Moviri - ServiceNow Extractor

JSON File Configuration Format

A. Decide What hierarchy you want to import and build in TSCO. Generally starts with Business Services → Business Application → Server Machines (Contains metrics).

B. Decide whether use the reference number for each nodes and their relationships or not. If you have two or more nodes belongs to the same ServiceNow table, it's highly recommended to use a reference number. So the relationship know which nodes it's referring to.

File Structure

The “Moviri Integrator for BMC Helix Continuous Optimization – ServiceNow” requires as input a JSON file following the JSON schema described in the following file (ServiceNow-schema.json).

The following table contains the description for each field (use “dot notation” to traverse element in the JSON schema):

Please refer to ServiceNow Administrator to create a proper JSON configuration file specific for your organization. ServiceNow provides useful tool to find all the required information to create the JSON configuration file, in particular:

• ServiceNow REST API Explorer
• (within the context of a Server or Business Service) Dependency View

Example I.

As example, you can refer to the following ServiceNow topology:

Please notice that this topology contains both Linux Servers (class “cmdb_ci_linux_server”, linked via Web Server, class “class_ci_web_server”) and Windows Servers (class “cmdb_ci_win_server”).

This topology can be represented by the following JSON configuration file (ServiceNow_Configuration_Example.json).

Considering the JSON configuration file described above, the “Moviri Integrator for BMC Helix Continuous Optimization – ServiceNow” will create the following hierarchy in the TSCO workspace:

Example II.

Considering the above example with modification: using reference number, have hidden node and use last inter node as leaf node's tag value. The configuration file will look like this example2Ref_hidden_tag.json

Note that in this case, the inter node above leaf node is defined to be "hidden", so they will be not imported as TSCO hierarchy. But since we defined tagType on the inter node above leaf node, even though the inter node is hidden, the name of the inter node still appears on leaf node as a tagType "WebServer"'s value. The hierarchy in TSCO will looks like this:

The leaf node will have a tagType called "WebServer" using the hidden inter node's name as values as PS_Apache01, PS_Apache02 or PS_Apache03.

Example III.

As example, you can refer to the following dependency views from ServiceNow:

These topologies can be represented by the following JSON configuration file (ServiceNow_Configuration_Example_1.json). They both starts with root (cmdb_ci_service) and goes to inter (cmdb_ci_service) and reaches to leaf (cmdb_ci_server).

Considering the JSON configuration file described above, the “Moviri Integrator for BMC Helix Continuous Optimization – ServiceNow” will create the following hierarchy in the TSCO workspace:

A. Configuring the basic properties

Some of the basic properties display default values. You can modify these values if required.

To configure the basic properties:

1. In the console, navigate to Administration > ETL & System Tasks, and select ETL tasks.

2. On the ETL tasks page, click Add > Add ETL. The Add ETL page displays the configuration properties. You must configure properties in the following tabs: Run configuration, Entity catalog, and Amazon Web Services Connection

3. On the Run Configuration tab, select Moviri - ServiceNow Extractor from the ETL Module list. The name of the ETL is displayed in the ETL task name field. You can edit this field to customize the name.
   
   
   
   

4. Click the Entity catalog tab, and select one of the following options:
   

   • Shared Entity Catalog:

     • From the Sharing with Entity Catalog list, select the entity catalog name that is shared between ETLs.
   • Private Entity Catalog: Select if this is the only ETL that extracts data from the ServiceNow resources.

   1. Click the ServiceNow - Connection Parameters tab, and configure the following properties:

      Property Name	Value Type	Required	Default	Description
      ServiceNow API URL	String	Yes		ServiceNow API URL, with the format http(s)://<servicenow>:<port>
      ServiceNow API username	String	Yes		User used to access ServiceNow API
      ServiceNow API password	String	Yes		Password for the user used to access ServiceNow API
      Semi-colon separated list of HTTP Headers (<header>:"<value>")	String	No		Extra Http Header key-valye pair used for accessing ServiceNow API
      Use HTTP Proxy?	String	Yes	No	Select ‘yes’ if an HTTP proxy is required to connect to ServiceNow API
      Proxy Host	String			Proxy FQDN or IP Address
      Proxy Port	String			Proxy server port
      Proxy Username	String			Proxy server username
      Proxy Password	String			Proxy server password

6. Click the ServiceNow - Extraction tab, and configure the following properties:

The following image shows sample configuration values for the basic properties.

