Service Desk Service NOW integration fails on the test connection

Products

• DX NetOps
• CA Spectrum

Issue/Introduction

The following errors are logged when doing the Service NOW test connection:

30-May-2024 23:45:51.877 INFO [main] org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR Deploying web application archive [/opt/Spectrum/tomcat/webapps/ca-nim-sm.war]

May 30, 2024 23:46:22.921 - Error getting NIM config file.org.jdom2.input.JDOMParseException: Error on line -1: Premature end of file.
May 30, 2024 23:46:22.923 - Error reading configuration file for Service Desk Integration. java.lang.NullPointerException

May 30, 2024 23:46:22.924 - Polling - Please check NIM details.
May 30, 2024 23:46:22.925 - ServiceDeskIntegrationManager - Tomcat Startup Monitor with settings: Initial Wait: 0 , Check Frequency: 5
May 30, 2024 23:46:23.008 - Unable to start ServiceDeskAssetMapping: java.lang.NullPointerException
May 30, 2024 23:46:23.009 - Error adding AlarmHandler action: "service-desk-clear" is not a known action. 

May 30, 2024 23:56:14.782 (https-jsse-nio-8443-exec-16) (SDIntegration) - SDIntegrationManager - received request: TEST_CONNECTION
May 30, 2024 23:56:14.852 - NIMRestClient - error java.lang.NullPointerException

Environment

Spectrum 22.2.10 and Service NOW Washington version

Cause

a) Old jar files in the $SPECROOT/tomcat/lib/ directory (from previous Spectrum version - upgrade)

b) Possible problem in the $SPECROOT/tomcat/webapps-ca-nim-sm/ directory

c) Misconfiguration in the custom files located in $SPECROOT/custom/svdsk/config/ directory

Resolution

a) Remove (or move outside the $SPECROOT/ directory) the old jar files (based on the date/time stamp) from the $SPECROOT/tomcat/lib/ directory

-rw-r----- 1 specadmin specadmin  124K Jun 29  2022 wsdl4j-1.5.1.jar
-rw-r----- 1 specadmin specadmin   19K Jun 29  2022 saaj.jar
-rw-r----- 1 specadmin specadmin   31K Jun 29  2022 jaxrpc.jar
-rw-r----- 1 specadmin specadmin   70K Jun 29  2022 commons-discovery-0.2.jar

b) Remove or move the $SPECROOT/tomcat/webapps/ca-nim-sm/ directory outside the $SPECROOT/ directory and restart the Tomcat service to redeploy the ca-nim-sm.war file and recreate the $SPECROOT/tomcat/webapps/ca-nim-sm/ directory.

c) Rename the following custom files in the $SPECROOT/custom/svdsk/config/ directory and then copy the OOB (default) configuration files from the $SPECROOT/tomcat/webapps/spectrum/WEB-INF/svdsk/config/ directory and restart the Tomcat service:

• nim-server-config.xml,
• service-desk-config.xml
• nim-mappings-config.xml