Configure Connection to Data Source

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

After you install the ServiceNow OCF connector, you must configure the connection to the ServiceNow data source.

The various steps involved in configuring the ServiceNow data source connection setting are:

Provide Access

Go to the Access tab on the Settings page of your ServiceNow data source, set the data source visibility using these options:

  • Public Data Source — The data source is visible to all users of the catalog.

  • Private Data Source — The data source is visible to the users allowed access to the data source by Data Source Admins.

You can add new Data Source Admin users in the Data Source Admins section.

Connect to Data Source

To connect to the data source, you must perform these steps:

Application Settings

Specify Application Settings if applicable. Save the changes after providing the information by clicking Save.

Specify Application Settings if applicable. Click Save to save the changes after providing the information.

Parameter

Description

BI Connection Info

This parameter is used to generate lineage between the current data source and another source in the catalog, for example a BI source that retrieves data from the underlying database. The parameter accepts host and port information of the corresponding BI data source connection.

Use the following format: host:port

You can provide multiple values as a comma-separated list:

10.13.71.216:1541,sever.com:1542

Find more details in BI Connection Info.

Disable Automatic Lineage Generation

Select this checkbox to disable automatic lineage generation from QLI, MDE, and Compose queries. By default, automatic lineage generation is enabled.

Connector Settings

Datasource Connection

Not applicable.

Authentication

Specify Authentication Settings. Save the changes after providing the information by clicking Save.

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Parameter

Description

Auth Scheme

Select the auth scheme used for authentication from the dropdown.

  • Auto - Enables the provider to decide automatically based on the other connection properties you have set.

  • Basic - Set this to use BASIC authentication. This is the default option.

  • OAuth - Not supported.

  • OAuthPassword - Set this to perform OAuth authentication with GrantType Password.

  • OKTA - Not supported.

  • ADFS - Not supported.

  • OneLogin - Not supported.

  • PingFederate - Not supported.

URL

Specify the URL of the ServiceNow instance.

User

Specify the username to authenticate ServiceNow.

Passwords

Specify the password that authenticates ServiceNow.

SSO

Not supported.

OAuth

Specify OAuth properties. Save the changes after providing the information by clicking Save.

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Parameter

Description

Initiate OAuth

Select any property from the dropdown to initiate the process to obtain or refresh the OAuth access token when you connect.

  • OFF

  • GETANDREFRESH

  • REFRESH

OAuth Client Id

Specify the client ID assigned when registering your application with an OAuth authorization server.

OAuth Client Secret

Specify the client secret assigned when registering your application with an OAuth authorization server.

OAuth Access Token

Not required.

Callback URL

Not required.

OAuth Grant Type

Select Password as the OAuth Grant Type from the dropdown.

OAuth Verifier

Not required.

OAuth Refresh Token

Not required.

OAuth Expires In

Not required.

OAuth Token Timestamp

Not required.

SSL

Specify SSL properties. Save the changes after providing the information by clicking Save.

Parameter

Description

SSL Server Cert

Specify the SSL server certificate used to connect using TLS/SSL.

Firewall

Specify Firewall properties. Save the changes after providing the information by clicking Save.

../../../_images/ServiceNowOCF_03.png

Parameter

Description

Firewall Type

Specify the protocol the proxy-based firewall uses for traffic tunneling.

  • TUNNEL: Opens a connection to ServiceNow and traffic flows back and forth through the proxy.

  • SOCKS4: Sends data through the SOCKSv4 proxy as specified in the Firewall Server and Firewall Port. It passes the Firewall User value to the proxy, determining if the connection request should be granted.

  • SOCKS5: Sends data through the SOCKSv5 proxy as specified in the Firewall Server and Firewall Port. If your proxy requires authentication, set Firewall User and Firewall Password to the credentials the proxy recognizes.

Firewall Server

Specify the proxy-based firewall’s hostname, DNS name, or IP address.

Firewall Port

Specify the TCP port of the proxy-based firewall.

Firewall User

Specify the user name to authenticate with the proxy-based firewall.

Firewall Password

Specify the password to authenticate with the proxy-based firewall.

Proxy

Specify Proxy properties. Save the changes after providing the information by clicking Save.

../../../_images/KafkaOCF_09.png

Parameter

Description

Proxy Auto Detect

Select the checkbox to use the system proxy settings. This takes precedence over other proxy settings, so do not select this checkbox to use custom proxy settings.

Proxy Server

Specify the hostname or IP address of a proxy to route HTTP traffic through.

Proxy Port

Specify the TCP port the Proxy Server proxy is running on.

Proxy Auth Scheme

Select the authentication type to authenticate to the Proxy Server from the drop-down:

  • BASIC

  • DIGEST

  • NONE

  • NEGOTIATE

  • NTLM

  • PROPRIETARY

Proxy User

Specify the user name to authenticate the ProxyServer.

Proxy Password

Specify the password of the Proxy User.

Proxy SSL Type

Select the SSL type when connecting to the ProxyServer from the drop-down:

  • AUTO

  • ALWAYS

  • NEVER

  • TUNNEL

Proxy Exceptions

Specify the list (separated by semicolon) of destination hostnames or IPs that are exempt from connecting through the Proxy Server.

