Getting ticket data from ServiceNow

To get data from ServiceNow, you must install and configure the ServiceNow connector. Use this connector to send ServiceNow tickets to TrueSight Intelligence as events for analytics and use clustering of event data for advanced analysis.

The ServiceNow to TrueSight Intelligence connector is a high-speed bridge that loads event data into TrueSight Intelligence.

Analyze the ServiceNow tickets as events and cluster event data for advanced analysis. You can also create and save views with the data collected from ServiceNow.

Related topics

Managing-events

Clustering-event-data-for-advanced-analysis

Creating-and-managing-views

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The following sections provide details on the steps required to set up this integration:

Prerequisites

  • The host machine must have a minimum of 1 GB memory, 1 GHz processor speed, and 20 MB disk space.
  • Any currently supported non-mobile Microsoft Windows or LINUX operating system.
  • The host must have java version 1.7+ that is executable from the command line.
  • You must have obtained the connector and license by sending an email to help@truesight.bmc.com.

To install the ServiceNow connector

The ServiceNow connector can run from any directory with proper permissions.

  1. Send an email to help@truesight.bmc.com to get the link for downloading the installation file.

  2. Download the Data_Pump_for_TSI.zip file to a folder on your computer.

    The file name might change in the future.

  3. Right-click on the Data_Pump_for_TSI.zip and select Extract All... to open the Extract Compressed (Zipped) Folders dialog.
  4. Click Browse and select the folder where you want to install the ServiceNow connector.
  5. Click Extract to install the integration.

After the installation, the directory structure inside of the ServiceNow connector installation directory is as follows:

Folder name

Description

bin

The main connector .bat programs

conf

The .map files and related .conf files

dat

Timestamps and other data

lib

The api code and other code libraries

log

The logs from console or service operations

license (file)

License key

To install the license

  1. Send an email describing your name and title, company, phone number and email address and your license need to help@truesight.bmc.com
  2. We will send you the license file via email.
  3. Save the file to your ServiceNow connector installation directory.

Getting your TrueSight Intelligence account API token

The ServiceNow connector uses REST API calls via a secure token. Your email address and API token are used to ensure authorized REST APIs send data to your account. Share the API key with authorized individuals only.

To get the API token

Your organization's account has a unique API token that must be used for authentication while sending data to TrueSight Intelligence.

The TrueSight Intelligence API key for your account is available in the TrueSight Account Manager. Navigate to My Account > Product Security.

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To set up your ServiceNow connection

  1. To start the ServiceNow connector, double-click the executable (rs_servicenow2tsi.bat) file from the bin sub-directory of the ServiceNow connector installation directory.
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  2. From under My Configuration, select Configuration Tasks. The resulting window is for configuring and maintaining the ServiceNow connector mappings.
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  3.  Set the connection parameters for your ServiceNow and TrueSight Intelligence accounts. Click Options > Connections or click Edit from the upper right.

    1. Use the Source tab to enter the server name and credentials required to connect to the ServiceNow server. The user name is the login account for the database, and the password is for that account.
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      Field name

      Description

      Server

      The IP address or DNS name of the source (ServiceNow) server.

      Port

      The port which the source server data must be accessed through. Set by the source data administrators.

      Database

      Leave this field blank.

      User Name

      The login account name for the database. This login account will be used by the ServiceNow connector to read the ServiceNow data. Generally, this is a read only account.

      Password

      The password associated with the database login account above.

      JDBC Driver

      Change the JDBC driver name only if a BMC support personnel asks you to change it. Use com.avnet.jdbc.rest.RSDriverV2

      Full URL

      Change the URL only if a BMC support personnel asks you to change it.

      Note

      Create the integration-specific user account with corresponding read roles for the ServiceNow (source system) instance and configure them in the ServiceNow connector as mentioned above. You can also use the admin account for to connect the ServiceNow instance, but be aware of the security risk of using admin account.

