This article describes how ServiceNow users can migrate from the Flexera Integration App to the newer Flexera One App.

Introduction

For users of Flexera One's IT Visibility capabilities who are also ServiceNow customers and have previously installed the Flexera Integration ServiceNow app, this article explains how to install the newer Flexera One ServiceNow app and migrate your existing data. Prerequisites, migration steps, details about the data migration for native tables, and known issues are presented in the sections below:

• Prerequisites
• Migration Steps: Install the Flexera One App
• Migration Steps: Setup a Connection to Flexera One
• Migration Steps: Execute the Migration Script
• Migration Steps: Uninstall the Flexera Integration App (Optional)
• Data Migration Notes for Native Tables
• Known Issues

NOTE: Reach out to your Flexera representative or to Flexera technical support if you require assistance with the prerequisites or the migration process.

Prerequisites

Before beginning the migration process, review the following prerequisites:

• Requires ServiceNow instance with administrator rights.
• Requires Flexera Integration App 5.1.2 or later running in the ServiceNow instance. 
• Requires Flexera One subscription with the IT Visibility capability
• Some steps require that you know your Organization ID on the Flexera One platform.
• Requires URL to generate an access token for IT Visibility on Flexera One. Example: https://login.flexera.com/oidc/token.
• Requires a refresh token for IT Visibility on Flexera One. The refresh token is a required parameter when you generate the required access token. You can generate a refresh token for your IT Visibility org in Flexera One at https://app.flexera.com/settings/api-credentials.
• Requires migration update set (migration XML) from Flexera. This file is included in a ZIP archive and linked to this knowledge base article as Flexera One Migration (from 5.1.2 to 1.1).zip.

Migration Steps: Install the Flexera One App

Follow the steps below to install the Flexera One App in your ServiceNow instance.

1. Log in to the instance on which you want to install the Flexera One app.
2. Navigate to System Applications > All Available Applications > All.
3. Search for Flexera One.
4. Click on Install.

Once the Flexera One App is completely installed, follow the instructions in the next section to setup the connection to Flexera One API endpoints. Then proceed to execute the migration script.

Migration Steps: Setup a Connection to Flexera One

Once the Flexera One App is installed in your ServiceNow instance, you must setup the connection to Flexera One servers.

NOTE: Only one active connection is permitted at a time. You cannot create multiple active connections.

1. Go to Filter navigator and search for Flexera One.
2. Navigate to Flexera One > Connection Setup.
3. Click Connection Setup, and then click New to create a new connection.
4. Specify your connection settings according to the instructions in the table below.
5. Click Submit.

When you complete the Connection Setup settings, continue with the steps for executing the migration script.

Migration Steps: Execute the Migration Script

The migration script you execute in the steps below is included in the ZIP archive linked to this KB article: Flexera One Migration (from 5.1.2 to 1.1).zip.

1. Go to the Filter navigator and search for System Definitions > Scheduled Jobs.
2. In the Name column, search for Flexera One Migration (from 5.1.2 to 1.1).
   
3. Open the record and click Execute Now.
   
4. Once the migration is started, you can validate that the process is running by checking its progress in the Job Tracker or scanning the System Log.

• Navigating to the Job Tracker and can verify a job process with type Migration has been started.
• Check logs for information of Migration process by going to the Filter navigator and searching for System Definitions > System Log > All.
• Note: The Job Entry for the Migration process will be dropped from Job Tracker table on completion of Migration Process.

5. When migration process completes, verify the process completion by visiting the Logs table and, In the Message column, check for Migration process completed.

If the migration script executes successfully, and you have verified the results, it is safe to uninstall the Flexera Integration App.

Migration Steps: Uninstall the Flexera Integration App (Optional)

When the Flexera One App has been installed and the migration script successfully run, you can safely uninstall the Flexera Integration App from your ServiceNow instance.

NOTE: This step is not required to complete the migration process; however, the removal of the Flexera Integration App will help keep the ServiceNow instance uncluttered. 

