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ServiceNow Source Connector for Confluent Cloud

Note

This is a Quick Start for the managed cloud connector. If you are installing the connector locally for Confluent Platform, see ServiceNow Source Connector for Confluent Platform.

The Kafka Connect ServiceNow Source connector is used to poll for additions and changes made in a ServiceNow table (see the ServiceNow documentation) and get these changes into Apache Kafka® in real time. The connector consumes data from a ServiceNow table to add and update records in a Kafka topic.

Features

The ServiceNow Source connector provides the following features:

  • Topics created automatically: The connector can automatically create Kafka topics.
  • At least once delivery: The connector guarantees that records are delivered at least once to the Kafka topic.
  • Automatic retries: When network failures occur, the connector automatically retries the request. The property retry.max.times controls how many times retries are attempted. An exponential backoff is added to each retry interval.
  • Elasticity: The connector allows you to configure two parameters that enforce the throughput limit: batch.max.rows and poll.interval.s. The connector defaults to 10000 records and a 30 second polling interval. If a large number of updates occur within the given interval, the connector will paginate records according to configurable batch size. Note that since ServiceNow provides precision to one second, the ServiceNow Connector provides one second as the lowest poll.interval.s configuration property setting.
  • Supports one task: The connector supports running one task only. That is, one table is handled by one task.
  • Supported data formats: The connector supports Avro, JSON Schema (JSON-SR), Protobuf, and JSON (schemaless) output formats. Schema Registry must be enabled to use a Schema Registry-based format (for example, Avro, JSON Schema, or Protobuf). See Schema Registry Enabled Environments for additional information.

For more information and examples to use with the Confluent Cloud API for Connect, see the Confluent Cloud API for Connect section.

Limitations

Be sure to review the following information.

Quick Start

Use this quick start to get up and running with the Confluent Cloud ServiceNow Source connector. The quick start provides the basics of selecting the connector and configuring it to stream events.

Prerequisites
  • Authorized access to a Confluent Cloud cluster on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure (Azure), or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
  • The Confluent CLI installed and configured for the cluster. See Install the Confluent CLI.
  • Schema Registry must be enabled to use a Schema Registry-based format (for example, Avro, JSON_SR (JSON Schema), or Protobuf). See Schema Registry Enabled Environments for additional information.
  • You must have the ServiceNow instance URL, table name, and connector authentication details. For details, see the ServiceNow docs.

Using the Confluent Cloud Console

Step 1: Launch your Confluent Cloud cluster.

See the Quick Start for Confluent Cloud for installation instructions.

Step 2: Add a connector.

In the left navigation menu, click Connectors. If you already have connectors in your cluster, click + Add connector.

Step 3: Select your connector.

Click the ServiceNow Source connector card.

ServiceNow Source Connector Card

Step 4: Enter the connector details.

Note

  • Make sure you have all your prerequisites completed.
  • An asterisk ( * ) designates a required entry.

At the Add ServiceNow Source Connector screen, complete the following:

Select the topic you want to send data to from the Topics list. To create a new topic, click +Add new topic.

Step 5: Check for records.

Verify that records are being produced at the Kafka topic.

For more information and examples to use with the Confluent Cloud API for Connect, see the Confluent Cloud API for Connect section.

Using the Confluent CLI

Complete the following steps to set up and run the connector using the Confluent CLI.

Note

Make sure you have all your prerequisites completed.

Step 1: List the available connectors.

Enter the following command to list available connectors:

confluent connect plugin list

Step 2: List the connector configuration properties.

Enter the following command to show the connector configuration properties:

confluent connect plugin describe <connector-catalog-name>

The command output shows the required and optional configuration properties.

Step 3: Create the connector configuration file.

Create a JSON file that contains the connector configuration properties. The following example shows the required connector properties.

{
  "connector.class": "ServiceNowSource",
  "name": "ServiceNowSource_0",
  "kafka.auth.mode": "KAFKA_API_KEY",
  "kafka.api.key": "****************",
  "kafka.api.secret": "************************************************",
  "kafka.topic": "<topic-name>",
  "output.data.format": "AVRO",
  "servicenow.url": "<instance-URL>",
  "servicenow.table": "<table-name>",
  "servicenow.user": "<username>",
  "servicenow.password": "<password>",
  "tasks.max": "1",
}

Note the following property definitions:

  • "connector.class": Identifies the connector plugin name.
  • "name": Sets a name for your new connector.

  • "kafka.auth.mode": Identifies the connector authentication mode you want to use. There are two options: SERVICE_ACCOUNT or KAFKA_API_KEY (the default). To use an API key and secret, specify the configuration properties kafka.api.key and kafka.api.secret, as shown in the example configuration (above). To use a service account, specify the Resource ID in the property kafka.service.account.id=<service-account-resource-ID>. To list the available service account resource IDs, use the following command:

    confluent iam service-account list

    For example:

    confluent iam service-account list

   Id     | Resource ID |       Name        |    Description
+---------+-------------+-------------------+-------------------
   123456 | sa-l1r23m   | sa-1              | Service account 1
   789101 | sa-l4d56p   | sa-2              | Service account 2

  • "kafka.topic": Enter the topic name where data is sent.

