Installing and configuring the Nutanix Calm plugin for ServiceNow

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Nutanix Calm is the self-service portal product of Nutanix. With Nutanix Calm it is possible for enterprises to automate infrastructure and application deployments. In this document we will show how to install and configure the Nutanix Calm plugin for ServiceNow. ServiceNow is a tool that is widely used by many enterprises. Integrating ServiceNow with Nutanix Calm offers end-users the possibility to create, manage and delete Nutanix Calm applications directly via the ServiceNow web interface.

General Overview

If you want to install the Nutanix Calm plugin for ServiceNow, you need to have admin access to a ServiceNow instance. If you don’t have a ServiceNow instance available, but you want to try the Nutanix Calm integration, it is possible to request a temporary developer instance via this link: https://developer.servicenow.com/dev.do

Note: Version 1.2 of the plugin will be installed on a New York version of ServiceNow

Install and configure the Nutanix Calm plugin

ServiceNow is a product that runs in the cloud. A MID server needs to be installed in order to allow ServiceNow to communicate with Nutanix Calm. In this example I use a Windows 2016 server that is joined to an Active Directory domain. Below you can see a high-level overview of the solution.

Installing the mid server

• To install the MID server, first login on your ServiceNow instance and search for the MID server section.
• Go to Downloads and select the correct version of the installation files. In this case it is the Windows 64 bit variant.
• Copy the installation file to your Windows 2016 server.

• Create a directory on your Windows server and copy the installation files to the newly created folder.
• Extract the zip file and run the installer.bat file in the agent directory.

• The installer.bat file will open an installation wizard.
• Enter your ServiceNow instance URL and credentials.
• Test your connection before proceeding clicking next.

• On the next screen give your MID server a name and press next.

• Press next after verifying the configuration.

• Start your MID server and press Exit.

• If you want to double check if the service is running, open services.msc and make sure the ServiceNow MID Server_<MID server name> service is running.

• When the service is running, go back to the ServiceNow web interface and go to the Servers board in the MID server section and check if the newly installed MID server is listed. You will see the server is not yet validated.
• Click the checkbox next to your MID server entry and run the validate action.

• Check if all fields in the pop-up box are enabled and press save. Now the MID server will be validated. This can take a few minutes to complete.

• Do not proceed to the next steps before the MID server is validated.

Plugin Prerequisites

Additional pre-requisites must be checked before we can install the plugin.

Global Application Scope

• Make sure you are in the global application scope. This can be verified by going to the settings in the right upper corner, go to the Developer tab and make sure the value for Application is set to Global. Optionally you can enable Show application picker in header. This will show the current application scope at the right upper corner of the ServiceNow web interface.

Table Permissions

• Verify if all of the tables listed below have the required permissions.

Table	Label	Permissions
sys_user_has_role	User Role	Read, Create, Update
sys_user_grmember	Group Member	Read, Create, Update
sys_group_has_role	Group Role	Read, Create, Update
item_option_new	Variable	Read, Create, Update
sys_user_group	Group	Read, Create, Update
sc_category	Category	Read, Create, Update
sc_catalog	Catalog	Read, Create, Update
catalog_ui_policy	Catalog UI Policy	Read, Create, Update
catalog_script_client	Catalog Client Scripts	Read, Create, Update
user_criteria	User Criteria	Read, Create, Update
question	Question	Read, Create, Update
question_choice	Question Choice	Read, Create, Update

You can verify the permissions by checking the Tables dashboard in the System Definition section. You can use the filter at the top of the page to find the correct table.

• Click on the correct table, go to Application Access and check the permissions.
• When the permissions are correct, click Update.
• Repeat this procedure for all the tables.

Additional System Properties

• Enter sys_properties.LIST in the search bar on the left of the ServiceNow web interface. This will open a different tab in your browser.
• Search for the glide.sc.guide.tab.validate key and set the value to true and press Update.

Install the User Criteria Scoped API Plugin

• Go to the Plugin section, search for the plugin using ID com.glideapp.user_criteria.scoped.api and install it.

Installing and Configuring the Plugin

There are two methods of installing the Nutanix Calm ServiceNow plugin. The first method is a manual installation, the second one is via the ServiceNow Store. Both methods are shown in this document.

