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ServiceNow PSA Installation Instructions

This guide will walk you through the process of setting up API Key authentication in ServiceNow for external integrations.

Updated over a week ago

Prerequisites

  • ServiceNow developer instance

  • Admin access to ServiceNow

Step 1: Verify Required Plugins

Ensure the needed plugins are installed in your ServiceNow instance:

To check installed plugins:

  1. Navigate to All > System Applications > All Available Applications > All

  2. Use the search function to locate each plugin:

    • REST API Auth Scope (Plugin id: com.glide.rest.auth.scope)

    • REST API Access Policy (Plugin id: com.glide.rest.policy)

    • Authentication scope (Plugin id: com.glide.auth.scope)

    • API Key and HMAC Authentication (Plugin id: com.glide.tokenbased_auth)

    Activate (install) all 4 plugins if they are not installed.
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  3. If plugins are missing, activate them through the ServiceNow Developer Portal

If you don’t have these menus, then use alternative way for Step 1.

Step 1 (alternative): Activate the Plugins

Sign in to the https://developer.servicenow.com/

  1. On the home page, go to the Instance Management widget and select Manage →Activate plugin.

  2. Next to the plugin listing, select Activate.

If available, you can further select to activate the plugin only or include demo data.

Step 2: Create API User

Create a dedicated user account for API access:

  1. Navigate to All > Organization > Users

  2. Click New to create a user

  3. Set the following:

    • User ID (e.g., "SO_API")

    • First name (e.g., "SO_API")

    • Last name ((e.g., "SO_API"))

    • Enable "Web services only" checkbox

    • Enable "Internal integration Users" checkbox

  4. Click save, then find the user in the list, open it again and continue setup:

    • Set a password (click the button “Sett Password).

    • Assign admin role: Roles tab - click ‘Edit” select ‘admin”. Save.

Step 3: Configure Authentication Profile

Set up the inbound authentication profile:

  1. Go to All → System Web Services → API Access Policies → Inbound Authentication Profiles

  2. Click New

  3. Select Create API Key authentication profiles

  4. Fill in the following details:

    • Name: "API KEY PROFILE"

    • Auth Parameter: "x-sn-apikey: Auth Header"

Step 4: Create REST API Access Policy

Step 4.1. Configure the access policy:

  1. Navigate to All → System Web Services → REST API Access Policies

  2. Click New
    Configure these settings:

    1. Name: "API KEY Access Policy"

    2. Active: Yes

    3. REST API: "Table API"

    4. Apply to all methods: Yes

    5. Apply to all resources: Yes

    6. Apply to all versions: Yes

    7. Authentication profile: profile you created on step 3
      ​

Step 4.2. Configure SO_API_Meta policy:

  1. Navigate to All → System Web Services → REST API Access Policies

  2. Click New

  3. Configure these settings:

    • Name: "SO_API_META"

    • Active: Yes

    • REST API: "CMDB Meta API"

    • Apply to all methods: Yes

    • Apply to all resources: Yes

    • Apply to all versions: Yes

    • Authentication profile: API Key
      ​

Step 5: Generate API Key

Create and retrieve your API key:

  1. Go to All → System Web Services → API Access Policies → REST API Key

  2. Click New

  3. Configure:

    • Name: "SO API KEY"

    • Active: Yes

    • User: Select your API user (use search)

  4. Save the record and copy the generated token:

Final Steps

After completing these steps add integration on SO side:

  1. Settings - Integrations - add integration - ServiceNow:

    1. URL = ServiceNow developer instance URL

    2. Private Key = API key from step 5.

Important: Keep your API key secure and never share it in public repositories or documentation.

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