11 Integration

11 Integration



Integration


This menu option can be used to setup a Generic Integration System that can work with different ITSM systems, and also is extendible for future systems. It allows Integration with any external system that can potentially trigger the workflows, and handle the results e.g.

  1. Current and new - All known ITSM systems.
  2. Easy to extend for new tools: Support configuration of different tools
  3. File system: Execute a workflow if a new file is present at a specific location
  4. Database: Watch a table for availability of new records, and run workflow if records are available
  5. Email: Run workflow on receipt of an Email
  6. SMS and so on.


Following are the basic operations which any integration service performs:

  1. Initialization
  2. Poll for Automation Requests from Target system (Fetch Requests) 
  3. Forward Requests to AE Server
  4. Send Request Submission Statuses to Target system
  5. Send Request Response to Target system. 

    AutomationEdge Also supports the following, 

  1. Target system Pushing Requests directly to AutomationEdge 
  2. Request Response can also be sent directly to Target system using Plugins.


Following is terminology in this Generic Integration System,

  1. Integration Service: A tomcat-based service that hosts all the integrations for a given tenant.
  2. Integration: One instance of integration that is configured for a tenant to communicate with one third-party service. 
  3. Integration type: Group of integrations which integrate with the same third-party service. Typically, one integration type maps to one code base.
  4. Integration (configuration): One instance of integration that is configured for a tenant to communicate with one third-party service.


Integration Setup:  

Before you can start using Integration services Integration Setup needs to be done. Please refer the section- Integration Services Setup in AutomationEdge_Installation_Guide_R6.1.0 









Integration Service

Integration Service is a Web Server (e.g. tomcat) based service that hosts all the integrations for a given tenant.


Integration Service: Enable 

Integration menu option is available for System Administrator. In order to use integration features, System Administrator needs to enable Integration Service for tenants. Once enabled, Tenant Administrators add only one Integration Service, create types and configurations of their own or use service and types provided by System Administrator.

System Administrator at any point of time can disable the integration for a tenant. If disabled, all the types/configurations of the tenants are deleted from the system.


Following are the steps to enable Integration Service for Tenants.

  1. Navigate to IntegrationServices menu. Click Enable button on the top right. 

Figure 14a: Enable Integration Service for Tenants


  1. A list of all Tenants is displayed along with Allowed number of configurations. To begin with Integration Service for all tenants is disabled. Figure 14b: Tenants to enable/disable Integration Service


  1. You may click on the Status toggle button next to the Tenants for whom you wish to enable or disable Integration services.  Also, specify Alowed number of Type configurations.

 

Figure 14c: Choose Tenants to enable/disable Integration Service

  1. In case you are disabling any Tenants for Integration Services, a pop up warning that All the type configurations for disabled tenant will be deleted appears,. Click OK to confirm.
  2. In case none of the Tenants are being disabled this pop up does not appear.


Figure 14d: Confirm enable/disable Integration Service for Tenants


  1. An Operation completed successfully message is displayed. 

Figure 14e: Enable Integration Services for Tenants completed successfully message


Integration Service: Add

Following are the steps to create an Integration Service,

  1. Navigate to IntegrationServices menu.
  2. Click the Add New button. 

Figure 14f: Add Integration Service


  1. A pop up to configure an Integration Service appears.  This Integration Service is not assigned to any Tenant to begin with. Once the service is created, you may click Enable button to assign it to Tenants.


Figure 14g: Integration Service Configuration pop up


  1. The table below explains these configuration parameters.  


Table 18: Parameters for Integration Service Configuration

Prarameter

Description

Name

The name of the new Integration Service to be created.

Update Conf Job Lower Limit (in minutes)

Specify the job schedule in minutes to update the Integration Services configuration file (aeintegrationservice.conf).


Integration Service creates a new scheduled job for each Integration Service to check for updated configurations/jars if any on AutomationEdge server. The update message from AE Server, is broadcasted to all cluster node’s


This job runs every 5 minutes by default if a value is not provided. 

Update Response Job Lower Limit (in seconds):

Specify the update Response - job schedule in seconds.


Integration Service has one more scheduled jobs that run every 30 seconds for the list of Integration configurations for each Tenant. 

Machine Name

The machine name on which the Integration Service is to be created.

User Name

The User Name on the machine with which the Integration Service runs.

Cluster IP

The machine IP where the service runs (known as Cluster IP in HA setup).


High availability is in built in AutomationEdge Integration services. You may configure a cluster of nodes while creating an Integration service on AutomationEdge UI.

Integration service HA is in the form of active –passive polling mechanism, which means polling happens from one of the integration service nodes in the cluster. In case active node goes down, then passive node becomes active and polling starts from this node.

Note: 

It is recommended to install integration service on different machine, other than AE.

If not, at least the tomcat for integration service should be different from AE Tomcat and the port of integration service should be other than AE cluster ports (i: e 5900 port).

Cluster Port

The machine Port where the service runs (known as Cluster Port in HA setup).



  1. Configure an Integration Service as seen below. Click Create.
  2. On Creation the following validations are performed,  
  1. Name must be unique across all the tenants.
  2. No other service is registered with the same combination of machine hostname and machine username
  3. Cluster Port must be different other than Server’s hazelcast port


Figure 14h: Integration Service Configuration Details



  1. Alternately, you may click Add More Machines as Integration Service Cluster nodes. These nodes provide High Availability(HA) and act as Active-Passive nodes. 
  2. Click Submit.  

Figure 14i: Integration Service Add More Machine Details


  1. If such a Service Name already exists or the Machine Name and the Machine User Name combination are already registered a failure message is displayed. 

Figure 14j: Duplicate Integration Service Error message

  1. Else Integration Service is created and visible in UI. Initially the Services are in stopped state as seen below. 

Figure 14k: Integration Service registered successfully


  1. Before you can start using Integration services Integration Setup needs to be done and the Service has to be started. Please refer the section- Integration Services Setup in AutomationEdge_Installation_Guide_R6.1.0 




Integration Service: Edit

Following are the steps to edit an Integration Service,

  1. Click Edit next to the Service to be edited. 

Figure 15a: Edit Integration Service



  1. The table below explains these configuration parameters.  


Table 19: Integration Services View

Prarameter

Description

Name

The name of the new Integration Service to be created.

Machine Name

The machine names on which the Integration Services are running.

User Name

The User Name on the machine with which the Integration Service runs.

Cluster IP/Hostname

The machine IP where the service runs (known as Cluster IP in HA setup).

Cluster Port

The machine Port where the service runs (known as Cluster Port in HA setup).

Status

The Status of the Integration Service on the respective IP/Hostname.


Note: 

The Status of Integration Services may be displayed as UNKNOWN intermittently (for few seconds), although the Service may be running.

Actions

 Click () to edit the Integration Service

Click () to download the Integration Service configuration file.

Click () to delete the Integration Service



  1. Change the configuration parameters as desired. The Service name cannot be changed. Click Update.


Figure 15b: Edit/Update Integration Service Configuration



  1. You are taken back to the Integration Services menu page.


Figure 15c: Integration Service Updated Successfully




Integration Service: Download configuration file

System Administrators as well as Tenant Administrators have the option to register integration service and download the integration service configuration. Tenant Administrator can use System Administrators services or register its own. Only one integration service registration is allowed for a Tenant Administrator.


This configuration is saved in the database and it will also generate a configuration file named aeintegrationservice.conf. The file should be downloaded and placed in AE_INTG_HOME/conf directory on a machine where integration service runs. The configuration file properties highlighted in Maroon color are not editable.


  1. Navigate to IntegrationServices
  2. Click Download icon in the middle in the Actions column.
  3. Notice that aeintegrationservice.conf is downloaded. 

