ServiceNow is an IT service management platform for recording, tracking, and managing a company’s enterprise-level IT processes in a single location.
The Datadog ServiceNow integration is a two-way integration that allows you to:
Datadog integrates with the follow ServiceNow tools:
Note: Each of these ServiceNow modules can be used independently of each other with the integration. For example, you can use ITSM without CMDB.
To use any of the modules, first, install the latest Datadog Update Set on your ServiceNow instance, and configure the ServiceNow integration tile in Datadog.
In ServiceNow:
Datadog-SNow_Update_Set_vX.X.X.xml
file.Import the Datadog XML Update Set provided.
Once you upload the XML file, it shows a state of Loaded. Click on the name of the Update Set to preview and commit the code to the system.
Preview the Update Set to ensure there are no errors:
Select Commit Update Set to merge the application into your system:
You should now be able to search for Datadog in the navigation menu and see tables appear:
In order to access import tables and apply transform maps, the ServiceNow user needs the following permissions:
- x_datad_datadog.user
- import_set_loader
- import_transformer
For ITOM and ITSM users:
If you’d like to send notifications directly to the Incident table or Event table, you need the ITIL and evt_mgmt_integration roles.
This step assumes you have already installed the latest Datadog Update Set. If you have not, see the instructions for installing the latest update set.
Add Datadog as a Discovery Source to match and add CIs to the CMDB.
In ServiceNow, navigate to System Definitions > Choice Lists and create a new entry with the following values:
Search for the Datadog integration, and click on the Datadog Integration Settings in the menu.
Enable the setting: Enable adding Datadog hosts into ServiceNow CMDB
This enables Datadog to push configuration data to the ServiceNow CMDB. Tags can be added to hosts that have been matched with ServiceNow CMDB CIs within Datadog. Note: The “Enable adding Datadog hosts into ServiceNow CMDB” option must be enabled for the tag syncing functionality to work.
By default, no tags are synced from ServiceNow to Datadog. There are three potential sources of data for tags:
Labels
Business Services
Configuration Item (CI) attributes
In the example configuration below, both Labels and Business Services are added as tags. Also, sys_id
and sys_class_name
attributes are added as tags.
You can customize how often data is written to your CMDB by updating your autoflush rule
You can also customize your entries to the CMDB by setting custom transform maps
Notifications using @servicenow in Datadog populate the interim tables selected in your ServiceNow tile. Note the following steps assume you have already set up the ServiceNow tile in the Datadog integrations page. Once that has been completed:
<INSTANCE_NAME>.service-now.com
.Add the username and password for your ServiceNow instance. If you are using the ITSM or ITOM module, and would like to send notifications to an intermediary table, you can select one from the dropdown.
For use with CMDB
Datadog provides transform maps that create incidents and CMDB configuration items. Since every CMDB can potentially be different, you should verify the default match required by your CMDB.
To navigate to the Transform Maps:
The “Import hosts” table has two Transform Maps, one for each potential profile that can be created. If the operating system is Linux, then the cmdb_ci_linux_server
profile is created (or matched with an existing CI). Otherwise the cmdb_ci_server
profile is used as a fallback. Additional Transform Maps can be created to make sure the right Configuration profiles are being used.
For more details about how to modify or define additional mappings and transformations, see the Defining custom mappings section.
For use with ITOM and ITSM
The Datadog Incident and Datadog Event tables use a transform map to transform Datadog events to corresponding incidents and events in ServiceNow.
If you’re not seeing events in your ServiceNow tables:
Need additional help? Contact Datadog support.
To prevent the import set table x_datad_datadog_import_host from accumulating too many rows, an AutoFlush Rule has been added to the Table Cleaner tool to keep only the last 24 hours of data. This configuration setting can be changed as needed by navigating to sys_auto_flush_list.do in the filter navigator and going into the rule for the x_datad_datadog_import_host table. The Age in seconds field can be updated accordingly.
After ServiceNow is connected to your Datadog account, alerts received can automatically create support tickets and send them to the ServiceNow ticketing queue. From there, your support team is notified of issues using the communication workflows that you have already established inside ServiceNow. Mention @servicenow
in the alert message or add @servicenow
to the notification list for that monitor.
Variables can be used in the body of your alerts or in field mappings to ensure details from the event are included in ServiceNow. For example, you can include the title and severity in the appropriate ServiceNow field or you can include a link back to the specific incident in Datadog right from the ServiceNow ticket.
Once the monitor state returns to normal, the associated support ticket is automatically marked as “resolved”.
In addition to automating ticket creation and resolution, you can use Datadog to create ServiceNow tickets on an ad hoc basis whenever you see something in Datadog that needs your team’s attention. Click the camera icon to share a snapshot of any Timeboard graph, add some context in the comment box, and @servicenow to send the graph and your comments to ServiceNow.
Click on Datadog Incident Tables (for example) and navigate to the bottom of the record to see the link for the associated transform map:
Click on the name of the transform map to view the record:
At the top are two important fields on the Transform record - Source table and Target table:
Notes:
Click New:
Select the source and target fields for one to one mappings:
Or, check the Use source script box and define transformations:
Use Mapping Assist (under Related Links) to map several source and target fields:
To validate the integration is set up correctly, add @servicenow
in a monitor or event notification. The raw data populates rows in the interim table and is forwarded to the ServiceNow table specified in the mappings and transformations you created.
Additional helpful documentation, links, and articles: