IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

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Elastic ServiceNow connector reference

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Elastic ServiceNow connector reference

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The Elastic ServiceNow connector is a connector for ServiceNow.

This connector is written in Python using the Elastic connector framework.

View the source code for this connector (branch 8.11, compatible with Elastic 8.11).

Native connector (Elastic Cloud)

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View native connector reference

Availability and prerequisites

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The ServiceNow connector is available natively in Elastic Cloud since 8.10.0.

To use this connector natively in Elastic Cloud, satisfy all native connector requirements.

Usage

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To use this connector natively in Elastic Cloud, see Native connectors.

For additional operations, see Using connectors

Compatibility

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The ServiceNow connector is compatible with the following versions of ServiceNow:

ServiceNow "Tokyo"
ServiceNow "San Diego"
ServiceNow "Rome"
ServiceNow "Utah"
ServiceNow "Vancouver"

Configuration

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The following configuration fields are required to set up the connector:

ServiceNow URL

The host URL of the ServiceNow instance.

Username

The username of the account used for ServiceNow.

Password

The password of the account used for ServiceNow.

Comma-separated list of services

Comma-separated list of services to fetch data from ServiceNow. If the value is *, the connector will fetch data from the list of basic services provided by ServiceNow:

User
Incident
Requested Item
Knowledge
Change Request

If you have configured a custom service, the * value will not fetch data from the basic services above by default. In this case you’ll need to mention these service names explicitly.

Default value is *. Examples:
User, Incident, Requested Item, Knowledge, Change Request
*

Documents and syncs

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All services and records the user has access to will be indexed according to the configurations provided. The connector syncs the following ServiceNow object types:

Records
Attachments

Content of files bigger than 10 MB won’t be extracted.
Permissions are not synced. All documents indexed to an Elastic deployment will be visible to all users with access to that Elastic Deployment.

Sync rules

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Basic sync rules are identical for all connectors and are available by default.

Advanced sync rules

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A full sync is required for advanced sync rules to take effect.

Advanced sync rules are defined through a source-specific DSL JSON snippet.

The following sections provide examples of advanced sync rules for this connector.

Indexing document based on incident number for Incident service

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[
  {
    "service": "Incident",
    "query": "numberSTARTSWITHINC001"
  }
]

Indexing document based on user activity state for User service

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[
  {
    "service": "User",
    "query": "active=False"
  }
]

Indexing document based on author name for Knowledge service

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[
  {
    "service": "Knowledge",
    "query": "author.nameSTARTSWITHSystem Administrator"
  }
]

Known issues

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There are no known issues for this connector. Refer to Known issues for a list of known issues that impact all connectors.

View connector client reference

Availability and prerequisites

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The ServiceNow connector was introduced in Elastic version 8.9.0. This connector is available as a self-managed connector client. To use this connector as a connector client, satisfy all connector client requirements.

Usage

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Self-manage this connector

Because this client is available as a native connector, you’ll first need to convert to a connector client in the Kibana UI. This action is irreversible. Use the Convert connector button on the right-hand side of the configuration page.

To use this connector as a connector client, use the Customized connector workflow.

Compatibility

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The ServiceNow connector is compatible with the following versions of ServiceNow:

ServiceNow "Tokyo"
ServiceNow "San Diego"
ServiceNow "Rome"
ServiceNow "Utah"
ServiceNow "Vancouver"

Configuration

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When using the connector client workflow, initially these fields will use the default configuration set in the connector source code. These are set in the get_default_configuration function definition.

These configurable fields will be rendered with their respective labels in the Kibana UI. Once connected, you’ll be able to update these values in Kibana.

The following configuration fields are required to set up the connector:

url

The host url of the ServiceNow instance.

username

The username of the account for ServiceNow.

password

The password of the account used for ServiceNow.

services

Comma-separated list of services to fetch data from ServiceNow. If the value is *, the connector will fetch data from the list of basic services provided by ServiceNow:

User
Incident
Requested Item
Knowledge
Change Request

If you have configured a custom service, the * value will not fetch data from the basic services above by default. In this case you’ll need to mention these service names explicitly.

Default value is *. Examples:
User, Incident, Requested Item, Knowledge, Change Request
*

retry_count

The number of retry attempts after a failed request to ServiceNow. Default value is 3.

concurrent_downloads

The number of concurrent downloads for fetching the attachment content. This speeds up the content extraction of attachments. Defaults to 10.

use_text_extraction_service

Requires a separate deployment of the Elastic Text Extraction Service. Requires that ingest pipeline settings disable text extraction. Default value is False.

