A guide covering the configuration and use of the N-able N-central Integration.
Related Articles:
- Halo Integrator
In this lesson we will cover:
– What is the N-able N-central Integration?
– Connecting to the N-able N-central integration
– Import customers and sites from N-Central
– Import assets from N-Central
– Shortcut to Open Devices in N-central
– Alert management
– Miscellaneous settings
– Import assets sites and customers on a scheduled basis
– Monitoring the Sync
What is the N-able N-central Integration?
The N-able N-central integration allows you to import and sync customer and asset information between Halo and N-central. Alert management can also be configured to have alerts in N-central log tickets in your Halo instance, allowing your technicians to be notified and resolve alert from within Halo.
Connecting to the N-able N-central integration
To enable the N-able N-central integration, go to Configuration > Integrations, and enable the module using the plus icon in the top right hand corner of the N-central menu icon. Once the module has been enabled, click the menu icon to begin configuring it.
After clicking into the integration module for N-Central, you will see the settings shown in figure x.
Fig 1. N-able N-central accounts setup page
Here, you will need to set an asset matching field, this is the field used to match assets to existing records. The field containing the unique identifier of your assets should be used here.
The "Asset Matching Value Exclusions" refers to values that you would like to be ignored when the system is trying to match onto existing assets. For example, you could use 'None' in this list of exclusion's, which would mean when importing/ syncing, any row where the value of the matching field (Where the matching field would be a column header on the import spreadsheet) set above, which is set to 'None' will not match existing assets and will instead create new ones.
Click into the Ncentral accounts button to begin configuring an N-Central Account. This integration is multi-tenanted so you can connect multiple N-central accounts.
Once you have created a new account begin by populating the initial setup fields with your N-central URL and the credentials of one of your N-central user accounts. These details are used to retrieve customer, site and device data from N-central to import into Halo therefore the user credentials you provide must have permission to view/modify these entities.
Fig 2. N-central connection details
Once you have connected you can use the 'Test configuration' button to check you have connected successfully.
Import customers and sites from N-Central
Customers and sites can be imported from N-Central into Halo. To setup customer and site mappings head to the 'Customers' tab.
Mappings are configured using the mappings tables, mappings allow existing N-central customers to be associated to the correct halo customers. If an N-central customer does not have a mapping when imported a new Halo customer will be created for this.
Fig 3. Customer/site mappings examples
When creating mappings you will notice a setting called 'Do not change the Site of existing HaloPSA Assets when they are found against this Site in N-Central'
Fig 4. pop-up when mapping site
When this setting is enabled any assets at this site in N-central will be imported to the mapped site in Halo, but if they are later moved to a different site in N-central they will not move sites in Halo. Essentially 'locking' the asset to the Halo site based on the initial import. This allows you to move assets around N-central freely without changing their Halo site. This also applies to customer mappings.
If you are using top levels in Halo for categorising your customers, an option is available to choose which top level N-central customers should be assigned to (Top level is found in the customers area of Halo, it must first be enabled from Configuration > Users > General Settings). If set, all customers imported from N-central will be created under this top level in Halo.
Fig 5. Set top level for customers imported from N-Central
Do not sync addresses – When this is enabled address information will not be passed between Halo and N-central, useful if sites in N-central and Halo have different addresses.
Once you are happy, save the page and press the Import Customers and Sites button to open up the importer screen, where your clients and sites from N-central will then be retrieved and displayed. This shows an example of the formatting of clients and sites when importing. If you import without setting mappings, the mappings table will automatically generate based off of the columns specified for customer/ site in the import:
Fig 6. Import customers and sites preview screen
Import assets from N-Central
To configure how devices are imported from N-central into Halo head to the 'Assets' tab.
Assets in Halo must have an asset type, therefore you will first need to choose how the asset type of new assets created from N-central are determined. This is done using the field 'Determining an Asset's type'.
Determining Asset Types
Use the same type for all Assets
If you would like all imported assets to have the same asset type when imported set the 'Determining an Asset's type' field to be 'use the same type for all Assets' then set the 'Default Asset Type' field to be the asset type you would like assets from N-central to be.
