CloudBees CI ServiceNow integration

The CloudBees CI ServiceNow Integration provides the ability to create and manage ServiceNow change requests and incident tickets from your pipeline. CloudBees CI ServiceNow Integration consists of two components:

CloudBees CI ServiceNow App
CloudBees CI ServiceNow Plugin

Use cases for ServiceNow integration

Change Requests: With your Pipeline, automatically create and update change requests in ServiceNow to track updates to your build, test, and production environments. If you have issues with these environments, know what changes occurred.
Incident Tickets: On Pipeline failures (build, test, etc.) automatically create and assign tickets in ServiceNow to triage and resolve incidents quickly.

CloudBees CI ServiceNow App

The CloudBees CI ServiceNow App provides the ServiceNow web service that allows your Jenkins projects to create and update change requests and incident tickets. This app includes the import set tables, transform maps, and security roles that allow this integration with Jenkins.

Installing the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App

To install the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App:

Go to the ServiceNow store at https://store.servicenow.com.
Sign in with your HI credentials, and then search for CloudBees.
Choose the CloudBees tile, and then click Get.
Choose to install on all of your ServiceNow instances or specific instances.
Go to your ServiceNow instances.
Sign in with your admin account.
Go to System Applications > Applications.
In the Downloads tab choose the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App, and then click Install.

Adding the web services user

The integration with CloudBees CI requires a web services user. Follow these steps to create this user.

Sign in as an admin, and then go to System Security > Users.
Click New to create a new user.
Complete the fields to add a user.
Add the role x_clbe_cloudbees_s.web_service to this new user. This is the user that will be used to authenticate for the CloudBees CI ServiceNow Plugin. Use this user as your credentials in your CloudBees CI Pipeline.

Security roles for the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App

The following security roles are provided with the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App:

Role Description

Role	Description
`x_clbe_cloudbees_s.web_service`	This role is required to use the web services to create and update incident tickets, change requests, and events. This role is required to use the CloudBees CI plugin.
`x_clbe_cloudbees_s.admin`	This role allows access to the import set tables (see below).
`x_clbe_cloudbees_s.user`	This role allows the user to view the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App menu items.

x_clbe_cloudbees_s.web_service

This role is required to use the web services to create and update incident tickets, change requests, and events. This role is required to use the CloudBees CI plugin.

x_clbe_cloudbees_s.admin

This role allows access to the import set tables (see below).

x_clbe_cloudbees_s.user

This role allows the user to view the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App menu items.

Web services for the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App

The following web services are set up with the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App:

Web service Description

Web service	Description
`/api/now/import/x_clbe_cloudbees_s_change_request_cb`	This is the endpoint to create and update change requests.
`/api/now/import/x_clbe_cloudbees_s_incident_cb`	This is the endpoint to create and update incident tickets.

/api/now/import/x_clbe_cloudbees_s_change_request_cb

This is the endpoint to create and update change requests.

/api/now/import/x_clbe_cloudbees_s_incident_cb

This is the endpoint to create and update incident tickets.

Import set tables for the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App

The web services are backed by the following import set tables:

Import set table Description

Import set table	Description
`change_request_cb`	Stores change requests.
`incident_cb`	Stores incident tickets.

change_request_cb

Stores change requests.

incident_cb

Stores incident tickets.

CloudBees CI ServiceNow Plugin

The CloudBees CI ServiceNow Plugin is a pipeline plugin that provides pipeline steps for creating and update change requests and incident tickets in your ServiceNow instance.

Installing the CloudBees CI ServiceNow Plugin

To install the CloudBees CI ServiceNow Plugin:

Sign in to your managed controller or team controller as an administrator.
Open Manage Jenkins Manage Plugins.
Go to the Available tab.
In the Filter fields, type CloudBees CI ServiceNow Plugin.
Select the checkbox next to the name of the plugin.
Select Download now and install after restart.
Follow the instructions to restart the managed controller/team controller.
Go to Manage Jenkins Configure System.
Scroll down to the ServiceNow section.
Specify the ServiceNow URL.
In Credentials, select the credentials to use to connect to your ServiceNow instance.
Click Validate to validate the settings.