Installing v1.2 plugin via ServiceNow Store

• On the ServiceNow web interface, enter System Applications in the filter field on the left side of the screen.
• Click on the All section under the All Available Applications header and enter Calm in the search bar. The plugin will be ready for configuration after clicking Install.

• If the application is not found, login on the ServiceNow store and allow your ServiceNow instance to install the Calm plugin. Follow the steps in this video to add the application to your ServiceNow instance:

Contact your ServiceNow administrator if you do not have a login for the ServiceNow store.

Note: It is not allowed to install applications on ServiceNow developer instances using the ServiceNow Store. Please follow the manual procedure to install the Nutanix Calm ServiceNow plugin.

Installing v1.1 and v1.2 plugin manually

• Download or git clone the files in the following git repo: https://github.com/nutanix/Calm-Servicenow-Plugin
• You will see several folders in this repo. We will require both the v1.1 and v1.2 folder. Initially we will use the Nutanix Full Certified Build(v1.0+v1.1).xml file in the v1.1 folder.
• Go to the Retrieved Update Sets section and upload the Nutanix Full Certified Build(v1.0+v1.1).xml file

• When the file is uploaded, go into the Nutanix Calm update set.

• Press Preview Update Set and wait until completion. If you get an error on this step, verify the pre-requisites earlier in this document.

• Press Commit Update Set when the preview process completes.

• Perform the same procedure for the Nutanix Calm V1.2_5.xml file in the v1.2 folder.

Below you can see the result of uploading the two XML files and performing a preview and a commit on both.

Configuring the Plugin

After completing the steps above, we can now configure the Nutanix Calm plugin.

• In the search bar on the left, search for calm.

Note: You can press the star icon next to the Nutanix Calm section to create a favorite.

• It is important to change your application profile from Global to Nutanix Calm at this moment in time.
• Go to Application Properties and fill in the required information:
  • Search for your MID server by pressing the search icon next to the input field
  • Press the lock icon next to the Calm Instance field and enter the URL to your Calm instance in following format: https://<hostname>:<port>
  • Enter your Calm username and password
  • Configure your Approval workflow. If you want to auto-approve, choose Nutanix - Auto Approve by pressing the search icon.
  • Configure the Assignment Group. In this case I selected a random one.
• When everything is entered, press Save Properties A connection and login attempt to your Calm instance will be performed.
• If everything was successful, a Sync Now button will become visible. Click it before continuing.

The duration of the syncing process depends on the size of your Calm environment. The sync is complete when the Sync is in progress bar on the Application Properties section disappears.

You can now browse through your projects, blueprints and deployed applications via ServiceNow.

Create a Catalog Item

• If you want to provision an application via ServiceNow, you first need to create a Catalog item for the blueprint.Go to Catalog Items and press New.

• Choose your project, blueprint and application profile for your catalog item.

• On the Choose Options tab you can check all the input parameters defined on your blueprint.

• On the Checkout tab you give a name and a description to your catalog item. When you are ready, press Checkout.

• The catalog item is now being created and can be requested after a few minutes. Go back to the Catalog Items section and check if the item is present.

Launch Catalog Item

• To launch the catalog item, click on it and press Launch.

• Enter the mandatory information and press Order Now.

This will trigger the required API calls via the MID server to your Calm instance. You can check the progress by checking the Orders section, or by opening the Calm UI.

When the order is complete, you can find it in the Applications section.

Performing Day-2 Operations

• If you want to perform an action on a deployed application, go to Applications, choose your application and scroll down.
• Pick the correct action (in this case we will restart the Windows server), right(!) click and choose Perform Action.

The action is now invoked.

Summary

This document demonstrated how to:

• Install a MID server
• Install and configure the Nutanix Calm ServiceNow plugin
• Create a catalog item
• Launch a catalog item
• Perform a day-2 operation on a provisioned application

This document can also be found on the Nutanix Belux blog: http://thecloudsaloon.com/installing-and-configuring-the-nutanix-calm-plugin-for-servicenow/

Wrapping Up

Huge thanks to Yannick Struyf for creating this great content! Thanks for reading a have a great day. 🙂