    2. Use the Target tab to enter the details for your TrueSight Intelligence connection.
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      Field name

      Description

      Server

      The IP address or DNS name of your TrueSight Intelligence server. Use api.truesight.bmc.com

      Port

      Leave this field blank.

      Database

      Leave this field blank.

      User Name

      The user name for your TrueSight Intelligence account that will allow ingestion of data coming from the ServiceNow connector.

      Password

      The API token for your TrueSight Intelligence account.

      JDBC Driver

      Change the JDBC driver name only if a BMC support personnel asks you to change it.

      Full URL

      Change the URL only if a BMC support personnel asks you to change it.

    3. After completing the above steps, click Save to return to the Configuration user interface.

      Tip

      The text of sub-map names in the left-hand column will be colored black when the ServiceNow connector has validated connection settings.

      After entering the connection attributes for both ServiceNow and TrueSight Intelligence, click Save to save these values for subsequent uses. If the ServiceNow connection attributes correctly identify a ServiceNow server that is reachable from the ServiceNow connector, then after a few seconds, the sub-map names listed in the left-hand column of the ServiceNow connector user interface main page will be displayed in the color black.

      If the sub-map names do not show as black after a delay of several minutes, an error message is displayed on the screen.
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      Example of authentication error due to an incorrect ServiceNow user password

      Note

      The text of sub-map names in the left-hand column will be colored black when the ServiceNow connector has validated the connection settings. The text of SN_Incidents belonging to a sub-map that is not validated from ServiceNow will be displayed in red.

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To validate the configuration

After the ServiceNow connector has been installed and configured, log in to your ServiceNow Instance and create a test Incident to validate and send to TrueSight Intelligence. Copy the incident number for searching in TrueSight Intelligence.

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To upload the first configuration item to TrueSight Intelligence

  1. From the home page, select Configuration Tasks to get to the main configuration and maintenance screen.
  2. Select the first sub-map from the left-hand column, SN_Incident.
  3. From the Simulate (Verification) tab.
  4. In the Extract field type $DELTA=300. This should return the newly created incident in ServiceNow.
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  5. Highlight the newly created incident and click Load.

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  6. The status should display 'CREATED' with the processing time.
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All the configuration is done through the user interface, and when the ServiceNow connector is running in normal mode, the user interface will not be used. After the schedule is set, the normal day-to-day operation of the ServiceNow connector will be to run as a Windows service or UNIX daemon without any manual intervention.

To validate the uploaded data in TrueSight Intelligence

  1. Log in to TrueSight Intelligence.
  2. Click Events.
  3. Change the time range to 30min.
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  4. Simulated Test Incident should now be in view.
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To customize the field mapping

Use this section to understand how to customize the mapping and collect additional data from ServiceNow to populate the TrueSight Intelligence Events.

  1. Stop the rs_servicenow2tsi integration from the services console.
  2. Navigate to the install directory and open the rs_tsi.init.sql file in the Conf directory.
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     For example, if you want to add Caller and Contact Type attributes from the Service to Transform (Mapping) row on the ServiceNow connector UI.
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    You must modify the mappings. For example:
    "properties.Caller" VARCHAR(255), 
    "properties.ContctType" VARCHAR(255),
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  3. Save the rs_tsi.init.sql file.
  4. Start the rs_servicenow2tsi integration from the Services Console.
  5. Open the Configuration UI.
  6. From the Transform (Mapping) tab, click New Row.
    This will add a new row at the end of the Transform (Mapping) tab.
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  7. Click the drop-down button on the new row to view the roperties.Caller and properties.ContactType attributes in the list.
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  8. These attributes are now available for mapping.
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  9. After adding the two new rows and mapping using the Formatted DB field. Select the Simulate (Verification) tab and click Extract. You will see the mapped data under the caller_id and Contact_type column. Thereafter, click Load.
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  10. You will see the data is created as TrueSight Intelligence events.
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