Figure 15d: Download Integration Service Configuration File


  1. The contents of the downloaded file are seen in below.

{

 "name" : "techedge",

 "uik" : "YmFkYjE1NzQtOThkMy00MmNmLWEyNTctNTRiZjY1MzA0Mjk5MTU3ODkyMDI3MzEyMg==",

 "tenantOrgCode" : null,

 "aeServerUrl" : "http://localhost:8080",

 "aeServerVersion" : "6.1.0",

 "machineDetails" : [ {

   "hostname" : "LPT-0782",

   "username" : "seemak",

   "clusterIp" : "10.41.7.15",

   "clusterPort" : "5900"

 }, {

   "hostname" : "VAE-PRD-Engine",

   "username" : "Administrator",

   "clusterIp" : "10.51.4.161",

   "clusterPort" : "5900"

 } ],

 "cleanupInputFileStorage" : true,

 "cleanupOutputFileStorage" : true,

 "verification" : "YmIyZTI4ZjhmODQ3ZDUzZTJhMzhhZTI0NTNmY2M2N2U="

}


The contents of the integration configuration file aeintegrationservice.conf are listed in the table below,




Table 20:  Integration configuration file contents

Contents in Integration configuration file

Unique Identifier Key (UIK) (generated, encrypted)

Tenant OrgCode (if configured by Tenant Administrator)

AE Server URL (internally stamped)

AE Version (internally stamped)

Multiple pairs of following: 

  1. Machine Username and Hostname (user provided of the machine where Integration Service will run)
  2. Cluster IP Address (user provided in case of HA)
  3. Cluster Port (user provided in case of HA)

Flag for cleanup of input files

Flag for cleanup of output files

Hash of the contents(in Maroon Color) for verification so that it should not be modified

Conf Update Job Lower Limit (in Minutes) (user provided)

Response Update Job Lower Limit (in Seconds) (user provided)




Integration Service: Delete

Following are the steps to delete an Integration Service.

  1. Navigate to IntegrationServices
  2. Click Delete icon in the Actions column next to the service to be deleted.
  3. A warning pop up indicating that all Type configurations associated with the Service will be deleted. To confirm, click Delete.


Figure 15e: Delete Integration Service


  1. Integration Service deleted successfully message appears.


Figure 15f: Integration Service Deleted Successfully




Integration Type

Integration type: Group of integrations which integrate with the same third-party service. Typically, one integration type maps to one code base.

System Administrator and Tenant Administrator have the option to add/update/remove integration types. Integration type name has to be unique across all tenants. Each integration type has its corresponding JAR. Tenant Administrator can configure an Integration Type on any available Integration Services configured by System Administrator or on its own Integration Service. 


Remedyforce REST type integration jar is provided with the release 6.1.0.



Integration Type: Add

Following are the steps to create an Integration Type,

  1. Navigate to IntegrationTypes


Figure 16a: Add new Integration Type


  1. The New Type configuration window opens.  

Figure 16b: Integration Type Configuration

  1. Provide desired configuration details.  Browse the integration type jar file. Click Submit. 

Figure 16c: Integration Type Configuration Details


  1. Integration Type created successfully message appears. 

Figure 16d: Integration Type created successfully

Integration Type: Edit

Following are the steps to 

  1. Navigate to IntegrationTypes menu. 
  2. Click Edit icon in the Actions column for the Type. 

Figure 16e: Edit Integration Type


  1. You may edit the Description or choose a new jar file. Click Submit. 

Figure 16f: Choose new Integration jar file

  1. Integration Type jar updated successfully message appears. 

Figure 16g: Integration Type jar updated successfully


Integration Type: Delete

Following, are the steps to delete an Integration Type.

  1. Navigate to IntegrationTypes menu. 
  2. Click Delete icon in the Actions column for the Type.   
  3. Figure 16h: Delete Integration Type


  1. A warning pop up indicating that the Type along with all its configurations will also be deleted. 
  2. Click Delete Button. 

Figure 16i: Confirm Integration Type deletion



  1. Integration Type deleted successfully message appears.


Figure 16j: Integration Type deleted successfully



Integration Services: Features/Permissions for other users 


Table 21: Integration Services Feature Permissions

Feature/Role

System

Administrator

Tenant Administrator

Workflow Administrator

User Administrator

Agent Administrator

Tenant User

Activity Monitor

Services 

Enable/ Add/Edit/

Download/Delete


*

-

-

-

-

-

Types



-

-

-

-

-

Type Configurations

-


-

-

-

-

-

*Tenant Administrators do not have Enable permission. They can use Integration options once enabled by System Administrator







      Links to better reach 

            Bot Store

             EPD