Defining an Email template in network monitoring systems
Here is an easier way to integrate Email Alerts from any Network Montioring solution, be it HP OpenView, Solarwinds or ManageEngine OpManager (& Applications Manager) into ServiceDesk Plus.
Before we begin, let me put forth few questions.
Doesn’t it look more versatile than the Log a Ticket Profile? Yes, it really does, atleast to say so, in my opinion.
All you have to do is identify a delimiter and your email should be formatted in the following way :
@@ is the delimiter in the above Email Template and you can use any delimiter like ##, $$, %% etc.
The advantage here is that any request parameter can be a part of the Email Template. ServiceDesk Plus parses this email and sets the request parameter values, based on the received template. There is no need for a business rule to redefine the request parameters.
The above example is to open a request. You can also edit, close or pick-up a ticket, provided you know the ticket id.
Let us consider the scenario that the above email alert from a Network monitoring software is generated as a Request (or Incident) and assigned to the group “Network”. The next step in the Request Workflow is 'Acknowledgement by a Technician'. The Technician will receive ‘Request Creation’ and/or ‘Request Assigned to Group’ notification. The Request ID will be available in the Notification Email. Let us assume that the Request ID is 283872. The Technician can save the below email template and replace the request id, whenever necessary, so as to pickup a request.
Let us now, look at another example for closing the request. The template is as follows :
Now, the only option left out is Edit Request. Let us say, that the above alert has to be assigned to Technician John Doe. The Template is
Doesn’t this sound interesting and easy?
I leave it to you to play more with this feature.
Kevin
Before we begin, let me put forth few questions.
- Do you have trouble logging a ticket into ServiceDesk Plus?
- Do you feel that only a few parameters (like Technician, Priority & Category) can be set through Log a Ticket Profile?
- Do you feel the ServiceDesk Plus settings are cumbersome in ManageEngine OpManager & Applications Manager?
- Is your technician always ‘on the ground’, hardly having time to login to the Web client of ServiceDesk Plus?
- Do you want to create a workflow for alerts from other Network Monitoring Solutions?
- Do you need an API based integration for Email Alerts from HP OpenView, Solarwinds, OpManager, Applications Manager or any other network monitoring solution?
Doesn’t it look more versatile than the Log a Ticket Profile? Yes, it really does, atleast to say so, in my opinion.
All you have to do is identify a delimiter and your email should be formatted in the following way :
@@OPERATION=AddRequest@@
@@CATEGORY=Network@@
@@SUBCATEGORY=Router@@
@@ITEM=DSL Link@@
@@MODE=Alert from OpManager@@
@@LEVEL=Tier 2@@
@@PRIORITY=High@@
@@URGENCY=Urgent@@
@@REQUESTTYPE=Alarm@@
@@REQUESTER=OpManager Alert@@
@@REQUESTEREMAIL=opmanager-noreply@yourdomain.com@@
@@GROUP=Network@@
@@TITLE=RTT Violation between 192.168.1.10 and 172.64.56.22 is more than 30 seconds@@
@@ASSET=Router1@@
@@SITE=New York@@@@ is the delimiter in the above Email Template and you can use any delimiter like ##, $$, %% etc.
The advantage here is that any request parameter can be a part of the Email Template. ServiceDesk Plus parses this email and sets the request parameter values, based on the received template. There is no need for a business rule to redefine the request parameters.
The above example is to open a request. You can also edit, close or pick-up a ticket, provided you know the ticket id.
Let us consider the scenario that the above email alert from a Network monitoring software is generated as a Request (or Incident) and assigned to the group “Network”. The next step in the Request Workflow is 'Acknowledgement by a Technician'. The Technician will receive ‘Request Creation’ and/or ‘Request Assigned to Group’ notification. The Request ID will be available in the Notification Email. Let us assume that the Request ID is 283872. The Technician can save the below email template and replace the request id, whenever necessary, so as to pickup a request.
@@OPERATION=PickupRequest@@
@@REQUESTID=283872@@Let us now, look at another example for closing the request. The template is as follows :
@@OPERATION=CloseRequest@@
@@REQUESTID=283872@@Now, the only option left out is Edit Request. Let us say, that the above alert has to be assigned to Technician John Doe. The Template is
@@OPERATION=EditRequest@@
@@REQUESTID=283872@@
@@TECHNICIAN=John Doe@@Doesn’t this sound interesting and easy?
I leave it to you to play more with this feature.
Kevin
I cant get this sytem to work either Just logs a new ticket , I just want to be alble to set a category and subcategory for our reporting so its not blank I have tried sending the message as plain text also Doesnt it have to also have @SDP@ in the subject line ?
Hi Kevin, Thanks for the luxury explanation. But I need more help. Could you please send me an example e-mail request? For example I am a user and I need to send a request mail to IT help desk department. What should I do? Should I put this to the body of my mail and send? @@OPERATION=AddRequest@@ @@CATEGORY=Network@@ @@SUBCATEGORY=Router@@ @@ITEM=DSL Link@@ @@MODE=Alert from OpManager@@ @@LEVEL=Tier 2@@ @@PRIORITY=High@@ @@URGENCY=Urgent@@ @@REQUESTTYPE=Alarm@@ @@REQUESTER=OpManager Alert@@ @@REQUESTEREMAIL=opmanager-noreply@yourdomain.com@@ @@GROUP=Network@@ @@TITLE=RTT Violation between 192.168.1.10 and 172.64.56.22 is more than 30 seconds@@ @@ASSET=Router1@@ @@SITE=New York@@ Thanks in advance.
This crap doesn't work. I have literally copied your code into my email (our system has the same delimiters) and all it ever does is create a new ticket. I am ready to throw this application and all of its crap out of the window (9th floor).
2) and 3) - Those issues are your problem to fix. Since you can read the data from Servicedesk into Opmanager get it to read more fields in and show them as dropdowns like the others - you HAVE to be able to set 'Group' for example otherwise it's useless. You should not have to make SD+ change to fit Opman. Fair enough that this change in SD+ gets round the issue but it could be made a lot easier directly in Opmanager.