  • “output.data.format": Enter an output data format (data going to the Kafka topic): AVRO, JSON_SR (JSON Schema), PROTOBUF, or JSON (schemaless). Schema Registry must be enabled to use a Schema Registry-based format (for example, Avro, JSON_SR (JSON Schema), or Protobuf). See Schema Registry Enabled Environments for additional information.

  • "servicenow.<>": Enter the instance URL, table name (or database view name), and connector authentication details. For additional information, see the ServiceNow docs. An instance URL looks like this: https://<instancename>.service-now.com/.

  • "tasks.max": Enter the number of tasks to use with the connector. The connector supports running one task only. That is, one table is handled by one task.

Single Message Transforms: See the Single Message Transforms (SMT) documentation for details about adding SMTs using the CLI.

See Configuration Properties for all property values and descriptions.

Step 4: Load the properties file and create the connector.

Enter the following command to load the configuration and start the connector:

confluent connect cluster create --config-file <file-name>.json

For example:

confluent connect cluster create --config-file servicenow-source-config.json

Example output:

Created connector ServiceNowSource_0 lcc-do6vzd

Step 5: Check the connector status.

Enter the following command to check the connector status:

confluent connect cluster list

Example output:

ID           |             Name              | Status  | Type  | Trace
+------------+-------------------------------+---------+--------+-------+
lcc-do6vzd   | ServiceNowSource_0            | RUNNING | source |       |

Step 6: Check for records.

Verify that records are being produced at the Kafka topic.

For more information and examples to use with the Confluent Cloud API for Connect, see the Confluent Cloud API for Connect section.

Configuration Properties

Use the following configuration properties with this connector.

Note

These are properties for the managed cloud connector. If you are installing the connector locally for Confluent Platform, see ServiceNow Source Connector for Confluent Platform.

How should we connect to your data?

name

Sets a name for your connector.

  • Type: string
  • Valid Values: A string at most 64 characters long
  • Importance: high

Kafka Cluster credentials

kafka.auth.mode

Kafka Authentication mode. It can be one of KAFKA_API_KEY or SERVICE_ACCOUNT. It defaults to KAFKA_API_KEY mode.

  • Type: string
  • Default: KAFKA_API_KEY
  • Valid Values: KAFKA_API_KEY, SERVICE_ACCOUNT
  • Importance: high
kafka.api.key

Kafka API Key. Required when kafka.auth.mode==KAFKA_API_KEY.

  • Type: password
  • Importance: high
kafka.service.account.id

The Service Account that will be used to generate the API keys to communicate with Kafka Cluster.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high
kafka.api.secret

Secret associated with Kafka API key. Required when kafka.auth.mode==KAFKA_API_KEY.

  • Type: password
  • Importance: high

Which topic do you want to send data to?

kafka.topic

Identifies the topic name to write the data to.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high

Output messages

output.data.format

Sets the output Kafka record value format. Valid entries are AVRO, JSON_SR, PROTOBUF, or JSON. Note that you need to have Confluent Cloud Schema Registry configured if using a schema-based message format like AVRO, JSON_SR, and PROTOBUF

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high

ServiceNow details

servicenow.url

ServiceNow Instance URL.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high
servicenow.table

ServiceNow table name.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high
servicenow.user

ServiceNow basic authentication username.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: high
servicenow.password

ServiceNow basic authentication password.

  • Type: password
  • Importance: high
connection.timeout.ms

HTTP request timeout in milliseconds.

  • Type: int
  • Default: 50000 (50 seconds)
  • Importance: low
retry.max.times

Maximum number of times to retry request.

  • Type: int
  • Default: 3
  • Importance: low
poll.interval.s

Frequency in seconds to poll for new data in each table. The minimum poll interval is 1 second and the maximum poll interval is 60 seconds.

  • Type: int
  • Default: 30
  • Importance: medium

ServiceNow query details

batch.max.rows

Maximum number of rows to include in a single batch when polling for new data. This setting can be used to limit the amount of data buffered internally in the connector.

  • Type: int
  • Default: 10000
  • Valid Values: [1,…,10000]
  • Importance: low
servicenow.since

Time to start fetching all updates/creation. Default uses the time connector launched. Note that the time is in UTC and has required format: yyyy-MM-dd.

  • Type: string
  • Importance: medium

Number of tasks for this connector

tasks.max

Maximum number of tasks for the connector.

  • Type: int
  • Valid Values: [1,…,1]
  • Importance: high

Next Steps

For an example that shows fully-managed Confluent Cloud connectors in action with Confluent Cloud ksqlDB, see the Cloud ETL Demo. This example also shows how to use Confluent CLI to manage your resources in Confluent Cloud.

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