Use a field to determine each Asset's type
If you would like all imported assets' types to be determined by a particular field, set the set the 'Determining an Asset's type' field to be 'Use a field to determine each Asset's type'. Then in 'Field for determining an Asset's type' choose the field you would like the type to depend on. The field you choose must contain the name of the desired asset type, if this name can be matched to an existing asset type in Halo, it will be assigned this asset type. If the name is not the same as an asset type in Halo, a new asset type will be created. Note that the names must be identical in order to match. This setting is used if you have a field in N-central that already determines an asset's type and you would like the types to be consistent between Halo and N-central (typically device class). You will still need to populate the default asset type and group fields as assets that do not have the selected field populated will be imported as the default asset type.
Fig 7. Determine asset's type using field example
In the figure x example new assets will be assigned to an asset type in Halo based on the 'deviceClass' field. If the data in the deviceClass field matches the name of an asset type in Halo this asset will be created under the matched asset type. If a match cannot be made a new asset type will be created, under the asset group 'Computing'. If the asset does not have the 'deviceClass' field populated the asset will be created under the default asset type, 'Other devices'.
Determine Asset type using rules
If you would like asset types to be determined by asset rules set the set the 'Determining an Asset's type' field to be 'Determine asset type using rules'. These rules are based on field values, and if matched will assign an asset to the chosen asset type. When creating a rule first add criteria for the rule, select the Halo field that you would like to base the criteria on, then set the rule type and the outcome needed in the field to match the rule. If an asset matches this rule it will be imported as this asset type.
If an asset is imported that does not match any of these rules, it will be created under the default asset type. Alternatively, if you would like to not import assets that do not match these rules, set the 'Default Asset type' to 'Don't import assets that do not match any rules'.
Fig 8. Determine asset types using rules
Asset Field Mappings
If your asset database is already populated in Halo and contains some assets that exist in N-central, you can use the 'asset matching field' setting (Fig 1) to choose a field that imported assets can match against, to prevent unnecessary duplication of data. You must ensure that a field mapping has been created to populate your chosen matching field for this functionality to work.
N-central device fields can be mapped to fields in Halo to determine what fields data is imported into from N-central. To add a new field mapping, press the plus icon in the top right corner of the field mapping table. This will display an input screen with three options.
Fig 9. Asset fields mappings
Field Type – This will be the type of Halo field the data will be imported into. See our lesson on Asset Fields if you are unsure on the difference between asset fields and custom fields in Halo.
Now choose the N-central and Halo field you would like to map together. If you would like data from the N-central field to create a new field in Halo select '*Create new field during the next import*' under 'HaloPSA Field'.
Only apply this mapping to new Assets and Assets where the Asset field does not currently have a value – When enabled fields against assets in Halo that already have data in this field will not have the data replaced by N-central data. Only new assets and assets in which this field is blank will have N-central data pulled into this field.
Additional Asset import settings
Once you are happy with your field mappings you will notice some additional settings on the Assets page.
Fig 10. Additional asset import settings
Attempt to match User based on Last Logged-In User – When this is enabled new assets created in Halo will be assigned to a user based on the last logged in user against the asset in N-central. Each time the integration syncs the user of the asset in Halo based on who last signed into this asset in N-central. This will be matched on a user in Halo based on the user's SAMAccountName. The Azure AD or CSP integration must be in use to use this functionality as this is used to obtain users' SAMAccountName.
Do not import probes – When enabled probes from N-central will not be imported into Halo.
Once happy with your configuration, click the Import Assets button to open up the importer screen, where your N-central devices will be listed.
Note that devices will only be returned for customers and sites that have been imported prior to the device import. If a customer or site is not imported, then their devices will not be returned.
Shortcut to Open Devices in N-central
When opening an imported device in Halo, a new button will now be available so that you can open the device in N-central. Shown in figure x.
Fig 11. Open device in Halo
Alert Management and Delivery Methods
N-Central alerts can be turned into tickets in Halo using webhooks. When an alert is raised in N-Central a ticket will be created in Halo, closing the ticket in Halo will then resolve the alert in N-Central.
To configure alert management head to the 'Webhooks' tab.
Note: Previously, alerts could be managed in Halo using emails. Using email for alerts is now considered a legacy method, therefore the configuration of this is not covered in this guide. Please speak to member of the Halo support team if you would like assistance configuring this option.
If you are currently using emails for alert management and would like to start using the webhook (API) method be aware that changing the delivery method setting from Email to API should only be done once the API configuration has been completed in N-central, as changing this setting will instantly stop alerts via email from being processed in their usual way.
