Sammeln asked a question.
Pushing data back from ServiceNow into SLM
Hi, does anyone have any advice or experience with the above please?. I've used the Web Configurator to import data into SLM, but I'm looking for two things:
1) How best to get the data out of ServiceNow (via the API ?)
2) How best to achieve as-close-as-possible real-time synchronisation of computer asset information (e.g. if an asset state/substate in ServiceNow is flagged as "awaiting disposal", the same status can be reflected via an updated custom field in SLM
Using the ServiceNow API to facilitate a frequent file drop into the Web Configurator polled folder would be a solution but I suspect there is a much better way to do this!
Hi Sammeln,
did you view the Snow ServiceNow connector? ServiceNow Discovery Connector (snowsoftware.com) Maybe this is an option.
Regards Siggi
Hi Siggi,
Thanks for your guidance on this connector.
As the connector description says it is "used for replication of third party inventory information from ServiceNow CMDB" - this is something we don't need, as the inventory data is already in Snow, as Snow is the primary data source for the CMDB.
The documentation goes on to say " To avoid importing the same inventory data back into Snow License Manager, the ServiceNow Discovery connector excludes data from those connectors when importing data from ServiceNow CMDB."
So, this would be a way of adding in records that exist in the CMDB but not in Snow?
That's potentially useful, but I have more of a need to be able to specifically customise and limit the information replicated back from ServiceNow, picking the asset types and custom fields we wish to sync between the CMDB and Snow.
Do you know if we are able to control the data transferred in this way ? (and is this by utilising schema.xsd?)
Who could I pick this conversation up with in Snow please to understand how this connector works in more detail ?
Thanks again for your help Siggi :-)
Hi Sammeln,
OK, let's turn the data flow around. Whats about this connector: ServiceNow Connector (snowsoftware.com) Maybe this is the connector you are looking for.
Regards Siggi
Hi Siggi,
I would say not, as that's the connector we're already using get data from SLM into ServiceNow. I'm looking to bring data back the other way, so it's easier to identify and reconcile issues. Plus, pulling back some organisational type constructs which would be defined and maintained in the CMDB is useful for other purposes. We would not want to maintain that in SLM - but merely just read the latest value to include in our reports.
Hey,
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I' had this set up with a customer and the only thing I can really recommend is, do not do it - you will probably regret it in a few months 😅. It was configured and worked perfectly until we did an SLM update and then it was broken for 3 years.
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Snow itself doesn't have anything in place to do this, just Snow > ServiceNow. If you want to feed from ServiceNow to Snow, you need to use a MID Server to import the data into the SQL Server Database and have custom procedures that then transform the data.
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If you _really_ want to do it, I'd personally go down the Web Configurator way. It's the "supported" solution that is unlikely to break every time you update SLM.
Using the Web Configurator allows you to have a bit less of a delay as well, doing anything other than the Web Configurator will result in a 24 hour delay because of the Data Update Job needing to run for things to sync correctly.
Hi Liam, thanks for your open and honest feedback. Web Configurator does indeed look like an obvious choice and could work as a viable interim solution. We have a robust method for testing any upgrades before they go into production so I would very much expect to identify any issues before they entered the prod environment, but of course issue can and do arise. Perhaps the MID Server may be a useful mechanism to create the dataset to be picked up by Web Configurator?. I really want to avoid the need for a DUJ to complete first.
I've not explored that side of the MID Server yet :-). Thanks for your advice... and I hope the solution is working ok for you now!