1. Log in to the instance on which you want to uninstall the Flexera Integration App.
2. Navigate to System Applications > All Available Applications > All.
3. Search for Flexera Integration.
4. In the custom application record, click the Uninstall related link.
   
   The following information is displayed in the pop-up window:
   * List of dependent applications
   * List of in-development applications
   * Tables and records in the required application
   * Option to retain the application tables and data
5. In the Uninstall confirmation dialog box, review the tables and records associated with the Flexera Integration App before you uninstall it.
   Important! For the migration procedure, ensure that the Retain tables and data check box is checked. Otherwise, you will lose the data that has been migrated.
   
6. Click OK.
7. In the confirmation dialog box, enter uninstall and click OK.
8. Click Done.

With the uninstall of Flexera Integration, the migration process is complete. Additional details about the data migration for native tables and known issues are captured at the end of this article.

Data Migration Notes for Native Tables

The following data migration notes provide additional information on how data migration is done for native tables.

• Company (core_company)
• Hardware Model (cmdb_hardware_product_model)
• Hardware Model Lifecycle (cmdb_hardware_model_lifecycle)
• Software Publisher (samp_sw_publisher)
• Software Product Model (cmdb_software_product_model)
• Software Product Lifecycle (sam_sw_product_lifecycle)
• Software Product (samp_sw_product)
• Computer (cmdb_ci_computer)
• Software Installation (cmdb_sam_sw_install)

Company (core_company)

When end user selects Retain tables and data while uninstalling the Flexera Integration application, all the data related to Flexera Integration would reside in the instance and below are the fields details:

When the Migration script scheduled job runs, it copies the Technopedia ID value from the Flexera Integration App to the Technopedia ID value in the Flexera One App.

Once the migration process is completed the Company table, if you run the snapshot job process, and it pulls records from Flexera IT Visibility while inserting/updating records in the core_company table, ServiceNow Robust transform uses Technopedia ID as a coalesce. Hence we already populated Technopedia ID using the migration script. So when the robust transform searches for an existing Technopedia ID, it will update the record if transform process found the record in core_company or else insert the new record if no record exist.

Hardware Model (cmdb_hardware_product_model)

When end user selects Retain tables and data while uninstalling the Flexera Integration application, all the data related to Flexera Integration would reside in the instance and below are the fields details:

When the Migration script scheduled job runs, it copies the Technopedia ID value from the Flexera Integration App to the Technopedia ID value in the Flexera One App.

Once the migration process is completed the Hardware Model table, if you run the snapshot job process, and it pulls records from Flexera IT Visibility while inserting/updating records in the cmdb_hardware_product_model table, ServiceNow Robust transform uses Technopedia ID as a coalesce. Hence we already populated Technopedia ID using the migration script. So when the robust transform searches for an existing Technopedia ID, it will update the record if transform process found the record in cmdb_hardware_product_model or else insert the new record if no record exist.

Hardware Model Lifecycle (cmdb_hardware_model_lifecycle)

When end user selects Retain tables and data while uninstalling the Flexera Integration application, all the data related to Flexera Integration would reside in the instance and below are the fields details:

When the Migration script scheduled job runs, it copies the Technopedia ID value from the Flexera Integration App to the Technopedia ID value in the Flexera One App.

Once the migration process is completed the Hardware Model Lifecycle table, if you run the snapshot job process, and it pulls records from Flexera IT Visibility while inserting/updating records in the cmdb_hardware_model_lifecycle table, ServiceNow Robust transform uses Technopedia ID as a coalesce. Hence we already populated Technopedia ID using the migration script. So when the robust transform searches for an existing Technopedia ID, it will update the record if transform process found the record in cmdb_hardware_model_lifecycle or else insert the new record if no record exist.

Software Publisher (samp_sw_publisher)

When end user selects Retain tables and data while uninstalling the Flexera Integration application, all the data related to Flexera Integration would reside in the instance and below are the fields details:

When the Migration script scheduled job runs, it copies the Technopedia ID value from the Flexera Integration App to the Technopedia ID value in the Flexera One App.

