FAQ - Brief Overview of Is_Virtual (and virtual vs physical CIs) in ServiceNow

Synopsis and Purpose

This FAQ explains several concepts about ServiceNow and it’s use of the Is_Virtual attribute and several closely related virtual vs physical topics.

Please consult your ServiceNow documentation for further information on this topic (this FAQ is not intended as a comprehensive guide to ServiceNow and physical vs virtual behaviours).

ServiceNow Business Rule/s may also control the behaviour of the “Is_Virtual” attribute

• ServiceNow may provide one or more out of the box business rules that also control the behaviour of the Is_Virtual attribute (i.e. business rules that test CMDB CI records to determine whether a CI is physical or virtual).

• Customers should review their ServiceNow environment, and the associated documentation from ServiceNow, to understand if ServiceNow business rule/s are also impacting the Is_Virtual attribute.

• If ServiceNow business rule/s are also impacting the Is_Virtual attribute, then the CI Sync Is_Virtual determination (based on the rule described on this page) may be either augmented or even overridden by ServiceNow.

ServiceNow CI Classes dedicated to Virtual Resources also impact Is_Virtual

• Virtualised resources (VMs, virtual data stores, Cloud PCs, etc) are commonly stored in CMDB CI classes that are specific to virtualised objects. This means they are virtual by the fact the CIs are in a virtualised CI Class. As such, there is no specific attribute stating “Is Virtual” on those CI records.

How is ServiceNow functionality impacted by the “Is_Virtual” attribute

• The “Is Virtual” (virtual) attribute exists against the Computer (cmdb_ci_computer) CIs in the ServiceNow CMDB. 

• The attribute indicates whether a CI is Virtualized or Not (if virtual=True then it is virtualized CI and if virtual=False then it is a physical CI).

• Within ServiceNow, “Is Virtual” is descriptive/information only.

• The “Is Virtual” (virtual) attribute does NOT directly impact the ServiceNow asset-creation behaviour.

• Instead, it is Model Category of a CI (via the asset_tracking_strategy attribute on the cmdb_hardware_product_model table) that determines if a CI is to be considered an asset or not.

• A number of CI Sync connectors allow customers to influence how the cmdb_hardware_product_model.asset_tracking_strategy attribute is set depending on whether a CI is virtual of physical. See the following pages for several examples in CI Sync:

  • For InTune devices (including physical devices and cloud PCs): Rule 18 - Syncing Model Asset Tracking Strategy for InTune

  • For Jamf devices (including physical and virtual devices) see Rule 15 - Synchronization of Model Asset Tracking Strategy for Jamf

Related Articles

1. Rule 13 - Is Virtual attribute value for AWS Resource CIs

2. Rule 15 - Is Virtual attribute value for Azure Resource CIs

3. Rule 12 - Is Virtual attribute value for GCP Resource CIs

4. Rule 15 - “Is Virtual” Determination Rules for Intune

5. Rule 18 - Syncing Model Asset Tracking Strategy for InTune

6. Rule 14 - “Is Virtual” Determination Rules for Jamf

7. Rule 15 - Synchronization of Model Asset Tracking Strategy for Jamf

8. Rule 13 - Asset “Is Virtual” Determination Rules for Lansweeper On-Prem

9. Rule 12 - Asset “Is Virtual” Determination Rules for Lansweeper Cloud

10. Rule 10 - “Is Virtual” Determination Rules for Nutanix

11. Rule 10 - Asset “Is Virtual” Determination Rules for VMware

Control Information