7. (Optional) Override the default values of properties in the following tabs:

8. Click Save.
The ETL tasks page shows the details of the newly configured ServiceNow ETL.

(Optional) B. Configuring the advanced properties

You can configure the advanced properties to change the way the ETL works or to collect additional metrics.

To configure the advanced properties:

1. On the Add ETL page, click Advanced.

2. Configure the following properties:
   
   

    Run configuration

   Property	Description
   Run configuration name	Specify the name that you want to assign to this ETL task configuration. The default configuration name is displayed. You can use this name to differentiate between the run configuration settings of ETL tasks.
   Deploy status	Select the deploy status for the ETL task. For example, you can initially select Test and change it to Production after verifying that the ETL run results are as expected.
   Log level	Specify the level of details that you want to include in the ETL log file. Select one of the following options: 1 - Light: Select to add the bare minimum activity logs to the log file. 5 - Medium: Select to add the medium-detailed activity logs to the log file. 10 - Verbose: Select to add detailed activity logs to the log file. Use log level 5 as a general practice. You can select log level 10 for debugging and troubleshooting purposes.
   Datasets	Specify the datasets that you want to add to the ETL run configuration. The ETL collects data of metrics that are associated with these datasets. Click Edit. Select one (click) or more (shift+click) datasets from the Available datasets list and click >> to move them to the Selected datasets list. Click Apply. The ETL collects data of metrics associated with the datasets that are available in the Selected datasets list.

    Collection level

   Property	Description
   Metric profile selection	Select the metric profile that the ETL must use. The ETL collects data for the group of metrics that is defined by the selected metric profile. Use Global metric profile: This is selected by default. All the out-of-the-box ETLs use this profile. Select a custom metric profile: Select the custom profile that you want to use from the Custom metric profile list. This list displays all the custom profiles that you have created. For more information about metric profiles, see Adding and managing metric profiles. For more information about metric profiles, see Adding and managing metric profiles .
   Levels up to	Specify the metric level that defines the number of metrics that can be imported into the database. The load on the database increases or decreases depending on the selected metric level. To learn more about metric levels, see Aging Class mapping. To learn more about metric levels, see Aging class mapping .

    Loader configuration

   Property	Description
   Empty dataset behavior	Specify the action for the loader if it encounters an empty dataset: Warn: Generate a warning about loading an empty dataset. Ignore: Ignore the empty dataset and continue parsing.
   ETL log file name	The name of the file that contains the ETL run log. The default value is: %BASE/log/%AYEAR%AMONTH%ADAY%AHOUR%MINUTE%TASKID
   Maximum number of rows for CSV output	A numeric value to limit the size of the output files.
   CSV loader output file name	The name of the file that is generated by the CSV loader. The default value is: %BASE/output/%DSNAME%AYEAR%AMONTH%ADAY%AHOUR%ZPROG%DSID%TASKID
   BMC Helix Continuous Optimization loader output file name	The name of the file that is generated by the BMC Helix Continuous Optimization loader. The default value is: %BASE/output/%DSNAME%AYEAR%AMONTH%ADAY%AHOUR%ZPROG%DSID%TASKID
   Detail mode	Specify whether you want to collect raw data in addition to the standard data. Select one of the following options: Standard: Data will be stored in the database in different tables at the following time granularities: Detail (configurable, by default: 5 minutes), Hourly, Daily, and Monthly. Raw also: Data will be stored in the database in different tables at the following time granularities: Raw (as available from the original data source), Detail (configurable, by default: 5 minutes), Hourly, Daily, and Monthly. Raw only: Data will be stored in the database in a table only at Raw granularity (as available from the original data source). For more information, see Accessing data using public views and Sizing and scalability considerations. For more information, see Accessing data using public views and Sizing and scalability considerations.
   Remove domain suffix from datasource name (Only for systems)	Select True to remove the domain from the data source name. For example, server.domain.com will be saved as server. The default selection is False.
   Leave domain suffix to system name (Only for systems)	Select True to keep the domain in the system name. For example: server.domain.com will be saved as is. The default selection is False.
   Update grouping object definition (Only for systems)	Select True if you want the ETL to update the grouping object definition for a metric that is loaded by the ETL. The default selection is False.
   Skip entity creation (Only for ETL tasks sharing lookup with other tasks)	Select True if you do not want this ETL to create an entity and discard data from its data source for entities not found in BMC Helix Continuous Optimization. It uses one of the other ETLs that share a lookup to create a new entity. The default selection is False.

