Configuring the ServiceNow App for IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps

Before you set up your ServiceNow integration in IBM Cloud Pak® for AIOps, you must set up the IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps ServiceNow App in your ServiceNow instance.

About this task

With this integration, Cloud Pak for AIOps incidents and the alerts they’re comprised of, can be sent to ServiceNow. Both the incidents and alerts contain the same details as their Cloud Pak for AIOps counterparts. To set up this integration, you must set up ServiceNow and the ServiceNow integration in Cloud Pak for AIOps.

Once configured, incidents and alerts sent to ServiceNow receive live updates to relevant fields. For incidents, this includes: title, description, state, and priority values. For alerts, this includes summary, severity, state, event count, and last occurrence values. Additionally, you can set up data synchronization so that updates made from ServiceNow are sent back to Cloud Pak for AIOps. For details on configuring data synchronization, see Creating a ServiceNow integration.

Prerequisites

Before you can set up ServiceNow to connect with IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps, you need to make sure that your ServiceNow instance meets the following requirements:

  • Install the IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps App into your ServiceNow instance. Be sure to install the latest version that is compatible with your version of ServiceNow. To get the app, go to the ServiceNow Store Opens in a new tab.
  • Your ServiceNow application must be version 4.4.2 to connect with IBM Cloud Pak® for AIOps version 4.9.1. This integration is not supported for earlier versions of the ServiceNow application.

Procedure

Complete the following steps to set up ServiceNow for integration:

  1. Assign the managing roles for granting access to ServiceNow.
  2. Create the users that need to access and set up the integration.
  3. Create the ServiceNow integration with the IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps UI

Managing roles

A ServiceNow user with the appropriate roles will be used by IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps for all communication with ServiceNow: The itil role is required for read and write capabilities. The user_admin role can be added optionally to give privileges for creating more users and assigning roles.

  • (required) itil role: gives read/write access to the incident and change ticket tables.
    • Only incidents created by IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps will be written to.
  • (optional) user_admin role: gives privileges to create new users and assign roles to users.

  1. Log in to your ServiceNow instance.

  2. In the filter field, search for roles.

  3. Click User Administration > Roles.

  4. Search for x_ibm_waiops, which produces a list of predefined roles.

    ServiceNow title list
    Figure. ServiceNow title list

  5. Click x_ibm_waiops.admin.

  6. Optional: Under the Contains Roles List box, select Edit, and you can add the user_admin role to the x_ibm_waiops.admin role.

    It looks like the following:

    ServiceNow edit members
    Figure. ServiceNow edit members

  7. Go back to the list of predefined roles. Select x_ibm_waiops.user.

  8. In the Contains Roles List box, select Edit and add the itil role to x_ibm_waiops.user. Unlike the user_admin role, this role is required.

    • Make sure that your IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps users in ServiceNow are assigned either the x_ibm_waiops.admin or the x_ibm_waiops.user role. The x_ibm_waiops.admin role includes the x_ibm_waiops.user role, so it inherits the itil role. All IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps users need the itil role to view generic incidents and change tickets. Without either the x_ibm_waiops.admin or the x_ibm_waiops.user roles, a user cannot access the augmented incidents and change tickets from the IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps ServiceNow App and receives a permissions error.

    • The other three roles available within the x_ibm_waiops.user role (all of which begin with x_ibm_waiops.) provide access to the three new tables introduced by the IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps ServiceNow App.

  9. Now you see something like this:

    ServiceNow roles list
    Figure. ServiceNow roles list

User roles

  1. Go to Organization > Users. Create at least 2 users, an admin and a generic user to be a Site Reliability Engineer (SRE).

    • For an admin user, provide values for admin's user ID and admin's first name fields. For example, the admin's user ID can be be ibm.aiops, and the admin's first name can be IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps.
    • For the SRE user, specify values for the user ID, first, and last name.

  2. For each user, set up a password by clicking Set Password. After you click Set Password, ServiceNow will set a one-time password for the user. The first time you log in as this user, ServiceNow will prompt you to set a permanent password. Be sure to set this, otherwise the Cloud Pak for AIOps integration will be unable to communicate consistently with ServiceNow.

  3. For each user, set the System time zone explicitly in the dropdown. Do not select the option that shows "System() but instead choose the specific equivalent timezone. For example, if your dropdown shows "System (America/Los Angeles), select "US/Pacific". Selecting the wrong timezone will cause issues with ServiceNow data ingestion/synchronization.

  4. For each user, find the Roles tab.

    ServiceNow user creation
    Figure. ServiceNow user creation

  5. For the admin user, assign the x_ibm_waiops.admin role to be used in step 6 of Creating a ServiceNow integration.

    ServiceNow role assignment
    Figure. ServiceNow role assignment

    This admin user will have their name, IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps, attached to the generated incidents and change ticket assessments that are created by IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps in ServiceNow.

    ServiceNow user roles
    Figure. ServiceNow user roles

  6. For the SRE user, assign the x_ibm_waiops.user role so that the user can view and assess ServiceNow incidents and change tickets.

Important:

  • To view the details provided by the ServiceNow integration, switch to the IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps view as shown in the following image:

    Cloud Pak View
    Figure. Cloud Pak View for ServiceNow integration

Create the ServiceNow integration

Once the ServiceNow integration user is configured, you are ready to create the ServiceNow integration in the IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps UI. For more information, see Creating a ServiceNow integration.

ServiceNow App configuration page

Although the System properties for integration with IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps page is still visible in the ServiceNow App, you do not need to configure it.