Logging

Specify Logging properties. Save the changes after providing the information by clicking Save.

../../../_images/KafkaOCF_10.png

Parameter

Description

Verbosity

Specify the verbosity level between 1 to 5 to include details in the log file.

Log Modules

Includes the core modules in the log files. Add module names separated by a semi-colon. By default, all modules are included.

Max Log File Count

Specify the maximum file count for log files. After the limit, the log file is rolled over, and time is appended at the end of the file. The oldest log file is deleted.

Maximum Value: 2

Default: -1. A negative or zero value indicates unlimited files.

View the connector logs in Admin Settings > Server Admin > Manage Connectors > ServiceNow OCF connector.

Schema

Specify Schema properties. Save the changes after providing the information by clicking Save.

../../../_images/ServiceNowOCF_04.png

Parameter

Description

Browsable Schemas

Specify the schemas as a subset of the available schemas in a comma-separated list. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC.

Tables

Specify the fully qualified name of the table as a subset of the available tables in a comma-separated list.

Each table must be a valid SQL identifier that might contain special characters escaped using square brackets, double quotes, or backticks. For example, Tables=TableA,[TableB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`TableC With Space`.

Views

Specify the fully qualified name of the Views as a subset of the available tables in a comma-separated list.

Each view must be a valid SQL identifier that might contain special characters escaped using square brackets, double quotes, or backticks. For example, Views=ViewA,[ViewB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`ViewC With Space`.

Include Database Views

Select this checkbox to expose the database views.

Include System Tables

Uncheck this checkbox to not expose the system tables. This is selected by default.

Miscellaneous

Specify Miscellaneous properties. Save the changes after providing the information by clicking Save.

Parameter

Description

Batch Size

Specify the maximum size of each batch operation to submit.

When BatchSize is set to a value greater than 0, the batch operation will split the entire batch into separate batches of size BatchSize.

The split batches will then be submitted to the server individually. This is useful when the server has limitations on the request size that can be submitted. Setting BatchSize to 0 will submit the entire batch as specified.

Connection Life Time

The maximum lifetime of a connection in seconds. Once the time has elapsed, the connection object is disposed. The default is 0, indicating no limit to the connection lifetime.

Display Value

Select the display value from the dropdown:

  • TRUE - Returns display values for all fields.

  • FALSE - Returns actual values from the database.

  • ALL - Returns both actual and display values.

Display Value Common Name

This property accepts a pattern-like value used to format the column names when DisplayValue=ALL. ‘{0}’ serves as a placeholder for the column names.

Enforce Column Values

Select this checkbox to control whether available values for an element are retrieved and checked when executing INSERT or UPDATE statements.

Exclude Reference Link

Select this checkbox to exclude the additional information provided for the reference fields.

Get Columns Metadata
Select the user preference as to when and how the provider should get the columns metadata:

  • OnStart - The provider will execute the metadata calls to discover and cache all columns for every table before executing the first statement.

  • OnUse - The provider will execute the table-specific metadata calls the first time the table is referenced, provided the metadata for the table has not already been cached.

Max Rows

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

Other

This field is for properties that are used only in specific use cases.

Pagesize

Specify the maximum number of rows to fetch from ServiceNow.

The Pagesize property affects the maximum number of results to return per page from ServiceNow. Setting a higher value may result in better performance at the cost of additional memory allocated per page consumed.

Pool Idle Timeout

Specify the allowed idle time for a connection before it is closed. The default value is 60 seconds.

Pool Max Size

The maximum connections in the pool. The default is 100.

Pool Min Size

The minimum number of connections in the pool. The default is 1.

Pool Wait Time

The max seconds to wait for an available connection. The default value is 60 seconds.

Pseudo Columns

This property indicates whether or not to include pseudo columns as columns in the table.

Readonly

Select this checkbox to enforce read-only access to ServiceNow from the provider.

Show Description

Select the description to be displayed from the dropdown:

  • NONE

  • TableLables

  • ColumnLables

  • TableAndColumnLables

  • ColumnComments

Timeout

Specify the value in seconds until the timeout error is thrown, canceling the operation.

Use Connection Pooling

Select this checkbox to enable connection pooling.

Use Display Table Names

Select this checkbox to use table names instead of API names.

User Defined Views

Specify the file path pointing to the JSON configuration file containing your custom views.

Obfuscate Literals

Obfuscate Literals — Enable this toggle to hide the details of the queries in the catalog page that are ingested via QLI or executed in Compose. Disabled by default.

Test Connection

Under Test Connection, click Test to validate network connectivity.

Note

You can only test connectivity after providing the authentication information.

Metadata Extraction

This connector supports metadata extraction (MDE) based on default queries built in the connector code but does not support custom query-based MDE. You can configure metadata extraction on the Metadata Extraction tab of the settings page.

For more information about the available configuration options, see Configure Metadata Extraction for OCF Data Sources.

Compose

For details about configuring the Compose tab of the Settings page, refer to Configure Compose for OCF Data Sources.

Sampling and Profiling

Sampling and profiling is supported. For details, see Configure Sampling and Profiling for OCF Data Sources.

Query Log Ingestion

Not supported.

Troubleshooting

Refer to Troubleshooting for information about logs.