Getting Started with the LogicMonitor ServiceNow CMDB Integration

Overview

A Configuration Management Database (CMDB) contains all relevant information about the hardware and software components used across an organization’s IT environment. Even more important, a CMDB defines the relationships and interdependencies between those assets. This makes it easy to understand, manage and report on the service being delivered.

However, a CMDB is only valuable if you’re working with reliable data. With thousands of devices being added across distributed systems, it’s easy for a business-impacting issue to slip through the cracks.

The LogicMonitor ServiceNow CMDB Integration eliminates the typical time-consuming data sifting across systems so you can understand how the entire ecosystem is working, from infrastructure to applications, and be immediately notified when changes occur.

It’s important to note that with this integration, by default, nothing will synchronize out of the box. Out-of-the-box bi-directional data synchronization could be detrimental to your LogicMonitor resource or CMDB data, which is why we have designed the application with deliberate safeguards. The code to synchronize devices and more is there; it just needs to be enabled, scheduled, triggered or in general told when to run.

Versioning and Compatibility

Visit this application’s product page in the ServiceNow Store for details on the current application version and release notes; ServiceNow release compatibility; and ServiceNow licensing and dependency requirements.

Initial Setup

Prerequisites

Before beginning the initial setup, make sure you have access to the following:

• A ServiceNow account with the “admin” role
• A LogicMonitor account with rights to create user accounts and view all devices

Creating an API Only Access User Account in LogicMonitor

1. Log in to LogicMonitor with a user account that has been assigned an admin-level role.
2. Navigate to Settings | User Access | Users & Roles | Users | Add | User.
3. At the top of the Add User dialog, toggle the API Only Access slider to enable the creation of an API only access user.
4. In the Username field, assign the account a username of “cmdb_sync”.
5. In the API Tokens section, click the plus sign (+) icon to add a new API token. Retain the Access ID and Access Key values for use when configuring the LogicMonitor CMDB Integration application (next section).
6. Click Save in the expanded API Tokens section to save the key.
7. In the Roles section, assign role(s) to the account that provide the user with appropriate rights based on use case. For full functionality, the account will need the ability to:
   • View all Collectors
   • Manage all resources
   • Manage all resource groups
   • Additional rights may be needed based on your unique use cases

8. Click Save at the bottom of the dialog to save the API only access account.

For more information on creating users in LogicMonitor, see Users.

Installing/Configuring the LogicMonitor ServiceNow CMDB Integration Application

This section provides steps for installing the LogicMonitor ServiceNow CMDB Integration application and configuring and testing its connection to your LogicMonitor portal.

Installing the Application to Your ServiceNow Instance

1. Log in to ServiceNow with admin level privileges.
2. Navigate to System Applications | Applications from the ServiceNow menu.
3. The LogicMonitor CMDB Integration should appear in your Not Installed list. (If you don’t see the application, please reach out to your LogicMonitor CSM or account executive.)
4. Click the Install button once.

Important: This will take a VERY long time. Possibly as long as 30 minutes. DO NOT click the Install button more than once!

If you would like to verify the application is still installing, perform the following steps (visit the ServiceNow documentation site for more information):

1. Navigate to System Diagnostics | Progress Workers.
2. There will be an entry for the application in a “Running” state.
3. When it says “Completed,” the application installation is complete.

Configuring the Application

1. Navigate to LogicMonitor CMDB | Setup | Properties.
2. If a message like the one pictured below displays, click the “here” hyperlink to switch the application scope.

   

3. Set values for:
   • LogicMonitor Account Name
   • API Access ID (retrieved in the previous section)
   • API Access Key (retrieved in the previous section)
4. Click Save.

Test the Connection

1. Navigate to LogicMonitor CMDB | Application Components | Scheduled Jobs.
2. Click on the job titled “LM – Collector Import.”
3. Click the Execute Now button. This will attempt connection with the configured LogicMonitor portal and import all the Collectors into the newly established LogicMonitor Collectors CI Class.
4. Confirm that the connection has been successfully established by navigating to LogicMonitor CMDB | Collectors. If the collectors are there, congratulations! The connection is working.

Note: If the Collectors did not import after a minute or two, navigate to LogicMonitor CMDB | Integration Logs and check for error messages.

Next Steps

• Watch the introduction video. If you haven’t watched our Introducing the LogicMonitor Service CMDB Integration video, please check it out. It provides a lot of context and a great preview of the initial setup and the application’s functionality, including how it ties in with our free alerting application.
• Request the LogicMonitor ServiceNow CMDB Integration guide. Everyone’s use cases for how they sync CMDB data are unique. This application is designed to be customized to meet your specific needs. We have made a an extensive guide available that provides more technical details on setup, configuration and customization. Please contact your Customer Success Manager to request this guide.
• Test implementation in non-production environments. CMDB data is important and LogicMonitor devices and monitoring data are equally important. Implementation of this application should be thoroughly tested using your non-production instances of ServiceNow and your LogicMonitor sandbox accounts prior to rolling out to production.