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4. Set up the Netcool/Impact Connector

3.1: Overview​

In this Lab, you will create an instance of the Netcool/Impact Connector to connect to an existing Netcool/Impact server. Most, if not all, AIOps deployments will include Netcool/Impact to enable automation and integration with third-party systems. Creating and configuring the Netcool/Impact Connector therefore is usually going to be a key part of any AIOps set-up.

3.2 Preparation tasks​

Retrieve Netcool/Impact certificates​

In this section, you will retrieve the two certificates used by Netcool/Impact for its server and GUI server processes. These are needed to complete the Netcool/Impact Connector instance.

Open a command prompt and issue the following commands. Save the resulting certificates to a text editor.

echo '' | openssl s_client -connect netcoolvm.ocp.techzone.lan:16311  -showcerts 2>&1  | sed -n -e '/BEGIN\ CERTIFICATE/,/END\ CERTIFICATE/ p'
echo '' | openssl s_client -connect netcoolvm.ocp.techzone.lan:9081  -showcerts 2>&1  | sed -n -e '/BEGIN\ CERTIFICATE/,/END\ CERTIFICATE/ p'

Set up the Zen API key​

Use the following steps to create an instance of the Netcool/Impact Connector:

  • Log in to the AIOps console
  • Click on your user icon in the top-right corner of the screen and select Profile and settings
  • Click on API key in the top-right corner of the screen and select Generate new key
  • Copy and save the API key to a safe place
  • Substitute your copied API key into the following script:
ZENAPIKEY=$(echo "cpadmin:<your-API-key>" | base64 -w 0)
echo ${ZENAPIKEY}
  • Test out your ZENAPIKEY using the following:
CPD_ROUTE=`oc get route -n cp4aiops cpd -o jsonpath='{.spec.host}'`
TENANT_ID=cfd95b7e-3bc7-4006-a4a8-a73a79c71255
curl -kv -H "Authorization: ZenApiKey ${ZENAPIKEY}" -H "x-tenant-id: ${TENANT_ID}"  "https://${CPD_ROUTE}/aiops/api/issue-resolution/v1/alerts/"

If you get a JSON payload response containing events, it means your ZENAPIKEY works.

Save the value of ZENAPIKEY to a text editor.

3.3 Create a Netcool/Impact Connector instance​

Use the following steps to create an instance of the Netcool/Impact Connector:

  • Log in to the AIOps console and select Integrations from the main menu
  • Click the Add integration button to add a new integration
  • Type Netcool into the Search bar
  • Choose IBM Tivoli Netcool Impact and click Get started to create a new instance
  • Name: the label you want to give this integration instance
  • GUI Server URLs of Impact endpoint: enter: https://netcoolvm.ocp.techzone.lan:16311
  • Backend Server URLs of Impact endpoint: enter: https://netcoolvm.ocp.techzone.lan:9081
  • User ID: enter: impactadmin
  • Password: enter: netcool
  • Impact certificates: paste in the certificates you retrieved earlier
  • Deployment options: leave this set to Local
  • Click on the Done button to complete the integration

It will now take a few minutes for AIOps to create the new integration. Refresh the Integrations page and ensure the Integration status eventually shows with a green tick.

3.4 Complete the integration in Netcool/Impact​

As part of the Netcool/Impact Connector instance creation, AIOps creates a number of assets within Netcool/Impact, including some policies, and a RESTful API Data Source Adaptor (DSA) instance. The final step in the setup of the Netcool/Impact Connector integration is to configure the Data Source Adaptor in Netcool/Impact to be able to connect back to AIOps via its API. Use the following steps to complete this last task.

  • Navigate to the Netcool/Impact GUI: https://netcoolvm:16311/ibm/console
  • Log in to Netcool/Impact as the user impactadmin and password netcool
  • Click on Data Model
  • Identify the RESTful API DSA instance created by AIOps by its name starting with AIOps-
  • Double click the AIOps DSA instance to edit it
  • Set Host Name to the AIOps host name: cpd-cp4aiops.apps.ocp.techzone.lan
  • Use HTTPS: checked
  • Disable SSL Verification: checked
  • Reuse Connection: checked
  • Cache Response: unchecked
  • Authentication method to use: select No Authentication
  • Scroll down to: Protected Request Headers
  • Create a new header with the following details:
    • Header Name: Authorization
    • Header Value: ZenApiKey <your-ZENAPIKEY-created-earlier>
  • Click OK to save your new header
  • Click on the Save button with the small disk icon at the top of the page to save your changes
  • Click on the X to close the DSA instance
  • Right click on the DSA instance and select Test Connection and verify it responds with Connection OK
note

The header value should be the exact string ZenApiKey, followed by a space character, followed by the ZENAPIKEY output you saved to a text editor earlier. If your DSA connection test fails, check each of the steps above to ensure they are correct.