Exploring Kubernetes Visibility Agent

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Exploring Kubernetes Visibility Agent

    The Kubernetes Visibility Agent enables ServiceNow customers to gain comprehensive visibility into both on-premises Kubernetes clusters and various cloud deployments. It continuously discovers changes in Kubernetes resources, reporting these updates to your ServiceNow instance and maintaining an up-to-date Configuration Management Database (CMDB).

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    How It Works

    • Upon deployment, the agent creates a Kubernetes Deployment resource containing a pod called the Informer, which connects to the Kubernetes API server to receive resource events.
    • The Informer transmits collected data to the ServiceNow instance through the External Communication Channel (ECC) Queue, updating relevant CMDB tables.
    • If the Informer cannot report changes due to network issues, additions are recorded during the next full discovery cycle, and deletions are marked as Absent and removed after two full cycles.

    Discovery Process

    • Initial discovery involves the Informer identifying all Kubernetes resources and reporting them to the instance.
    • Data is sent every 30 seconds, with typical reporting times of about two minutes for 1,000 pods and an additional minute per 1,000 pods.
    • The Informer continuously monitors resource changes post-initial discovery, ensuring the CMDB reflects current cluster states.
    • Deleted resources are marked as Absent and cleaned up automatically within hours during routine maintenance.
    • Kubernetes automatically restarts the Informer pod if it exits unexpectedly, ensuring continuous monitoring.

    Performance and Impact

    • The Informer minimizes impact on the Kubernetes API server by caching resource lists in memory and synchronizing incrementally rather than repeatedly fetching full resource lists.
    • It supports scalability to handle clusters with tens of thousands of pods.
    • For detailed performance benchmarks, customers can refer to the relevant ServiceNow Knowledge Base article.

    Kubernetes Visibility Agent enables you to gain visibility into on-premises Kubernetes clusters as well as the various Cloud deployments.

    Kubernetes Visibility Agent detects changes on resources in a Kubernetes cluster. It performs continuous discovery, reports any changes back to your instance, and updates the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) with the latest data. For the latest information on supported cloud deployments, see the Kubernetes Visibility Agent (formerly CNO for Visibility) Support Matrix [KB1700730] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.

    How it works

    When you deploy Kubernetes Visibility Agent, Kubernetes creates a Deployment resource in the cluster with the latest data. This resource uses a secret stored in Kubernetes to connect to your ServiceNow instance.

    The Kubernetes Visibility Agent Deployment resource contains a pod called Informer, which connects to the Kubernetes API server and receives events on the resources in the cluster from it. The Informer sends the collected data to the instance through the External Communication Channel (ECC) Queue table, using the ServiceNow Table API to read from and write to the queue. The Informer then updates the appropriate tables in the CMDB.

    Note:
    If the Informer is unable to report the changes, for example due to a network problem, the resources that were added to the cluster during the event are added to the CMDB after the next full discovery cycle. The resources that were removed from the cluster during the event are marked as Absent and deleted after two full discovery cycles.

    For more information about the Kubernetes resources on which the Informer collects data and the CMDB tables it populates, see Data collected by Kubernetes Visibility Agent.

    Initial and periodic discovery

    In its initial discovery, the Informer finds all the resources in the Kubernetes cluster and reports them to your instance. Every 30 seconds, the Informer sends up to 1 MB of data to the instance. It typically takes up to two minutes to report data on a cluster containing 1,000 pods and another minute for every additional 1,000 pods. A single Informer pod can handle a cluster with tens of thousands of pods. If the Informer exits for any reason, Kubernetes restarts it automatically.

    After the initial discovery, the Informer continuously monitors the addition, updating, and deletion of resources in the cluster. Resources that were deleted from the cluster are marked with install_status=Absent and deleted from the CMDB within hours in a regular cleanup.

    Impact of the Informer on the Kubernetes API server

    The Informer has minimal impact on the Kubernetes API server. It fetches the complete list of relevant resources only once and saves it to memory. From then on, it synchronizes with the Kubernetes API server and never pulls the complete list again. During the periodic and on-demand full discovery cycles, the Informer resends the saved list of resources to the instance.

    Kubernetes Visibility Agent performance and scalability benchmark

    For Kubernetes Visibility Agent benchmarks, see the Performance results for Kubernetes Visibility Agent [KB1555851] article in the Now Support Knowledge Base.