Once the migration process is completed the Software Publisher table, if you run the snapshot job process, and it pulls records from Flexera IT Visibility while inserting/updating records in the samp_sw_publisher table, ServiceNow Robust transform uses Technopedia ID as a coalesce. Hence we already populated Technopedia ID using the migration script. So when the robust transform searches for an existing Technopedia ID, it will update the record if transform process found the record in samp_sw_publisher or else insert the new record if no record exist.

Software Product Model (cmdb_software_product_model)

When end user selects Retain tables and data while uninstalling the Flexera Integration application, all the data related to Flexera Integration would reside in the instance and below are the fields details:

When the Migration script scheduled job runs, it copies the Technopedia ID value from the Flexera Integration App to the Technopedia ID value in the Flexera One App.

Once the migration process is completed the Product Model table, if you run the snapshot job process, and it pulls records from Flexera IT Visibility while inserting/updating records in the cmdb_software_product_model table, ServiceNow Robust transform uses Technopedia ID as a coalesce. Hence we already populated Technopedia ID using the migration script. So when the robust transform searches for an existing Technopedia ID, it will update the record if transform process found the record in cmdb_software_product_model or else insert the new record if no record exist.

Software Product Lifecycle (sam_sw_product_lifecycle)

When end user selects Retain tables and data while uninstalling the Flexera Integration application, all the data related to Flexera Integration would reside in the instance and below are the fields details:

In case of Software Product Lifecycle, Migration script uses Description field from Flexera Integration and splits Technopedia ID from that field, after split and grab the Technopedia ID and then copy it in Technopedia ID field of Flexera One Integration. Hence, our Migration script copied the Technopedia ID, the next step is to execute Snapshot job process of Software Technopedia Lifecycle Dataset.

Highlighted in yellow is the Technopedia ID that script extracts from description field of Flexera Integration and copied it in Technopedia ID field of Flexera One Integration and the record will look like:

Once the migration process is completed for Software Product Lifecycle table, if you run the snapshot job process, and it pulls records from Flexera IT Visibility while inserting/updating records in sam_sw_product_lifecycle table, ServiceNow Robust transform uses Technopedia ID as a coalesce. Hence we already populated Technopedia ID using the migration script. So when the robust transform searches for an existing Technopedia ID, it will update the record if transform process found the record in sam_sw_product_lifecycle or else insert the new record if no record exist.

Software Product (samp_sw_product)

When end user selects Retain tables and data while uninstalling the Flexera Integration application, all the data related to Flexera Integration would reside in the instance and below are the fields details:

Software Product data in the Flexera Integration App has no Technopedia ID. To successfully run the Migration Script, the system needs Technopedia ID as a coalesce or else duplicate records may be generated in Target tables.

Retrieve Technopedia ID:

Once you start execution of the scheduled job, “Flexera One Migration 1.1”, the migration script executes the Software Technopedia job to bring in Software Product Technopedia ID data. 

Once the migration process is completed for Software Product table, if you run the snapshot job process, and it pulls records from Flexera IT Visibility while inserting/updating records in samp_sw_product table, ServiceNow Robust transform uses Technopedia ID as a coalesce. Hence we already populated Technopedia ID using the migration script. So when the robust transform searches for an existing Technopedia ID, it will update the record if transform process found the record in samp_sw_product or else insert the new record if no record exist.

Computer (cmdb_ci_computer)

When end user selects Retain tables and data while uninstalling the Flexera Integration application, all the data related to Flexera Integration would reside in the instance and below are the fields details:

To map data into the Flexera One Computer table, the IRE process is used while transforming data into the target table. For example, the process uses the Identification rule on Hardware table to decide which data needs to be inserted/updated into native tables according to the conditions below:

• Flexera IT Visibility record must have Serial Number, Machine Name, and Model ID.
• IRE uses the Source table to insert/update data into the target table based on ID and Source Name in the Source table. The ID field stores the Hardware ID coming from the API. If ServiceNow finds the Hardware ID in Source table, then the record will be treated as an update. Otherwise, if no Hardware ID exists in the Source table, it will be treated as an insert (new record).
• On the first run, there will be no entries in the Source table ID field in ServiceNow and, as a result, all the records coming from API are treated as new records.
• The IRE process first attempts to match to existing records based on Hardware ID, then Serial Number, then Machine Name (Name field in Computer table). If it finds a match, it performs an update. If it finds no matches, it performs an insert.

