How do I use AppDynamics with ServiceNow?

[#1]

Table of Contents

Overview

CMDB Integration

Event Management Integration

Implementation

Additional Resources

Overview

This article provides an overview of the features available in the AppDynamics integration with ServiceNow. AppDynamics provides application context within ServiceNow to improve and facilitate incident, change, and event management. You’ll be able to:

• Correlate infrastructure, application, and business events
• Automatically create ServiceNow alerts and incident tickets when health rules are violated

This integration contains the following components:

• AppDynamics for ServiceNow Application (AppDynamics Service Model Integration)
• AppDynamics-ServiceNow Data Sync

CMDB Integration

The following AppDynamics entities will be exported to ServiceNow CIs.

• Controller
• Application
• Tier
• Node
• Business Transaction
• Remote Service
• Database

This additional context can help your service management team better prioritize changes and incidents. In the past, you could see multiple alerts but may not have been sure which one was most important. If one alert came from the infrastructure (as shown in red below), you had no idea which application(s) the server could have impacted, and therefore wouldn’t know how to prioritize alerts by business impact. By synchronizing the AppDynamics flowmap with the ServiceNow Configuration Management Database (CMDB), you can determine the severity of an alert and resolve issues faster.

AppDynamics flowmap

Event Management Dashboard

Please Note: The ServiceNow CMDB sync can also be used without the Event Management module. Use cases for this data would be using application or business transaction aligned ITSM processes that you are already driving through the ServiceNow platform such as Incident, Problem, and Change

Event Management Integration

AppDynamics also integrates directly with ServiceNow Event Management to create events when a health rule is violated. For information on how to configure health rules in your Controller, see the Health Rules documentation. You can then create alert rules in ServiceNow and then, using assignment groups, let your operations team know when performance issues arise. The documentation describes how to download the alerting template from the CMDB Sync Utility:   Integrate AppDynamics with ServiceNow CMDB and Event Management.

Implementation

1. Download and install the ServiceNow app from the ServiceNow store.
2. Download and install the AppDynamics CMDB Sync and Event Management Integration for ServiceNow.

Additional Resources

• Docs: Integrate AppDynamics with ServiceNow® CMDB and Event Management - AppDynamics Documentation
• Docs: Configuring Health Rules

[feshaik]

Hi Erin and Jonah,

I am successful in integrating AppD with ServiceNow, however I am struck at Events Integration part.

Where exactly can I see the option to 'run the AppD to ServiceNow Data Transfer Utility '. Is this option available in ServiceNow or is this a downaloadable same as 'appdynamics-cmdb-service-$version.zip'

It would be great if you eloborate the step 'Run the AppDynamics to ServiceNow Data Transfer Utility and verify that the entities are imported into your ServiceNow® instance. Please refer to the section 3 for details'

I am refering to 4.1 step of  AppDynamics CMDB Sync and Event Management Integration for ServiceNow document. 

4.1 Prerequisites

1. Install the AppDynamics Service Model Integration application from ServiceNow® Store
2. Run the AppDynamics to ServiceNow Data Transfer Utility and verify that the entities are imported into your ServiceNow® instance. Please refer to the section 3 for details.

Regards,

Feroz S

[Jonah.Kowall]

The download contains the data transfer utility, which uses APIs to connect to both the ServiceNow instance and the AppDynamics controller. The install and running of this utility is covered by the link you provided. It requires a Java runtime to execute. If you have additional questions you can email help@appdynamics.com where we provide full support for this integration. Thanks for asking and being a customer. 

[Dominic.Behnood]

Not sure whether anyone else is attempting to integrate into Event Management like us, but when we attempted to use the python script provided, we noticed the following:

1) 'Node' field is not being populated on the Event record

2) 'Type' field is not being populated on the Event record

3) 'Additional information' field is not being populated on the Event record

I checked out your code, and 'Type' and 'Additional information' are not defined. 'Node' seems to have been accounted for, yet never populates.

I also could not find anywhere in the documentation the "Install the health rule configuration." (Step 3 in your instructions).

Am I missing something here? Has anyone had luck with getting this to work?

[Jonah.Kowall]

Hello, @Dominic.Behnood there is no Python script, so I'm not quite sure what you are doing exactly. When you install the sync tool (which is what synchronizes the AppD topology info into ServiceNow (which is what makes Event Correlation automatically work) there is a simple web UI. In that UI you configure the AppD controllers and ServiceNow Instances. There is a tab which looks like this 

which allows you to download the template. We will get this corrected in the docs shortly. 

[Dominic.Behnood]

Hey Jonah,

I meant Java (VTL), not Python - it's been a long week. The documentation provides the download for the event-request-template.vm file which contains the necessary code, correct? Is that any different than downloading the template from the CMDB Sync UI?

-Dominic

[Jonah.Kowall]

That is correct, I am updating the docs to be more clear. Please follow https://www.appdynamics.com/community/exchange/appdynamics-servicenow-cmdb-integration/ section 4.2 otherwise, it's quite close to being accurate. Just use the downloaded file (velocity template) for the content of the HTTP Request Template. Feel free to open a support case if you'd like help. We will get the docs fixed as soon as possible. 

[Dominic.Behnood]

Hey Jonah,

That template is the same as the one I used in the past by the looks of it. As I mentioned in my earlier post, it seems to be missing some field mappings, and does not function as intended from what I can see. I'll open up a support case. Thanks.

[vidyasagar.elluru]

@everyone, just noticed that it's returning 404 screen when trying to download the AppD CMDB extension from the url given above:

https://www.appdynamics.com/community/exchange/appdynamics-servicenow-cmdb-integration/

Please let me know in case of it's been updated with new url. 

Thanks in advance. 

regards, 

Sagar. 

[Claudia.Landivar]

Hi, @vidyasagar.elluru 

Thanks for the heads-up. If you check the link again, you should find the expected page opens.

https://www.appdynamics.com/community/exchange/appdynamics-servicenow-cmdb-integration/

Kind regards,

Claudia Landivar

Community Manager & Editor, AppDynamics

[Bojan.Živančević]

Claudia,

It still gives 404 error. Did you try it yourself before posting? Or maybe it has something to do with AppDynamics' internal user privileges. No matter what, it's not working for me.

[Claudia.Landivar]

Hi, @Bojan.Živančević 

Yes, I did test the link before responding, but now seeing 404. Let me check with the team. I'll update the thread until this is resolved.

Update:

The issue was the link I pasted above was undergoing an update. Both it and the link within the article are now correct.

Thanks for pointing this out

C. Landivar

Community Manager & Editor

[Sharad.Srivastava]

Hello Expert Team,

Greetings !!

I can see the Link provided to create incident directly from Health Rule with Event Management is not working and getting 404 error.

Thanks

Sharad

[Ryan.Paredez]

Hi @Bradley.Owen,

This link is broken under the "Event Management Integration" section. 

AppDynamics ServiceNow REST API Alerting Extension

Can you help identify where the new URL should be directing users? 

Community: We are aware of the broken link in this article. We will update the article when we know more. 

[Claudia.Landivar]

Hello, @Sharad.Srivastava and Community

Just confirming that the the Event Management Integration section of this article has been updated—including the broken link, which was formerly "AppDynamics ServiceNow REST API Alerting Extension" and is now Integrate AppDynamics with ServiceNow CMDB and Event Management.

—Claudia Landivar, Community Manager & Editor