Create a ServiceNow instance external content connector

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  • Aktualisiert 12. März 2026
  • 5 Minuten Lesedauer

    • Create an external content connector to retrieve searchable content and security principals from a ServiceNow AI Platform instance.

    Vorbereitungen

    A user with the admin role must have already configured your ServiceNow AI Platform source instance to allow access by the ServiceNow instance external content connector. For details on configuring these settings on your source instance, see Configure your ServiceNow AI Platform instance for external content indexing.

    Role required: adminsn_ext_conn.xcc_admin

    Warum und wann dieser Vorgang ausgeführt wird

    Create a ServiceNow® instance external content connector to retrieve content and metadata from a remote source instance and make it searchable on the destination instance where the connector runs.

    You can only create one ServiceNow® instance external content connector on a given destination instance.

    Prozedur

    1. Navigate to All > External Content Connectors > External Content Admin Home.
    2. If prompted, select Switch scope to switch to the External Content Connectors Admin scope.
      You need to be in this scope to create or edit external content connectors.
    3. In the Connectors section, select New.
    4. On the Choose source page, select the ServiceNow Instance tile, then select Next.
    5. On the Connection settings page, fill in the connection settings.
      Connection setting Description
      Connector name Unique name for this ServiceNow instance external content connector.

      You may find it useful to name the connector to match your source instance's hostname. As an example, if your source instance is https://example-prod.service-now.com/, you might enter Example-Prod as the connector name.
      Instance URL URL for the ServiceNow AI Platform source instance that you want to crawl searchable content from. As an example, you might enter https://example-prod.service-now.com/.
      User Name User ID for the service user defined in your ServiceNow AI Platform source instance.

      If you don't know the service user's ID, ask the admin who configured the ServiceNow AI Platform source instance for external content indexing for it.
      Password Password for the service user defined in your ServiceNow AI Platform source instance.

      If you don't know the service user's password, ask the admin who configured the ServiceNow AI Platform source instance for external content indexing for it.
    6. Save and validate your connection settings by selecting NextValidate Connection.
      Hinweis:
      If validation of your connection settings fails, the system shows an error message. Double-check your connection settings to ensure they're correct. If permissions required by the connector are missing or incorrectly configured in the source system, a warning message appears showing the permissions that need to be corrected. Provide the information from this message to your source system administrator.
    7. Once your connection settings are validated, select Next.
    8. On the Crawl settings page, modify any default crawl settings that you want to override for this connector, then select Next.
      If you want to skip this step for now, select Skip instead of Next. You can modify the crawl settings for this connector from the External Content Admin Home page. For details on this procedure and the available crawl settings, see Configure crawl settings for a ServiceNow instance external content connector.
    9. On the User mapping permission settings page, modify any default user mapping permission settings that you want to override for this connector.
      If you want to skip this step for now, select Skip instead of Next. You can modify the user mapping permission settings for this connector from the External Content Admin Home page. For details on this procedure and user mapping permission settings, see Configure user mapping permission settings for an external content connector.
    10. On the Create crawl page, create a content crawl for this connector by selecting a crawl scope (if supported) and any desired options, then select Next.
      If you want to skip this step for now, select Skip instead of Next. You can create and run crawls for this connector from the External Content Admin Home page. For details on creating content crawls, see Create a content crawl for an external content connector.
    11. On the Connect search profile page, use the Connect to search profile field and Add button to add any search profiles that you want to connect this external content connector's default search source to, then select Save.
      If you want to skip this step for now, select Skip instead of Next. You can connect search sources for this connector to search profiles from the External Content Admin Home page. For details on connecting an external content connector to search profiles, see Connect an external content connector to a search profile.

    Ergebnisse

    Your new external content connector appears in the Connectors list on the External Content Admin Home page.

    Nächste Maßnahme

    To retrieve searchable content and security principals with your new connector, you need to configure and run content and user mapping crawls for it. You can modify your new connector's crawl settings and create crawls for it from the External Content Admin Home page even if you skipped these steps during connector creation.

    To make content crawled by your new connector searchable in a portal or search application, you need to link one of the connector's search sources to the search profile used by that portal or search application. You can create search sources with filters to specify which content from the connector's indexed source you want to make searchable. To view the connector's indexed source, navigate to All > AI Search > AI Search Index > Indexed Sources. For information about creating search sources and linking them to search profiles, see Search sources in AI Search.

    To make content crawled by your new connector searchable in portals and search applications, you need to link one of its search sources to the search profile used by each portal or search application. You can use the connector's default search source or create your own custom search sources.
    Default search source
    By default, the system creates a search source that includes all content from your external content connector's indexed source.
    Custom search sources
    You can create your own search sources with filters to specify which content from the connector's indexed source is searchable. To view the connector's indexed source, navigate to All > AI Search > AI Search Index > Indexed Sources. For information about creating search sources, see Search sources in AI Search.
    You can link connector search sources to search profiles from the External Content Admin Home page. For details on this procedure, see Connect an external content connector to a search profile.