For example, if customer runs the initial load of Snapshot Job and Hardware Inventory dataset starts processing but there is no record present in Source table, then Hardware ID cannot be not used to identify the existence of records in Computer table. So, IRE uses Serial Number to identify the record and, if record is present with Serial Number, performs an update operation. If no record found with Serial Number, IRE returns NO MATCH and does a look up with the Name field.

Flexera One Job process does not allow insertion of records with same Serial Number. If you check the computer table after running the Job, there is no entry with multiple Serial Number and Name. So, if Flexera Integration contains multiple entries with same Serial Number, then Flexera One updates only one entry. The rest become Stale after some time.

Below are IRE Input and IRE Output payload processing samples:

//IRE Input Payload
{
  "items": [
    {
      "className": "cmdb_ci_computer",
      "values": {
        "virtual": "false",
        "fqdn": "computer-266677.enterprise",
        "name": "computer-266677",
        "os_domain": "enterprise",
        "serial_number": "6NK1311LXM",
        "company": "934b1c8787c2e91011a0b259dabb35c0",
        "model_number": "8000 SFF",
        "model_id": "f15bd0c787c2e91011a0b259dabb35e6",
        "cpu_count": "1",
        "ram": "3715.239936",
        "manufacturer": "934b1c8787c2e91011a0b259dabb35c0"
      },
      "sys_object_source_info": {
        "source_feed": "Hardware Inventory",
        "source_name": "FlexeraOne",
        "source_native_key": "2147c365-c215-489a-b558-703b89af2f25"
      },
      "internal_id": "2147c365-c215-489a-b558-703b89af2f25",
      "settings": {
        "updateWithoutSwitch": "false",
        "updateWithoutUpgrade": "false",
        "updateWithoutDowngrade": "false"
      },
      "sys_ire_info": {}
    },
    {
      "className": "cmdb_ci_computer",
      "values": {
        "fqdn": "computer-18575.enterprise",
        "name": "computer-18575",
        "os_domain": "enterprise",
        "serial_number": "VMware-42 ee bc ea fb 8e 58 52-ce 61 e7 b0 28 e7 93 24",
        "company": "",
        "model_number": "",
        "model_id": "",
        "cpu_count": "2",
        "ram": "3220.6766079999998",
        "manufacturer": ""
      },
      "sys_object_source_info": {
        "source_feed": "Hardware Inventory",
        "source_name": "FlexeraOne",
        "source_native_key": "f97bce57-25f9-45f4-8c3b-d04e3e0dceda"
      },
      "internal_id": "f97bce57-25f9-45f4-8c3b-d04e3e0dceda",
      "settings": {
        "updateWithoutSwitch": "false",
        "updateWithoutUpgrade": "false",
        "updateWithoutDowngrade": "false"
      },
      "sys_ire_info": {}
    },