    Scheduling options

   Property	Description
   Hour mask	Specify a value to run the task only during particular hours within a day. For example, 0 – 23 or 1, 3, 5 – 12.
   Day of week mask	Select the days so that the task can be run only on the selected days of the week. To avoid setting this filter, do not select any option for this field.
   Day of month mask	Specify a value to run the task only on the selected days of a month. For example, 5, 9, 18, 27 – 31.
   Apply mask validation	Select False to temporarily turn off the mask validation without removing any values. The default selection is True.
   Execute after time	Specify a value in the hours:minutes format (for example, 05:00 or 16:00) to wait before the task is run. The task run begins only after the specified time is elapsed.
   Enqueueable	Specify whether you want to ignore the next run command or run it after the current task. Select one of the following options: False: Ignores the next run command when a particular task is already running. This is the default selection. True: Starts the next run command immediately after the current running task is completed.

3. Click Save.
   The ETL tasks page shows the details of the newly configured ServiceNow ETL.
   

After you configure the ETL, you can run it to collect data. You can run the ETL in the following modes:

A. Simulation mode: Only validates connection to the data source, does not collect data. Use this mode when you want to run the ETL for the first time or after you make any changes to the ETL configuration.

B. Production mode: Collects data from the data source.

A. Running the ETL in the simulation mode

To run the ETL in the simulation mode:

1. In the console, navigate to Administration > ETL & System Tasks, and select ETL tasks.
2. On the ETL tasks page, click the ETL. The ETL details are displayed.
   
   
   
   
3. In the Run configurations table, click Edit  to modify the ETL configuration settings.
4. On the Run configuration tab, ensure that the Execute in simulation mode option is set to Yes, and click Save.
5. Click Run active configuration. A confirmation message about the ETL run job submission is displayed.
6. On the ETL tasks page, check the ETL run status in the Last exit column.
   OK Indicates that the ETL ran without any error. You are ready to run the ETL in the production mode.
7.  If the ETL run status is Warning, Error, or Failed:
   1. On the ETL tasks page, click  in the last column of the ETL name row.
   2. Check the log and reconfigure the ETL if required.
   3. Run the ETL again.
   4. Repeat these steps until the ETL run status changes to OK.

B. Running the ETL in the production mode

You can run the ETL manually when required or schedule it to run at a specified time.

Running the ETL manually

1. On the ETL tasks page, click the ETL. The ETL details are displayed.
2. In the Run configurations table, click Edit  to modify the ETL configuration settings. The Edit run configuration page is displayed.
3. On the Run configuration tab, select No for the Execute in simulation mode option, and click Save.
4. To run the ETL immediately, click Run active configuration. A confirmation message about the ETL run job submission is displayed.
   When the ETL is run, it collects data from the source and transfers it to the database.

Scheduling the ETL run

By default, the ETL is scheduled to run daily. You can customize this schedule by changing the frequency and period of running the ETL.

To configure the ETL run schedule:

1. On the ETL tasks page, click the ETL, and click Edit. The ETL details are displayed.
   
   

2. On the Edit task page, do the following, and click Save:

   • Specify a unique name and description for the ETL task.
   • In the Maximum execution time before warning field, specify the duration for which the ETL must run before generating warnings or alerts, if any.
   • Select a predefined or custom frequency for starting the ETL run. The default selection is Predefined.
   • Select the task group and the scheduler to which you want to assign the ETL task.

3. Click Schedule. A message confirming the scheduling job submission is displayed.
   When the ETL runs as scheduled, it collects data from the source and transfers it to the database.

Verify that the ETL ran successfully and check whether the ServiceNow data is refreshed in the Workspace.

To verify whether the ETL ran successfully:

1. In the console, click Administration > ETL and System Tasks > ETL tasks.
2. In the Last exec time column corresponding to the ETL name, verify that the current date and time are displayed.

To verify that the ServiceNow data is refreshed:

1. In the console, click Workspace.
2. Expand (Domain name) > Systems > ServiceNow> Instances.
3. In the left pane, verify that the hierarchy displays the new and updated ServiceNow instances.
4. Click a ServiceNow entity, and click the Metrics tab in the right pane.
5. Check if the Last Activity column in the Configuration metrics and Performance metrics tables displays the current date.