Ticketing Integration with ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus MSP

ServiceDesk Plus (SDP) MSP is a web-based Help Desk and Asset Management software, offered by ManageEngine that allows creation and management of multiple SDP accounts from a unified console. Site24x7 integrates with SDP MSP to manually/automatically log tickets in your preferred SDP MSP account for any Site24x7 down/trouble/critical alerts. When the outages are resolved, these tickets are automatically closed in your preferred SDP MSP account dashboard.

Contents

• Prerequisites
• Integration Procedures
• Remotely Manage tickets in Site24x7
• View Tickets in SDP MSP Portal

Prerequisites

• You must have SDP MSP installed on your network. Learn more about SDP MSP Installation.
• Site24x7’s integration with ServiceDesk Plus (SDP) MSP requires you to have an On-Premise Poller installed on your network from where it can reach SDP MSP. On-Premise Poller helps you to post alarms to SDP MSP from the cloud.
  
  Learn how to install On-Premise Poller for:

  • Windows
  • Linux
  
  
  On-Premise Poller helps in monitoring your internal network and resources like URLs and network devices behind the firewall. This software is near zero maintenance and firewall friendly. It can also act as a private monitoring station complementing Site24x7's 110+ global locations.
• You must either have a Super Admin or an Admin role in your Zoho Organization account inorder to setup this integration in your Site24x7 account.
• Once your SDP MSP application is setup, login to the application account using the Technician login credentials. Follow the steps below to generate your SDP MSP Technician Key:
  1. Access your SDP MSP account using the user credentials.
  2. Once you're logged into SDP MSP Portal, generate the unique Technician Key by following the steps listed here.  
     
     Technician Key is a secure alphanumeric identifier that can only be generated after you login into your SDP MSP account. It's a unique identifier used for verifying your account during an API invocation. Learn more about SDP MSP Technician Key generation.

Integration Procedures

To connect your Site24x7 account to SDP MSP, follow the steps below:

1. Login to Site24x7.
2. Navigate to Admin > Third Party Integration.
3. Choose ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus MSP from the list.
   
   You'll see a prompt to install On-Premise Poller in your network.
4. If you've On-Premise Pollers installed in your account, you'll be redirected to the SDP MSP Integration page. Update the integration form as follows:
   • Integration Name: Specify a name for your SDP MSP Integration.
   • On-Premise Pollers: Pick a preconfigured On-Premise Poller from the dropdown from where it can reach your configured SDP MSP. 
     
     Learn how to install an On-Premise Poller.

      
   • ServiceDesk Plus MSP URL: Specify the name of the server and port number where ServiceDesk Plus MSP is running
   • Technician Key: Copy the SDP MSP On-Premise Technician Key that you had generated in the SDP MSP portal and paste it in this field.
   • Template Name: In ServiceDesk Plus, there are predefined incident formats called as Templates. You can provide the Template Name from ServiceDesk Plus Cloud in this field. If not, the default name, Default Request, will be used as the Template Name. To obtain the Template Name, log in to your ServiceDesk Plus Cloud account and navigate to New Request > Service Catalog > Incident Templates.
   • Account Name: Specify the account name created in the SDP MSP. Alerts from Site24x7 will be created as tickets under the configured SDP MSP account.
   • Request Subject: Use the "$ tags" to customize the subject line of your alert ticket. Use the Incident and Custom Parameters to customize the subject.
   • Select Integration Level: You can post alerts to ServiceDesk Plus MSP from specific monitors, all monitors/monitor groups associated to selected tags or all monitors in your account. It is set to "All Monitors", by default. Hence, it translates into a Global Integration where all alarms from your Site24x7 account are pushed to ServiceDesk Plus MSP.
     
     For tags associated to your monitor group that have monitors in parent level and a few monitors in sub group level, alerts from only the parent monitors get logged as tickets in ServiceDesk Plus MSP.
   • Trigger Alerts For Monitor Status Change: Use the check boxes to choose the monitor status changes (Down, Trouble, and Critical) for which you'd wish to receive alerts.
   • Request Creation Mode: Click the manual or automatic radio button to invoke the desired mode of ticket creation in your ServiceDesk Plus MSP portal.
     
     In the automatic mode, down/trouble/critical alerts from Site24x7 automatically log tickets in your SDP MSP portal. Detailed description about your monitor's downtime is also documented on the ticket. When the incidents are resolved in Site24x7, the tickets are closed automatically. Alternately, by initiating a "close request", you can remotely close the ticket from within your Site24x7 control panel.
     
     
     In the manual mode, the operator must access the (Create Request in ServiceDesk Plus MSP) link provided under the Overall status widget in the Monitor Summary Dashboard or the RCA page, and then submit the "Create Request" to manually generate a ticket in your SDP MSP portal. Detailed description about your monitor's downtime is also documented on the ticket. By submitting a "close request", you can remotely close the ticket from within your Site24x7 control panel.

   • Click the Save and Test button to save the integration and to receive a test alert to check whether the integration is successful. Or, you can click the Save button to finish the integration. 

     You can also track the status of any new or existing tickets on the SDP MSP portal.

Remotely Manage Tickets in Site24x7

Based on your chosen request creation mode, Site24x7 lets you to remotely create and close tickets, without you even having to access the SDP MSP portal.

Automatic Mode: Site24x7 down/trouble/critical alerts cause automatic ticket creation in the SDP MSP portal. The tickets are automatically closed in the SDP MSP portal when the incidents are resolved in Site24x7. Nevertheless, tickets can also be remotely closed from the Site24x7 control panel itself. Follow the steps below:

• Login to Site24x7.
• Open the Monitor Summary Dashboard for your Down/Trouble/Critical monitor.
• Access the "Create Request in ServiceDesk Plus MSP" link listed under the Summary widget.
  

  

• You can also access the same link from your RCA page too.

  

• A "Create Request" window will pop up with the subject line of the ticket and a "Close Request" button. 
• Submit "Close Request" button to remotely close the ticket in your SDP MSP portal.

  

• Once the request is initiated, a "Request Details" window will pop up on your screen giving you details like; Request ID, Request Subject, Technician Name and Status of the request.

Manual Mode: You can remotely log your down/trouble/critical tickets in the SDP MSP portal; further, close these tickets remotely from the Site24x7 control panel itself. Follow the steps below:

• Login to Site24x7.
• Open the Monitor Summary Dashboard for your Down/Trouble/Critical monitor.
• Access the "Create Request in ServiceDesk Plus MSP" link listed under the summary status widget. You can also access the same link from your RCA page.
• A "Create Request" window will pop up with the subject line of the ticket and a "Create Request" button.
• Click the "Create Request" button to remotely initiate the ticket creation in SDP MSP portal.

  

• Once the request is completed, a "Request Details" window will pop up giving you details of the ticket, including Request ID, Request Subject, Technician Name and Status of the request.
• Later, you can access the same link "Create Request in ServiceDesk Plus MSP" and submit "Close Request" button to remotely close the ticket listed in your SDP MSP portal.

View Tickets in SDP MSP Portal

Once you've integrated your Site24x7 account with SDP MSP, you'll be able to view all your alert tickets in a single dashboard inside the SDP MSP Client. On top of this, any status change is documented inside the SDP MSP client with proper description. Within the SDP MSP portal, you can assign your tickets to a technician and execute many more operations. However, when the SDP MSP application itself is not accessible, no down/trouble/critical tickets would be logged in your SDP MSP portal.

Fig.1: View Requests in SDP MSP Portal

Fig.2: Request details in SDP MSP Portal