Virtual machine pre-built topics for ITSM Virtual Agent

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Virtual machine pre-built topics for ITSM Virtual Agent

    The ITSM Virtual Agent provides pre-built conversation flows to manage virtual machines (VMs) across AWS and Azure environments. These flows allow users to start, stop, terminate, describe, and provision VMs through intuitive chat interactions. There are two main categories of topics: those that use the Cloud Access Interface (CAI) for direct VM management on AWS and Azure, and those that integrate with the Cloud Provisioning and Governance plugin for more advanced provisioning capabilities.

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    Key Features

    • Cloud Access Interface (CAI) Topics: Enable users with the snmanagevmva.caivmuser role to start, stop, terminate, and describe virtual machines provisioned on AWS and Azure. CAI topics do not require the Cloud Provisioning and Governance plugin.
    • Cloud Provisioning and Governance Integration: For provisioning new VMs and managing existing ones with enhanced governance, these topics require the com.snc.cloud.mgmt plugin. Users can request new VMs via links to the Cloud User Portal or browse assigned VM catalog items.
    • Role-Based Access: Only users assigned the snmanagevmva.caivmuser role can perform VM management actions through CAI topics, ensuring secure operations.
    • Configurable Data Fetching: Administrators can adjust script variables like maxrecords and carouselentriesthreshold to control how many VM records are retrieved and how they are presented in the conversation.
    • Operational Notifications: After starting or stopping a VM, Virtual Agent sends actionable notifications and offers additional information or instructions on VM access, enhancing user experience.
    • Error Handling: If AWS encounters errors during these operations, Virtual Agent prompts users to create incidents for investigation, ensuring issues are tracked and resolved.
    • Pre-built Topic Blocks: Modular topic blocks such as Describe Virtual Machine, Start Virtual Machine, Stop Virtual Machine, Terminate Virtual Machine, and Provision Virtual Machine are used to build the conversation flows, allowing customization and extension.
    • Duplicate and Activate: Pre-built topics are read-only and must be duplicated and activated within the Virtual Machine Management scope to be used in your environment.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Quickly empower users to manage their AWS and Azure VMs directly via Virtual Agent chat, reducing manual effort and ticket volume.
    • Enable secure and governed VM provisioning and lifecycle management by leveraging role controls and Cloud Provisioning and Governance integration.
    • Improve user satisfaction with real-time notifications and actionable guidance during VM operations.
    • Customize conversation flows and data retrieval settings to match organizational scale and user needs.
    • Ensure error cases are properly escalated by integrating incident creation within the Virtual Agent experience.

    ITSM Virtual Agent helps you manage a virtual machine (VM) using conversation flows. With this conversation flow, you can start, stop, terminate, describe, and provision a virtual machine.

    There are two categories of virtual machine management topics:
    Topics that support AWS and Azure providers
    Topics that are labeled CAI use the Cloud Access Interface to take action on virtual machines provisioned on AWS and Azure. The user must have the sn_managevm_va.cai_vm_user role to perform these actions. The Virtual Agent admin can set the script variable max_records (default value=100) to denote the number of records to be fetched from Azure in a single REST API call. The script variable carousel_entries_threshold denotes the number of records the carousel input shows. If the number of records are greater than the specified value, a reference choice list is shown to the user.
    Cloud Provisioning and Governance is not required to describe, start, stop, and terminate a VM for AWS and Azure. You can perform the following actions with the Cloud Access Interface (CAI) topics for Virtual Agent:
    • Start a Virtual Machine CAI
    • Stop a Virtual Machine CAI
    • Terminate a Virtual Machine CAI
    • Describe a Virtual Machine CAI
    Topics that use the Cloud Provisioning and Governance plugin (com.snc.cloud.mgmt)
    The following topics integrate with Cloud Provisioning and Governance (required):
    • Manage Virtual Machine
    • Provision Virtual Machine

    Describe Virtual Machine CAI

    Users can see details of any assigned VM instance associated with the credential set up by the system administrator.​ If AWS encounters an error, Virtual Agent asks the user to create an incident for further investigation.