//IRE Output Payload
    {
      "className": "cmdb_ci_computer",
      "operation": "INSERT",
      "sysId": "3a9d1c8f87c2e91011a0b259dabb3531",
      "identifierEntrySysId": "Unknown",
      "identificationAttempts": [
        {
          "info": "sys_object_source NO_MATCH",
          "attemptResult": "NO_MATCH",
          "identifierName": "",
          "attributes": [
            "source_name",
            "source_native_key"
          ],
          "searchOnTable": "sys_object_source",
          "hybridEntryCiAttributes": []
        },
        {
          "attemptResult": "SKIPPED",
          "identifierName": "Hardware Rule",
          "attributes": [
            "serial_number",
            "serial_number_type"
          ],
          "searchOnTable": "cmdb_serial_number",
          "hybridEntryCiAttributes": []
        },
        {
          "attemptResult": "NO_MATCH",
          "identifierName": "Hardware Rule",
          "attributes": [
            "serial_number"
          ],
          "searchOnTable": "cmdb_ci_hardware",
          "hybridEntryCiAttributes": []
        },
        {
          "attemptResult": "NO_MATCH",
          "identifierName": "Hardware Rule",
          "attributes": [
            "name"
          ],
          "searchOnTable": "cmdb_ci_hardware",
          "hybridEntryCiAttributes": []
        },
        {
          "attemptResult": "SKIPPED",
          "identifierName": "Hardware Rule",
          "attributes": [
            "mac_address",
            "name"
          ],
          "searchOnTable": "cmdb_ci_network_adapter",
          "hybridEntryCiAttributes": []
        }
      ],
      "info": [],
      "errorCount": 0,
      "inputIndices": [
        0
      ],
      "mergedPayloadIds": [],
      "warningCount": 0,
      "markers": [
        "be9d1c8ffac2e910a688fce8722c8625"
      ]
    },

Software Installation (cmdb_sam_sw_install)

For Software Installation, the IRE process determines whether to insert or update data based on the following checks:

• IRE looks in the Software Installation table to see if the Flexera Unique ID value already exists. If so, an update operation is performed. If no record is found with a matching Flexera Unique ID value, IRE uses a combination of Display Name and Version to insert/update.
• For the first snapshot run, IRE does a lookup in Software Installation. Flexera Integration data is already available in the Target table. So it checks for records based on IRE rules and updates if there is any change from the incoming record.

Below are the IRE Input Payload and IRE Output Payload.

//IRE Input Payload
{
      "className": "cmdb_ci_computer",
      "values": {},
      "related": [
        {
          "className": "cmdb_sam_sw_install",
          "values": {
            "normalized_publisher": "Microsoft",
            "discovery_source": "FlexeraOne",
            "x_fls_flexeraone_flexera_unique_id": "0d765f3c-6e85-6518-0d60-2f5ea41e7db6",
            "is_normalized": "true",
            "x_fls_flexeraone_is_deleted": "FALSE",
            "publisher": "Microsoft",
            "normalized_version": "8.0",
            "display_name": "Microsoft Live Meeting 8.0",
            "version": "8.0"
          },
          "internal_id": "0d765f3c-6e85-6518-0d60-2f5ea41e7db6",
          "sys_object_source_info": {
            "source_feed": "Software Inventory",
            "source_name": "FlexeraOne",
            "source_native_key": "0d765f3c-6e85-6518-0d60-2f5ea41e7db6"
          },
          "settings": {
            "updateWithoutDowngrade": "true"
          },
          "sys_ire_info": {},
          "display_values": {},
          "marker": "6fbf18077b06e9105524e247af98b5d8"
        }
      ],
      "sys_object_source_info": {
        "source_feed": "Software Inventory",
        "source_name": "FlexeraOne",
        "source_native_key": "f97bce57-25f9-45f4-8c3b-d04e3e0dceda"
      },
      "internal_id": "f97bce57-25f9-45f4-8c3b-d04e3e0dceda",
      "settings": {
        "updateWithoutDowngrade": "true"
      },
      "sys_ire_info": {}
    },

