ServiceNow CMDB

Configure and use the OneFuse ServiceNow CMDB module with VMware vRealize Automation 7.6

5 minute read

To learn more about this OneFuse module, refer to ServiceNow CMDB.

Prerequisites

Configure OneFuse Property Set(s) and OneFuse Module Policies.
Run OneFuse Configuration per vRA Tenant.
Review the OneFuse Modules overview for vRealize Automation 7.6.
Create a new vRA Blueprint (if none exist) or determine which existing Blueprint(s) will utilize this OneFuse Module.
- Resource: Designing Machine Blueprints

Configure the Blueprint

Know the name of the OneFuse Endpoint created via OneFuse Configuration.
Determine which OneFuse ServiceNow CMDB Policies to run for this Blueprint.
Update the Blueprint to add in necessary vRA Properties to invoke OneFuse ServiceNow CMDB Policies.
Deploy the Blueprint to provision a vRA Deployment and create ServiceNow CMDB Configuration Item(s) and run the Provision IRE Template.
Performing specific Day2 actions on the vRA Deployment will update the ServiceNow CMDB CI(s) accordingly and run the Update IRE Template.
Destroy the vRA Deployment to update the ServiceNow CMDB CI(s) with the specified deprovision status and IRE Template.

Update the Blueprint

Log in to the vRA Tenant
Select the Design tab from the top menu bar
Select the Blueprints tab from the left menu
Edit the Blueprint and perform the below:

Add in necessary vRA Properties

The following vRA Properties need to be added to the Blueprint’s Properties > Custom Properties section under the Resource(s) of interest.

Call OneFuse ServiceNow CMDB Policy:

Property name format	Property value format
`OneFuse_ServiceNowCmdbPolicy`	`<OneFuse Endpoint Name>:<ServiceNow CMDB Policy Name>`

OneFuse_ServiceNowCmdbPolicy is a required vRA Property for ServiceNow CMDB.

Optionally, call additional ServiceNow CMDB Policies:

Property name format	Property value format
`OneFuse_ServiceNowCmdbPolicy_<CustomID>`	`<OneFuse Endpoint Name>:<ServiceNow CMDB Policy Name>`

Replace <CustomID> with a unique, user-defined friendly label.

Example vRA Custom Properties (in key: value pair format):

# Example CustomID

Apache
BackupClient
WebApp

CustomID

CustomID refers to a user specified text string to identify and can set an order of precedence for execution when calling multiple Policies for the OneFuse Module in the same vRA EBS State.

Replace <CustomID> variable with a unique custom identifier:

Format is alphanumeric characters only A-Z, a-z, 0-9. No spaces, underscores, hyphens nor special characters.
Must be unique across all EBS Execution Strings for the OneFuse Module on the specific VM for the Blueprint/Cloud Template.
Is reusable either between different VM components of the Blueprint/Cloud Template canvas or between different Blueprints/Cloud Templates.

# Execute 2 OneFuse ServiceNow CMDB Policies
# <CustomID> is replaced with 001Apache
# <OneFuse Endpoint Name> is onefuse
# <ServiceNow CMDB Policy Name> is prod and linux_Apache

OneFuse_ServiceNowCmdbPolicy: onefuse:prod
OneFuse_ServiceNowCmdbPolicy_001Apache: onefuse:linux_Apache

Specify sorting with CustomID:

When executing multiple different OneFuse Module’s Policies in the same EBS State, prefix the <CustomID> with a numeric value (for example, 001, 002, etc).

The <CustomID> is sorted prior to executing the OneFuse module’s policies.

# Example CustomID with sorting

001Apache
002WebApp
003BackupClient

Additional helpful vRA Properties

Purpose: Relate OneFuse Policy executions from different OneFuse Modules together with a Tracking ID.

Property	Value format
`OneFuse_Tracking_Id`	A GUID (globally unique identifier) that links OneFuse Policy Executions and the resulting Managed Objects together for a given resource on a deployment. The first OneFuse Module Policy execution will populate this vRA property and it will be passed into other OneFuse Modules automatically. Learn more about OneFuse Tracking ID.

When a Tracking ID is not provided, a Tracking ID gets generated for the Policy execution.

Purpose: Reference a specific NIC’s values to get hostname, IP address, etc.

Property format	Example
`OneFuse_VmNic<#>.<value>`	See examples below

Replace <#> with a number from 0 to 9, one for each NIC.

Replace <value> with an appropriate key: dnsSuffix, fqdn, gateway, hostname, ipAddress, macAddress, netmask, network, subnet, target

For most use cases, NIC 0 is the primary network interface and the target hostname is a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN).

Examples:

OneFuse_VmNic0.dnsSuffix
OneFuse_VmNic0.fqdn
OneFuse_VmNic0.hostname
OneFuse_VmNic0.ipAddress
OneFuse_VmNic0.target: when DNS Suffix is provided, will be the FQDN; otherwise, will be the hostname (without domain).

Custom Property placement methods

Influence Custom Properties for Resources using different methods:

Method	Description
Basic	Add a Custom Property to the vSphere machine on the blueprint canvas, or to the blueprint layer itself.
Advanced 1	Add a Custom Property to an existing or new vRA Property Group.
Advanced 2	Add a Custom Property to a more global level, such as vCenter Endpoint (to run on all deployments) and/or a Reservation (to run on all deployments using that reservation), etc.

Learn more: Understanding Custom Properties Precedence

Provision

Deploy a Blueprint with OneFuse ServiceNow CMDB Policy configured. ServiceNow CMDB CI(s) will be created in ServiceNow.

Outputs

The following vRA Property will have the generated OneFuse ServiceNow CMDB Managed Object as a JSON string on the Deployment.

Property Name	Property Value Format
`OneFuse_ServiceNowCmdb`	JSON string of OneFuse ServiceNow CMDB Managed Object
`OneFuse_ServiceNowCmdb_<CustomID>` (if additional ServiceNow CMDB Policies)	JSON string of OneFuse ServiceNow CMDB Managed Object

Deprovision

Destroy an existing deployment with OneFuse ServiceNow CMDB Policy configured. ServiceNow CMDB CI(s) will be updated with the specified deprovision status in ServiceNow.

vRA EBS

EBS Execution	Subscription State	EBS Priority	EBS Name
Provision
ProvisionedPre	Early	1600	OneFuse_Provision_ServiceNow_CMDB
Day2
Reconfigure VM	-	1100	OneFuse_Update_ServiceNow_CMDB
Deprovision
MachineDisposingPost	-	1100	OneFuse_De-Provision_ServiceNow_CMDB

Troubleshooting

Troubleshoot in vRealize Orchestrator.

Log in to vRealize Orchestrator.
Turn on Verbose Logging and try again to see additional log messages in vRO Workflows:
- Select Library > Workflows from the left menu
- Go to: OneFuse > ServiceNow CMDB > vRA7 to find corresponding workflow runs and view logs
- Optionally, run the workflows in the Manual folder to manually test
Optionally, configure timeouts for EBS and/or Configure timeouts for OneFuse modules.

Additional resources:

Review Troubleshooting in OneFuse
Review VMware troubleshooting resources