    Returned details include Provider, Region, and Instance ID. The user can specify which VM to describe, or Virtual Agent can provide a list of available VM instances and the user can select the desired VM to describe.

    Requirement: User must have the sn_managevm_va.cai_vm_user role to perform these actions.

    This topic uses the following topic blocks:
    • Virtual Machine Operation AWS
    • Virtual Machine Operation Azure

    Describe Virtual Machine CAI topic.

    Manage Virtual Machine

    This topic calls the appropriate topic block (describe, start, stop, and terminate) to complete an end-to-end fulfillment of the request.

    This topic calls the appropriate topic block (describe, start, stop, and terminate) to complete an end-to-end fulfillment of the request. This pre-built topic is read-only. Duplicate the topic in the Virtual Machine Management for Virtual Agent scope and activate it to use the conversation flow.

    Requirement: Cloud Provisioning and Governance plugin (com.snc.cloud.mgmt)

    This topic uses the following topic blocks:
    • Describe Virtual Machine
    • Start Virtual Machine
    • Stop Virtual Machine
    • Terminate Virtual Machine

    Provision Virtual Machine

    Users can request a new VM in a Virtual Agent conversation. Virtual Agent sends a link to the Cloud User Portal to submit the catalog item.

    Requirement: Cloud Provisioning and Governance plugin (com.snc.cloud.mgmt)

    Basic flow:
    1. User requests a virtual machine.
    2. Virtual Agent does one of the following:
      • Provides a link to the Cloud User Portal, along with instructions for requesting a VM from the catalog.
      • Displays items in the VM catalog that are assigned to the user.

        If the user can't find the desired catalog item, the user can either go directly to the Cloud User Portal or end the conversation.

    Provision Virtual Machine topic.

    Start Virtual Machine CAI

    Users can start any assigned virtual machine instance associated with their credentials set up by the system administrator.​ If AWS encounters an error, Virtual Agent asks the user to create an incident for further investigation.

    Requirement: User must have the sn_managevm_va.cai_vm_user role to perform these actions.

    This topic uses the following topic blocks:
    • Virtual Machine Operation AWS
    • Virtual Machine Operation Azure
    Basic flow:
    1. User specifies which VM to start, or Virtual Agent provides a list of available VM instances for the user to choose from.
    2. Virtual Agent sends the user an actionable notification when the requested VM starts.
    3. User can choose to see details, request additional instructions to log in to the virtual machine, or skip the notification.

      Virtual Agent also notifies the user if the operation was unsuccessful.

    Start Virtual Machine CAI topic.

    Stop Virtual Machine CAI

    Users can stop any assigned VM instance associated with the credentials set up by the system administrator.​ If AWS encounters an error, Virtual Agent asks the user to create an incident for further investigation.

    Requirement: User must have the sn_managevm_va.cai_vm_user role to perform these actions.

    This topic uses the following topic blocks:
    • Virtual Machine Operation AWS
    • Virtual Machine Operation Azure
    Basic flow:
    1. User specifies which VM to stop, or Virtual Agent provides a list of available VM instances for the user to choose from.
    2. Virtual Agent sends the user an actionable notification when the requested VM stops.
    3. User can choose to see details, request additional instructions to log in to the virtual machine, or skip the notification.

      Virtual Agent also notifies the user if the operation was unsuccessful.

    Stop Virtual Machine CAI topic.

    Terminate Virtual Machine CAI

    Users can terminate any assigned virtual machine instance associated with the credential set up by the system administrator.​ Because termination is a permanent action, Virtual Agent displays the VM details and asks for confirmation.​ If AWS encounters an error, Virtual Agent asks the user to create an incident for further investigation.

    Requirement: User must have the sn_managevm_va.cai_vm_user role to perform these actions.

    This topic uses the following topic blocks:
    • Virtual Machine Operation AWS
    • Virtual Machine Operation Azure

    Terminate Virtual Machine CAI topic.