Configuring Alert management using webhooks
Fig 12. Alert management configuration page
Prerequisites for this Functionality
- NHServer that is 13.10 or above. Please speak to the Halo Support team to get this upgraded if you are a cloud customer, or unsure what this means. This pre-requisite is important, as it prevents the backend Halo server processes from interfering with alerts logged via the API.
- Have the text Device: {{DeviceName}} in your alert template in N-central. This text must also have it's own line and should not share a line with any other text (this will be configured by default unless you have previously changed this template). Failing to do this will result in the correct device not being linked to the newly created ticket. You must also ensure that the longname field from N-central has a field mapping and is being imported for each device.
Firstly, you are required to choose a ticket type for new alerts that are created via the webhooks, and also a user that the new alerts should be assigned to. It is a good idea to create a separate user specifically for this functionality, rather than using a general user.
Fig 13. Ticket type and user for alert tickets
You now need to configure a PSA integration in N-central. This will tell N-central where alerts should be sent so that they can be successfully created as tickets in Halo.
In N-central, navigate to Administration > PSA Integration > Configure PSA Integration. Enable a Custom PSA integration, and populate all configuration options using the details displayed in your N-central module in Halo.
Fig 14. Details used to configure PSA integration in N-central
Your 'Base Endpoint URL' will follow the format https://YOURHALODOMAIN/api
Once you have chosen a password under the "API credentials for communicating with MSP N-central" heading, copy the username and this password into the two fields in Halo to complete the configuration. This allows Halo to communicate back to N-central when tickets are resolved or re-opened.
Fig 15. N-central webhook Username and password
When saving the PSA Integration in N-central, a test ticket will be created in Halo if configured successfully. Any failures will result in an error being given in N-central, and the save will be unsuccessful. Once saved, you must then enable the PSA Integration for customers and sites in N-central, and also create at least one ticketing recipient. This can be done in Administration > PSA Integration > Customer Settings/Ticketing.
Custom Tags can be added to a ticketing recipient so that the request type, status and priority can be overridden when an alert is received into Halo. The request type and status field must be the name of the entity in Halo, whereas the priority must be the ID number of that priority. Please note that the custom tag field names are case sensitive and must be configured exactly as shown in the below example.
Fig 16. Custom tag fields
Once configured, you will then start to see alerts created as tickets in Halo via the API. An example alert that was created using the integration can be seen in the below screenshot.
Fig 17. Ticket in Halo created from N-central alert
By resolving this ticket in Halo, an update will be sent to N-central informing that the ticket has now been resolved. Similarly, if you reopen a ticket created via an alert, an update will be sent to N-central informing that the ticket has been reopened.
If the issue is updated or resolved in N-central, new alerts sent to the Halo API will update the inital ticket that was logged and will add an action with the details of the update, and close the ticket automatically if the problem has been resolved. Should an issue be re-opened in N-central, the linked ticket will then also be reopened in Halo.
Miscellaneous settings
Under the 'Miscellaneous settings' tab are some additional settings to determine how the
Fig 18. Miscellaneous settings
Port to use for N-Central Deeplinks (Remote Control and Device buttons) – Here you can set which port is used for N-central deeplinks (remote control)
Require agent username and password for remote access – If enabled agent username and password will be required for someone to gain remote access to a device.
Deactivate Clients in Halo when they are deleted from N-Central (Halo Integrator only) – When enabled, any customers that are deleted in N-Central will be deactivated in Halo.
Deactivate Assets in Halo when they are deleted from N-Central (Halo Integrator only) – When enabled, any assets that are deleted in N-Central will be deactivated in Halo.
Automatically create a HaloPSA Site directly linked to the N-Central Client (Halo Integrator only) – When this is enabled a Halo site will be created for each client found in N-central. New sites that are created will use the clients name in N-central between two asterisks to avoid duplicate names. When a new site is created it will be added to the mappings table automatically.
Import assets sites and customers on a scheduled basis
It is possible to run customer, site and device imports on a schedule using the Halo Integrator. Head to the 'Syncing' tab to enable the Halo integrator for this integration.
Fig 19. Enable Halo integrator
Check 'Enable the N-Central Integration for Halo Integrator' to enable the sync.
You will also need to choose which entities should be automatically imported during a sync. The sync will run on a daily basis, each time the Halo Integrator imports from N-central, the last sync date and the last error (if there was one) will be saved and displayed within the Halo web application.
Monitoring the sync
Inbound and outbound requests can be monitored using the tabs 'Inbound requests' and 'Outbound requests'. Click into an entry here to see more details on the successful/failed request.