//IRE Output Payload
{
      "className": "cmdb_ci_computer",
      "operation": "NO_CHANGE",
      "sysId": "3eafd4078706e91011a0b259dabb358b",
      "relatedSysIds": [
        "6fbf18078706e91011a0b259dabb35ea",
        "2bbf18078706e91011a0b259dabb35eb"
      ],
      "relatedItems": [
        {
          "errors": [],
          "operation": "INSERT",
          "info": [],
          "errorCount": 0,
          "sysId": "6fbf18078706e91011a0b259dabb35ea",
          "inputIndices": [
            {
              "mainIndex": 0,
              "subIndex": 0
            }
          ],
          "mergedPayloadIds": [],
          "warningCount": 0,
          "markers": [
            "6fbf18077b06e9105524e247af98b5d8"
          ],
          "className": "cmdb_sam_sw_install"
        },
        {
          "errors": [],
          "operation": "INSERT",
          "info": [],
          "errorCount": 0,
          "sysId": "2bbf18078706e91011a0b259dabb35eb",
          "inputIndices": [
            {
              "mainIndex": 1,
              "subIndex": 0
            }
          ],
          "mergedPayloadIds": [],
          "warningCount": 0,
          "markers": [
            "efbf1807ef06e9101c19d68e11dbb6d8"
          ],
          "className": "cmdb_sam_sw_install"
        }
      ],
      "identifierEntrySysId": "Unknown",
      "identificationAttempts": [
        {
          "info": "sys_object_source MATCHED",
          "attemptResult": "MATCHED",
          "sysObjectSourceEntrySysId": "7eafd4078706e91011a0b259dabb3592",
          "identifierName": "",
          "attributes": [
            "source_name",
            "source_native_key"
          ],
          "searchOnTable": "sys_object_source",
          "hybridEntryCiAttributes": []
        }
      ],
      "info": [],
      "errorCount": 0,
      "inputIndices": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "mergedPayloadIds": [],
      "warningCount": 0,
      "markers": [
        "2fbf1807e906e910652048632c247bd8",
        "afbf18071e06e9106ac516058955d3d8"
      ]
    },

Known Issues

The following items are known issues related to the migration process:

• Computer
• Software Installation

Computer

The following known issues exist with inserting and updating data in the Computer table.

Insertion of New Records

While inserting a record in Computer table if one or both of the following conditions is true

• Multiple records present with same Serial Number
• Multiple records present with same Name.

IRE only process picks only one record and update the record as per the attribute’s information. So, if end user inventory contains the computer records that meets above criteria, there is a chance of getting multiple records in ServiceNow Computer table.

According to ServiceNow IRE, end user Computer table should only have one record with unique name and Serial Number. The purpose of IRE is to refine the CMDB by passing it to through some Identification and Reconciliation rule.

Assume we have the following computers to be inserted into target table:

While transforming above data into computer target table, ServiceNow picks Computer A record and passes it through IRE Rules and checks the record in Source (sys_object_source) table using Hardware ID and, since it is the insertion operation, so no record found in Source (sys_object_source) table, then it inserts the Computer A record into Target table as well as creates an entity in Source (sys_object_source) table.

After processing Computer A, ServiceNow picks Computer B record and passes it through IRE rules and also checks the record in Source (sys_object_source) table using Hardware ID, since no record is found in Source (sys_object_source) table so ServiceNow generates an entity in Source (sys_object_source) table but IRE rules identifies record based on Serial Number so IRE updates the Computer A record with Computer B record. Similarly, same process repeats when Computer C inserts into target table, an entity is created in Source (sys_object_source) table but IRE identifies the record based on Serial Number and updates Computer B record with Computer C record.

At last, there would be three entities created in Source table for all the computers record and, in the Target SysID, referenced to Computer C record for all the above sample Computers.

Updating of Records

Assume we have the following computers to be updated into target table:

While transforming above data into computer target table, IRE will check the record in Source (sys_object_source) table using Hardware ID and, since it is the updating operation, might there be no record found in Source (sys_object_source) table, IRE will be fallback to Serial Number.

Now, there be multiple records in target table with same Serial Number so IRE will throw error for multiple serial number found and ignore the update.

Software Installation

In case of Software Installation records associated with Computer A, Computer B, Computer C:

With the help of IRE rules and Source (sys_object_source) table, only Computer C is present into the Target table as IRE Rules update the records based on Serial Number. So, the software records associated with Computer A, Computer B, Computer C would map to Computer C record, as while making relationships software record with respective computer, ServiceNow first checks the record in Source (sys_object_source) table and successfully found Computer A, Computer B, Computer C record using Hardware ID.

ServiceNow checks the Target SysID field which already referenced to Computer C record for all the Computer (A, B, C) so it creates a relationship with Computer C for all the software records.