ServiceNow CMDB Inventory Sync

About

The ServiceNow CMDB is a database that stores information about assets and services. It enables a variety of powerful workflows for managing and automating your IT and security controls.

Why You Should Integrate

Managing your IT ecosystem and getting accurate, up-to-date asset records into the CMDB is a significant challenge for most enterprises. The Sevco Connector bridges this gap by feeding your Sevco asset data directly into the ServiceNow CMDB. You can then leverage all of your existing ServiceNow workflows with the confidence that you're operating on the most comprehensive asset data possible.

How Does the Integration Work

This integration pulls Sevco device data on a scheduled cadence. It stores each device as a record in the Sevco Object table and, if configured to do so, the record is merged into the Hardware table of the CMDB. Throughout this process, Sevco tags are applied and synchronized to both Sevco Object and Hardware records. This enables users to perform searches and workflows based on those tags. If any stale records are found during the collection process, they will be retired from the CMDB. See Configure additional properties for more details on how you can control which of these actions the integration performs.

Configuration

Sevco App Installation

  1. Request Update Set Contact Sevco ([email protected]) or reach out to your CSM to receive the Sevco Connector update set. It will be distributed as an XML file.
  2. Retrieve Update Set In the left navigation menu of ServiceNow, search for Update Set and click Retrieved Update Sets.
  3. Import Update Set Under the Related Links section, click Import Update Set from XML. Click Choose File and navigate to the Sevco Connector update set XML file on your Desktop. Click Open or double-click to select it. This will bring you back to the Import page. Click Upload to start the import process. The update set will be displayed in the Retrieved Update Sets window in a Loaded state.
  4. Preview Update Set Click Update set record. On the update set record, click Preview Update Set to preview the changes that are captured in the update set. During the update, you may get an error because of the conflicts between the files present in update set and the files which are already present in the ServiceNow. Click Close. Address any errors or conflicts that may have occurred, or click the check for select all on the errors and choose the action Accept remote update. Click Commit Update Set. When you are done, refresh the browser window to ensure the changes take effect. You can now continue to configuration.

Sevco App Configuration

After installing the Sevco Connector in your ServiceNow instance, you'll need to configure it with a Sevco API key.

  1. Navigate to Properties: In the left navigation menu of ServiceNow, search for Sevco. Under Administration, click the Properties menu option to bring up the Sevco Connector configuration menu.

  2. Provide an API key: In the API key field, supply a valid Sevco API key. If needed, you can create a new API key using the instructions here.

  3. Provide your Org ID: If your Sevco user is a member of more than one organization, you will also need to supply the Sevco Org ID in the Org ID field of the properties menu.

  4. Configure additional properties (Optional): By default, all configuration options are set to false, including the property for importing Sevco data into the CMDB. We recommend reviewing these options, and enabling the ones that align with your intended use case. Below are descriptions of all currently supported properties.

    • API Key: Sevco API key used to pull asset data from the Sevco platform
      (Required)
    • Org ID: Sevco Org ID of the tenant you want to pull Sevco data from. If the API key you provide is only part of a single org, this parameter is optional.
    • Import to CMDB: If true, Sevco devices will be transformed and merged into the CMDB Hardware table. (Recommended: true)
    • Import Model Data: If true, Sevco will import model data into the CMDB’s Hardware Model table, and link it to the associated Hardware record.
      (Recommended: true)
    • Import Manufacturer Data: If true, Sevco will import hardware manufacturer data into the CMDB’s Core Company table, and link it to the associated Hardware record.
      (Recommended: true)
    • Skip cleanup of old records: If true, Sevco will not clean up devices that are no longer part of the inventory. We suggest leaving this property false to ensure your inventory is as accurate as possible.
      (Recommended: false)
    • Correlation Rules: JSON list of correlation rules to check in order to determine if a Sevco device already exists in the CMDB Hardware table during mapping. This property should almost never be modified.
    • Log Level: Adjusts the logging verbosity reported by the Sevco Connector. Default is info.
  5. Save: Click the Save button to save your selections.

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NOTE

The connector will run on a schedule, but a manual execution can be performed if you want to pull results immediately. To do this, follow the steps below:

  1. Navigate to Scheduled Jobs: In the left navigation menu of ServiceNow, search for Sevco, then click the Scheduled Jobs menu item.

  2. Choose Sevco Device Collection: From the list of schedules, click the Sevco Device Collection schedule.

  3. Execute: In the top right corner of the schedule page, click Execute Now.

Viewing Asset Data

Once the collection job has finished executing, you can view the results in a few ways.

  1. Sevco Devices: All devices that were imported are stored in the Sevco Object table. This can be viewed by clicking the Sevco Devices menu item in the left navigation menu of ServiceNow. Clicking the ID of the record will bring up a more comprehensive details view for that asset.

  2. Discovered Hardware: If you chose to import Sevco asset records to the CMDB during configuration, you can also click the Discovered Hardware menu item in the left navigation menu of ServiceNow. This will bring up a view of the Hardware table in the CMDB showing you all records imported by Sevco. Clicking the name of the Hardware record will bring up a more comprehensive details view for that asset.

Contact Us

If you're having problems configuring an Integration, or if you've found something wrong in this document, please email us at [email protected].