ServiceNow Maintenance Plans
The ServiceNow Maintenance Plan Integration allows the identification of infrastructure changes to reduce noise during maintenance windows.
ServiceNow Maintenance Plans enable you to silence specific events during maintenance windows for planned changes or outages.
The BigPanda ServiceNow Maintenance Plan integration has two independent methods to automatically generate a BigPanda maintenance plan using the BigPanda Maintenance Plan V2 API. The first method uses ServiceNow Change Requests and the second uses ServiceNow Outage Records as the source of a maintenance plan. Both methods have a separate configuration section and can be used individually or in combination.
Supported Versions
| BigPanda Integration Version | ServiceNow Versions | Authentication Type |
|---|---|---|
| v2.8+ | Xanadu, Washington, Vancouver, Utah, Tokyo, San Diego, Rome, Quebec, Paris, Orlando, New York, Madrid, London, Kingston, Jakarta, Istanbul | API Key and Bearer Token |
| v2.3-2.7 | Washington, Vancouver, Utah, Tokyo, San Diego, Rome, Quebec, Paris, Orlando, New York, Madrid, London, Kingston, Jakarta, Istanbul | API Key and Bearer Token |
| <v2.3 | Quebec, Paris, Orlando, New York, Madrid, London, Kingston, Jakarta, Istanbul | API Key and Bearer Token |
Key Features
- Suppress alerts from infrastructure undergoing maintenance and/or outage events
- Use ServiceNow encoded queries to filter which changes generate a maintenance plan
- Define which change states generate a plan
- Optionally include task data, with optional filtering
- Specify tag names to match against affected configuration items, supporting exact and wildcard matches.
- Map classes to BigPanda maintenance conditions
Install the Integration
Administrators can install the integration by following the ServiceNow Installation instructions and then the steps below.
Configure common fields
-
In the ServiceNow application, navigate to BigPanda > Configuration.
-
In the General section, the following fields are required to enable Maintenance Plans.
Field Description Bearer Token Enter the BigPanda organization key here. API Key Enter the BigPanda API key here. Only Authorization
No other General section fields are required for Maintenance Plans to function.
-
Configure the Common Maintenance Plan Section
Field Description Maintenance Endpoint URL to send maintenance plans -
Configure the Maintenance Plan Section for Change Request and/or Outage based maintenance plans
Save Frequently
Make sure to Save Configuration as you complete sections.
Configure the Change Request-based Integration
Parent or Task
Payloads must be configured to send either Parent Changes with no tasks or Change Tasks
| Field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Active | A toggle to enable Change Request based Maintenance Plans for your integration | |
| Change Filter | Optional ServiceNow Encoded Query to filter which changes generate a maintenance plan. | |
| Include Task Data | Checkbox to include Task Data in plan. If this box is checked, you must use the planned_start_date and planned_end_date format for start and end times. | |
| Task Filter | Optional ServiceNow Encoded Query to filter which Tasks are included in plan. | |
| Task Cancel States | Comma delimited list of states that represent a canceled task. | |
| Change States | Comma delimited list of all change states that will trigger a maintenance plan. | Scheduled, Work in Progress, Closed Incomplete |
| Stop States | Comma delimited list of change states that represent a stopped change. | Closed Complete |
| Cancel States | Comma delimited list of change states that represent a canceled change. | Rolled Back |
| Start Field Name | The field name for the planned start of change. | If parent change: start_dateIf change task: planned_start_date |
| End Field Name | The field name for the planned end of change. | If parent change: end_dateIf change task: planned_end_date |
| Affected CIs Table Name | Table name to query for Affected Configuration Items. | task_ci |
| Affected CIs Query | Query performed on Affected CIs Table. | task |
| Name | Tag name to match affected CIs | |
| Default | Checkbox to indicate this Tag is a default tag | |
| Exact | Checkbox to indicate this Tag is to be matched exactly (unchecked will match if Tag Name is found within affected CI, ie host-01 would match a tag name host) | |
| Class | Class to map to maintenance condition | |
| Maintenance Conditions | Maintenance conditions that map to class |
Configure the Outage-based Integration
You are able to mark certain Configuration Items as Under Maintenance during an outage to suppress alerts and reduce the administration and ticket volume during outage periods. The following section explains how to configure the BigPanda integration to use the cmdb_ci_outage table to create Maintenance Plans.
| Field | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Check the active toggle to enable Outage-based Maintenance Plans for your integration | |
| Outage Filter | Optional ServiceNow Encoded Query to filter which outages generate a maintenance plan. | active=true or install_status=1 |
| Default End Time | The default number of hours for an outage-based maintenance period. Used only until an actual end time is sent. | 2 |
| Name | Which BigPanda tags will map to the Configuration Item field in the BigPanda Maintenance Plan | |
| Default | Designate this Tag as a default tag. If the affected CI belongs to a class that isn't associated with a tag name above, this tag will apply. If no class mappings are configured, it is best practice to set all tags as default. | |
| Exact | Checkbox to indicate this Tag is to be matched exactly (unchecked will match if Tag Name is found within affected CI, ie host-01 would match a tag name host) | |
| Class | If using ServiceNow Classes, this defines which mappings to apply to the current affected CI | app_name, host, associated_apps |
| Maintenance Conditions | Maintenance conditions that map to class |
Example Configuration
Here’s an example with some data in the task_ci table and how these would map to maintenance plans in BigPanda given the configuration settings below.
Example task_ci Table
Example Table Mapping
The ANNIE-IBM Configuration Item would use the following BPQL because it is of the Computer class: device="ANNIE-IBM"
The Blackberry Configuration Item would use the following BPQL because it is of the Business Service class: host="_Blackberry_" OR device="Blackberry"
The “bondtrade_aus Configuration Item would use the following BPQL because it is of the Database class (and uses the default class mapping): host="_bond_trade_aus"
Uninstall the Integration
Deleting an integration requires that you remove the integration in both the integrated system and BigPanda. We recommend that you first uninstall the integration on the integrated system to prevent traffic from being sent and rejected by BigPanda, since the app_key will not exist once you delete the integration in BigPanda.
Caution During Replacement
When replacing an existing integration with a new tool or system, we recommend configuring the new integration first to ensure no data is lost.
Disable the Integration
You can stop sending change data to BigPanda but preserve your configuration settings by disabling the integration in ServiceNow.
- In the ServiceNow application, navigate to BigPanda > Configuration.
- In the Incidents, Alert Processing - Add On, or Maintenance Plan section, de-select the Active checkbox
- Save the configuration
Stop sending data to BigPanda
Disable any settings that send data to BigPanda.
Within ServiceNow, navigate to System Applications > Applications.
- Click on the BigPanda app.
- Select the module you wish to delete and click the related Uninstall link.
- Click OK.
- Confirm when the dialogue box appears.
Process will Vary
Coordinate with your system architects to ensure that any changes to your ServiceNow integration follows your organizational processes and policies. If you have questions about downstream impacts within BigPanda, please reach out to your account team.
Delete the Integration in BigPanda
Take the following steps to delete the integration from BigPanda:
- In BigPanda, navigate to the Integrations tab and select the desired integration from the list.
- In the integration details on the right of the page, click the trash icon, then confirm you want to delete the integration. The integration will be removed immediately.
No Data Removal
This procedure does not remove any data from BigPanda or the integrated system. As needed, remove data from each system before deleting the integration.
Updated about 2 months ago