Documents and syncs

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All services and records the user has access to will be indexed according to the configurations provided. The connector syncs the following ServiceNow object types:

Records
Attachments

Content of files bigger than 10 MB won’t be extracted.
Permissions are not synced. All documents indexed to an Elastic deployment will be visible to all users with access to that Elastic Deployment.

Deployment using Docker

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You can deploy the ServiceNow connector as a self-managed connector client using Docker. Follow these instructions.

Step 1: Download sample configuration file

Download the sample configuration file. You can either download it manually or run the following command:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/elastic/connectors/main/config.yml.example --output ~/connectors-config/config.yml

Remember to update the --output argument value if your directory name is different, or you want to use a different config file name.

Step 2: Update the configuration file for your self-managed connector

Update the configuration file with the following settings to match your environment:

elasticsearch.host
elasticsearch.api_key
connectors

If you’re running the connector service against a Dockerized version of Elasticsearch and Kibana, your config file will look like this:

# When connecting to your cloud deployment you should edit the host value
elasticsearch.host: http://host.docker.internal:9200
elasticsearch.api_key: <ELASTICSEARCH_API_KEY>

connectors:
  -
    connector_id: <CONNECTOR_ID_FROM_KIBANA>
    service_type: servicenow
    api_key: <CONNECTOR_API_KEY_FROM_KIBANA>

Using the elasticsearch.api_key is the recommended authentication method. However, you can also use elasticsearch.username and elasticsearch.password to authenticate with your Elasticsearch instance.

Note: You can change other default configurations by simply uncommenting specific settings in the configuration file and modifying their values.

Step 3: Run the Docker image

Run the Docker image with the Connector Service using the following command:

docker run \
-v ~/connectors-config:/config \
--network "elastic" \
--tty \
--rm \
docker.elastic.co/enterprise-search/elastic-connectors:8.11.4.0 \
/app/bin/elastic-ingest \
-c /config/config.yml

Refer to DOCKER.md in the elastic/connectors repo for more details.

Find all available Docker images in the official registry.

Sync rules

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Basic sync rules are identical for all connectors and are available by default.

Advanced sync rules

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A full sync is required for advanced sync rules to take effect.

Advanced sync rules are defined through a source-specific DSL JSON snippet.

The following sections provide examples of advanced sync rules for this connector.

Indexing document based on incident number for Incident service

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[
  {
    "service": "Incident",
    "query": "numberSTARTSWITHINC001"
  }
]

Indexing document based on user activity state for User service

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[
  {
    "service": "User",
    "query": "active=False"
  }
]

Indexing document based on author name for Knowledge service

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[
  {
    "service": "Knowledge",
    "query": "author.nameSTARTSWITHSystem Administrator"
  }
]

End-to-end Testing

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The connector framework enables operators to run functional tests against a real data source. Refer to Connector testing for more details.

To perform E2E testing for the ServiceNow connector, run the following command:

$ make ftest NAME=servicenow

Generate performance reports using the following flag: PERF8=yes. Toggle test data set size between SMALL, MEDIUM and LARGE with the argument DATA_SIZE=. By default, it is set to MEDIUM.

Users do not need to have a running Elasticsearch instance or a ServiceNow source to run this test. Docker Compose manages the complete setup of the development environment.

Known issues

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There are no known issues for this connector. Refer to Known issues for a list of known issues that impact all connectors.

Troubleshooting

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See Troubleshooting.

Security

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See Security.

Content extraction

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See Content extraction.

« Elastic Salesforce connector reference Elastic SharePoint Online connector reference »

Elastic ServiceNow connector reference

Elastic ServiceNow connector reference

Native connector (Elastic Cloud)

Availability and prerequisites

Usage

Compatibility

Configuration

Documents and syncs

Sync rules

Advanced sync rules

Indexing document based on incident number for Incident service

Indexing document based on user activity state for User service

Indexing document based on author name for Knowledge service

Known issues

Troubleshooting

Security

Content extraction

Connector client (self-managed)

Availability and prerequisites

Usage

Compatibility

Configuration

Documents and syncs

Deployment using Docker

Sync rules

Advanced sync rules

Indexing document based on incident number for Incident service

Indexing document based on user activity state for User service

Indexing document based on author name for Knowledge service

End-to-end Testing

Known issues

Troubleshooting

Security

Content extraction