization would use this dashboard, see these use cases.
    User Dashboard use
    sn_cloud_ops_ws.cloud_ops_admin
    • Gain insight into the cloud resources inventory count and the current size of the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), and how many objects are under the purview.
    • Gain insight into fault-related information such as Cloud Discovery errors.
    • Gain insight into operational information such as the inflow and processing rate of the event.
    • Gain insight into the health of your CMDB.
    • Gain insight into the distribution of resources across the on-prem cloud and the public clouds.

    Indicators

    Cloud Discovery errors
    Total Cloud Discovery errors encountered over time.
    Stale CIs > 30 days
    If a CI isn't updated in the last 30 days, it's considered as a stale CI.

    A stale CI indicates that the CI exists in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), but it may or may not exist in the datacenter. Identifying the stale CIs is important for maintaining a healthy CMDB.

    Here are some of the scenarios that leads to the creation of stale CIs:
    • The cloud resource doesn't exist, but its deletion isn't updated in the CMDB.
    • The device may still be on the network, but the automated discovery process can't connect to the device to rediscover it.
    • The device exists on the network and it's accessible, but the identification process isn't recognizing it uniquely. Therefore, Cloud Discovery has created a duplicate CI in the CMDB.

    Data visualizations

    Title Type Source table Description
    Configuration item classes Horizontal bar report
    Horizontal bar report.
    		 Cloud Analytics [sn_disco_cd_analytics] This report displays the count of the top 10 CI classes discovered over time.

    You can select a report entry from the Configuration item classes report to view the analytics table on which the report entry is based. If you've selected a specific cloud provider, then the analytics table of that specific CI appears. Otherwise, the parent analytics table for that CI type appears.

    For example, if you select Google from the Cloud resources filter and select the Storage Volume bar from the report, the dedicated analytics table of the Google Storage Volume CI appears. If you select All Platforms from the Cloud resources filter and select the Storage Volume bar from the report, the parent analytics table of the storage volume CI appears.
    Configuration items by regions Horizontal bar report
    Horizontal bar report.
    		 Cloud Analytics [sn_disco_cd_analytics] This report displays the distribution of CIs per region (datacenter).
    Configuration items by cloud service accounts Horizontal bar report
    Horizontal bar report.
    		 Cloud Analytics [sn_disco_cd_analytics] This report displays the top 10-service accounts with the maximum number of discovered CIs.
    Incoming events Bar report
    Bar report.
    		 Cloud Event [sn_cmp_cloud_event]

    This report displays the trend of cloud resource events received over time.

    To view the list of all the cloud events received over a given day, select the corresponding report entry.
    Total cloud resources in on-prem vs public clouds Stacked bar report
    Stacked bar report.
    		 Daily resource count by providers [sn_disco_cd_daily_resource_cnt_by_provider] This report displays the daily count of the resources of your organization that are spread across the on-prem cloud and the public clouds.

    Use this report to understand the public cloud adoption and Virtual Machine (VM) count over time.

    In this report, the VMware Cloud is considered on-prem.

    To populate the Cloud Analytics [sn_disco_cd_analytics] table, the Cloud Resources Explorer uses the same set of scheduled jobs as the Performance Analytics Content Pack for Cloud Resources. For more information on the scheduled jobs, see Cloud Resources dashboard.

    To view the details of the OS images discovered in the AWS, Microsoft Azure, and GCP clouds, Discovery and Service Mapping Patterns store app version 1.0.87 or later must be installed in the instance. Also, the sn_cmdb_ci_class.use_single_cloud_os_image property must be set to true.

    Filters

    Name Type Description
    Cloud resources filter Choice-based filter

    Use the cloud resources filter to select and visualize the cloud resources data of interest.

    By default, the Cloud Resources Explorer displays data for all the cloud resources across the cloud providers of your organization. Only the cloud providers that you've selected in the Cloud provider selection page of the Cloud Discovery Workspace app appear in the cloud resources filter.

    You have the choice of the following cascading filters:
    • Platform: Select the cloud provider with the resources data that you want to visualize.
    • Region: Select the region or datacenter with the resources data that you want to visualize.
    • Service account: Select the service account with the resources data that you want to visualize.
    • CI class: Select the CI class with the resources data that you want to visualize.
    • Resource group: Select the resource group with the resources data that you want to visualize.

      This field is available only when Azure is selected from the Platform drop-down list.

    You can filter the Incoming events report based on the Platform filter only. The data displayed in the Cloud Discovery errors indicator isn't affected by the criteria selected in the Cloud resources filter.
    Day navigator Choice-based filter
    Use the Day navigator to slice the Total cloud resources in on-prem vs public clouds report across the following dimensions:
    • None: The report displays the data collected over the last one year if available.
    • First day of the month: The report displays the historical data collected for the first day of the month over the last one year if available.
    • Mid of the month: The report displays the historical data collected for the mid day of the month over the last one year if available.
    • Last day of the month: The report displays the historical data collected for the last day of the month over the last one year if available.
    • Pick a date of the month: The report displays the historical data collected for the selected day of the month over the last one year if available.