Creating and updating change requests and incident tickets

Two pipeline steps are provided to create and manage change requests and incident tickets: serviceNowCreate and serviceNowUpdate.

To use the Pipeline steps:

In the Snippet Generator, select the Pipeline step you want to use.
Select the type of record, either a change request or an incident ticket.
Complete the fields that you want to include.

Create a change request

Returns a correlation ID if successful. The correlation ID is used to identify a change request to update.

def corrId = serviceNowCreate changeRequest(shortDescription:'1')▼

Update a change request

Returns a correlation ID if successful. Requires correlationId. The correlation ID is used to identify a change request to update.

def corrId = serviceNowUpdate correlationId: corrId, record: changeRequest(shortDescription:'2')▼

Change request fields

The following changeRequest fields correspond to ServiceNow change request fields:

assignedTo

assignmentGroup

Scripted Pipeline examples

def request = ChangeRequest shortDescription:'Deploy to Test',type:'Standard',category:'Other',impact:'3 - Low',risk:'Moderate',priority:'4 - Low',ci:'AS400'
createChangeRequest changeRequest: request▼

def start = new Date()

sleep 30

def end = new Date()

def request = ChangeRequest shortDescription:'Deploy to Production',type:'Standard',category:'Other',impact:'3 - Low',risk:'Moderate',priority:'4 - Low',ci:'AS400',workStartDate:start,workEndDate:end
createChangeRequest changeRequest: request▼

Links to change requests

Change requests that are created will be listed on the build page. Change requests will also be listed on the job page (see below), but only for the most recent build. You can click on the link to go directly to the change request in ServiceNow.

Change request in ServiceNow

In ServiceNow, the change request will have log output and links back to the project and build.

Create an incident ticket

Returns a correlation ID if successful. The correlation ID is used to identify an incident ticket to update.

def corrId = serviceNowCreate incidentTicket(shortDescription:'1')▼

Update an incident ticket

Returns a correlation ID if successful. Requires correlationId. The correlation ID is used to identify an incident ticket to update.

def corrId = serviceNowUpdate correlationId: corrId, record: incidentTicket(shortDescription:'2')▼

Incident ticket fields

The following incidentTicket fields correspond to ServiceNow incident ticket fields.

assignedTo

assignmentGroup

callerId

Scripted Pipeline example

def ticket = IncidentTicket shortDescription:'Job failed!',callerId:'Beth Anglin',impact:'3 - Low',urgency:'3 - Low'

def requestId = createIncidentTicket incidentTicket: ticket▼

Links to incident tickets

Incident tickets that are created are listed on the build page. Incident tickets are also listed on the job page (see below), but only for the most recent build. You can select the link to go directly to the incident ticket in ServiceNow.

Incident ticket in ServiceNow

In ServiceNow, the incident ticket will have log output and links back to the project and build.

Troubleshooting CloudBees CI ServiceNow integration

If you are experiencing issues with CloudBees CI ServiceNow integration, review the following suggestions:

Ensure the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App is installed.

To validate that the CloudBees CI ServiceNow App is installed, type CloudBees in the main menu filter navigator. The CloudBees main menu item and submenu items should appear (if the app has been installed).
Ensure the ServiceNow user has been created with the correct roles.

Verify that a user has been created under System Security > Users with the role x_clbe_cloudbees_s.web_service on your ServiceNow instance. If not, follow the steps in Adding the web services user above.
Ensure that the ServiceNow credentials have been added to Jenkins.

Access Manage Jenkins > Configure System on your client controller to verify that the ServiceNow credentials have been added. Click Validate to ensure the credentials are correct.
Configure the log recorder to view all the logs for the plugin.

If you don’t configure the log recorder, you won’t see anything in the regular Jenkins logs.

To configure the log recorder:
1. Go to Jenkins>System Log.
2. Click New Log Recorder.
3. Enter a name for the logs, such as ServiceNow plugin logs.
4. Add a logger that points to the com.cloudbees.plugins.servicenow package.
5. Choose a log level, such as All.
6. Click Save.
7. Run a CloudBees CI ServiceNow plugin pipeline step.
8. View the logs in the log recorder.