Abstract
HPE Zerto protects and recovers or migrates workloads using continuous data protection is the technology to ensure data loss and downtime are significantly minimized. Near synchronous replication technology with less costly than sync topology with no performance impact like async without snapshots. Additionally, Zerto provides one-to-many replications, that allow workloads to protect and migrate to different sites simultaneously. This requires Zerto to be installed on different sites-based customer requirements. Managing and Monitoring multiple Zerto instances using Zerto UIs is a very difficult and tedious process. To avoid this tedious human-intensive process, we can integrate all instances of Zerto with a single events/task tracker like SNOW (ServiceNow), ServiceNow captures all events, errors, and tasks and can-do event correlation and respond to events either manually or automation.
Problem statement
The deployment of HPE Zerto across multiple sites for replication purposes has led to a cumbersome process of monitoring errors and warning alerts, as well as managing task-based events. Currently, this task requires accessing multiple Zerto UI interfaces, resulting in significant human effort and time consumption. Additionally, a significant portion of errors are autoimmune, making it difficult to efficiently track and address them within each Zerto UI instance. As a result, the current approach to error monitoring and management is highly tedious and inefficient, hindering operational effectiveness and potentially impacting system performance and reliability.
Our solution
To address the challenges outlined in the previous problem statement, we propose integrating all events and alerts from HPE Zerto instances with an event and alert aggregator, specifically leveraging ServiceNow. By utilizing webhook functionality and Zerto API integration, this solution aims to streamline the monitoring and management of error and warning alerts across multiple Zerto instances.
The integration solution between HPE Zerto and ServiceNow involves the development of custom scripts and the utilization of webhooks within ServiceNow. Through this solution, Zerto APIs (Representational State Transfer & Application Programming Interface) will be employed to extract relevant data, such as alerts and events, from Zerto instances. This data will then be transmitted to ServiceNow, where events, alerts, or incidents will be generated.
This solution offers flexibility in deployment. It can either be implemented as a standalone service or integrated as a scheduled job, wherein the script is triggered at specified intervals. Upon activation, the script initiates API calls to retrieve data from Zerto instances. Subsequently, the script forwards this data to ServiceNow, where events are created. Following event creation, predefined rules within ServiceNow will be applied to generate alerts or incidents as necessary.
By implementing this solution, organizations can effectively centralize the monitoring and management of error and warning alerts from HPE Zerto instances. This integration streamlines the process, reduces manual effort, and enhances operational efficiency. Moreover, it provides greater visibility and control over system performance, enabling timely resolution of issues and minimizing potential disruptions.
Figure: Zerto-SNOW Integration
Next steps
To deploy this integration, we need to access customer Zerto Instances and SNOW instances with Webhooks. So, we customize the scripts to get access to Zerto APIs to pull alerts and events in periodic ways and push those alerts/events to SNOW using Webhooks.
Resources
To build this small platform we required the following skills:
- HPE Zerto
- SNOW
- Scripting
References
[1] Customize Events/Alerts: https://help.zerto.com/kb/000004658
[2] Events/Alerts API: https://help.zerto.com/bundle/API.ZVR.HTML/page/Events_API.htm
Contacts
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About Author
Name: Ravi Seerapu
Designation: Technology Consultant
Domain: Zerto
HPE Operations: Remote Professional Services.
Email: [removed]
I work for HPE
