The Integrations section allows users with the DevOps or Cybersecurity DevOps role to configure Webhooks. Users with the DevOps role can configure REST API credentials. Users must have the role of DevOps or Cybersecurity DevOps to access the Integrations menu. This is described in the Identity Management section.

REST API

The public REST API allows users to pull data from Observability to integrate with collaboration and automation tools used in day to day IT operations. It is a read-only API allowing users to access inventory, configuration, performance, and capacity metrics available in Observability. It uses the OAuth2 protocol for authentication and authorization. The API client credentials are obtained by selecting the Create API Key button under the API tab.

Enter an API key name and description and select Create API Key.

When the API key is created, the user selects the View Key link to obtain the Client ID and Client Secret. The user then uses these credentials to authenticate to a specific API endpoint to obtain an Access Token. When the user obtains the Access Token, the user can make the chosen REST API calls. The access token is active for one hour, and the client credentials are valid for one year.

Documentation for syntax and available API calls is available at https://developer.dell.com/apis/products/analytics/cloudiq. Use these links to developer blogs access examples for Postman and Python and Jupyter.

Webhooks

Webhooks is a push mechanism to integrate with third-party applications such as ServiceNow and Slack. The following Webhook notifications are supported:

• Cybersecurity Ransomware Incident – Delivered when Observability identifies a potential ransomware incident.
• Cybersecurity Misconfiguration Issue – Delivered when Observability identifies a security configuration deviation.
• Cybersecurity Configuration – Delivered when a change is made to an evaluation plan.
• Health Issue Change – Delivered when Observability identifies a health issue change.

A brief tutorial for ServiceNow and Slack integration can be found here. Other examples can be found by searching for CloudIQ at the Dell Developer Community.

Configuration of Webhooks requires the user to enter an Event Type, a Name, the Payload URL (destination to send the Webhook), a Secret, and Server Authentication. The secret is a user-supplied string sent along with the payload and is used to create a signature that is passed as a header during the POST request. The URL server can create its own matching signature using its stored secret and the POST payload to verify that the signature in the header matches its own generated signature. Users can then select which systems to monitor. The Test Webhook button sends a test notification to the server with a NULL payload. This is used to quickly test connectivity to the Webhook destination.

After a Webhook is configured and triggered, those events are captured on the Integrations page showing the time and status of the delivery.

The user can select an event to see the Headers and Payload of the request and the response. A Redeliver button allows users to resend the event which is helpful for testing Webhook integration. Due to the potential sensitivity of cybersecurity information in the payload, users will only see header information in the Observability UI.