As part of creating or modifying a discovery pattern, you can use the Http Get Call operation to extract information from configuration items (CIs), which use the HTTP protocol.

Before you begin

Role required: pd_admin

Navigate to the relevant pattern step:
  1. On the pattern form, select the relevant identification section for Discovery.

    Alternatively, select the relevant identification or connection section for Service Mapping.

  2. Select the relevant pattern step or click Add a step button to add a step.

Basic knowledge of programming is desirable.

Procedure

  1. Select Http Get Call from the Operation list.
  2. Define query parameters as necessary:
    Warning: If you customized this operation as described in Customize pattern operations, the query parameters may be different.
    Field Description
    Required Authentication If authentication is required for discovering the CI:

    Set this parameter to false or leave empty if no authentication is required for accessing the CI.
    URL Specify the URL of the CI to discover using this pattern.

    You can use variables. You can also enter a value from the specific field in a tabular variable as described in Enter values and variables in patterns.
    Headers (Optional) Define HTTP headers to define the output format. For example, to see the output in the JSON format and bring in the security policy data, configure the header as follows:

    content-type:text/JSON,

    content-security-policy:object-src 'none';base-uri 'self';script-src 'unsafe-inline' https: http: 'unsafe-eval';report-uri /_/NotificationsOgbUi/cspreport

  3. To save the command output in its entirety as a variable, select NONE from the Define Parsing list and define the variable as described in step 6.
  4. Select the parsing strategy from the Define Parsing list.
    Parsing strategyDescription

    Oracle

    LDAP file

    XML file

    INI file

    Properties file

    JSON file (custom)

    		 Horizontal file parsing strategy (not vertical). You can use this parsing strategy only for text files. For more information, see Parse text from a horizontal file.
    Vertical File Retrieve text from a structured text file where each set of data spans multiple lines. For more information, see Parse text from a vertical file.

    After Keyword

    Retrieve text directly following a specific keyword. For more information, see Parse text using keyword, command, and positional type.

    Command Line Java Style

    Retrieve the value of a command-line parameter using Java-style parameters. For more information, see Parse text using keyword, command, and positional type.

    Command Line Unix Style

    Retrieve the value of a command-line parameter using standard Unix parameters. For more information, see Parse text using keyword, command, and positional type.

    Position From End

    Retrieve text specified by its position from the end of the line. For more information, see Parse text using keyword, command, and positional type.

    Position From Start

    Retrieve text specified by its position from the beginning of the line. For more information, see Parse text using keyword, command, and positional type.
    Regular Expression Retrieve text specified by a regular expression. This option requires familiarity with Regex Java syntax. For more information, see Parse text using a regular expression.
    Delimited Text Retrieve text specified by delimiters and position within the line (the most common way to retrieve text from generic text files). See Parse text using delimited text.
  5. If working in the Debug Mode, define the parsing criteria as follows:
    1. Click Run Operation to see the result in the Output pane.
    2. In the Output pane, mark text or symbols that you want a variable to contain.
    3. In the variable name box, enter the name for the new variable, for example 'process_name'.

      Defining a variable name for the string marked in the Output pane
    4. Press Enter.
      The new variable is added in the Variables pane.
  6. If you are not working in Debug Mode, perform the following steps to define the parsing criteria.
    1. In the Variables pane, click Add Variable and enter the name for the new variable.
    2. Click the Advanced icon.

      Displaying the Advanced Variables pane
    3. Click Add Column Label.
    4. Enter the parsing query.
    5. Enter a value for the delimiter.
    6. Enter a value for the position.
  7. Select Terminate to stop discovery if no results are found.
  8. If in Debug mode, test the step by clicking Test and checking that the operation brings the result you expected.

Example

You can use the HTTP Get Call operation to extract data on CI types using the XML File parsing strategy:


Using the HTTP Get Call operation

What to do next

cmdb-key-value
Discovery also collects cloud tags that are specific to each virtual machine (VM) and saves them to the Key Value [cmdb_key_value] table.