Use this guide when configuring an integration with your ServiceNow Configuration Management Database (CMDB).
ServiceNow accepts OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials (recommended) or HTTP basic authentication. Both methods authenticate as a dedicated service account; that user's roles and ACLs govern all API access. Open the Generating Credentials section and choose the tab for your authentication method.
Role assignments in each tab must still satisfy Access scope and purpose.
The connection uses ServiceNow's Table API on the Hardware table (cmdb_ci_hardware). Some flows also call the Identification and Reconciliation API (/api/now/identifyreconcile). Decide what the integration should be allowed to do, then grant matching roles (and optional ACLs) when you create the service account or link the Application User below.
| Access | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Read hardware configuration items | List and look up existing hardware configuration items (CIs) so inventory views stay aligned with what is already in the CMDB. |
| Create hardware configuration items | Add new hardware CIs when your process registers devices into ServiceNow. |
Many environments start from the cmdb_read collection on the integration user, then add create rights only if you allow inserts. Your ServiceNow administrators may map these needs to different role names or stricter ACLs on your instance.
ServiceNow supports two authentication methods for this integration, shown as tabs below.
OAuth 2.0 (recommended) — A Client Credentials application that authenticates as a linked Application User. Access is governed entirely by that user's roles, with no REST API Access Policies required.
Basic Credentials — A dedicated service account with username and password. Setup is shorter: create the user, assign the CMDB roles listed in that tab, and set a password.
The same CMDB collections apply in both tabs; only authentication differs.
OAuth 2.0 requests are authenticated as the Application User linked to the OAuth Application Registry. Collections on that user govern access to hardware CIs (cmdb_ci_hardware) exactly as they do for Basic Credentials. Complete the portal steps below, then assign roles on the Application User in step 4.
ServiceNow authenticates this method with an OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials application. With this approach, you authenticate an application (using a Client ID and Client Secret) that then acts as a linked OAuth application user. The application credentials themselves carry no permissions—that user's roles and ACLs determine what the integration can read or write, exactly as they would for Basic Credentials, but without embedding a username or password in the integration settings.
In the ServiceNow filter navigator, type sys_properties.list and press Enter. Search for glide.oauth.inbound.client.credential.grant_type.enabled and confirm its value is true.
On instances running the Zurich release or later (where the Machine Identity Console is available), this property is typically already set to true. If you can see the Machine Identity Console in the navigation, you can skip this step and return here only if token requests fail with access_denied.
If the property does not exist, click New and create it: set Name to glide.oauth.inbound.client.credential.grant_type.enabled, Type to true | false, and Value to true.
Navigate to All > Machine Identity Console, then click the Inbound integrations tab. Click New Integration.
In the "Select your application connection type" dialog, select OAuth - Client credentials grant ("Used for machine-to-machine access to the application without the user's context").
Fill in the Details section:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | A descriptive name, for example Synqly Integration. |
| Provider name | A label for the external system connecting to ServiceNow, for example Synqly. |
| OAuth application user | The service account that should own tokens issued from this integration. This is the key field—the token acts as this user, and that user's roles and ACLs govern all API access. |
| Client ID | Auto-generated. |
| Client secret | Auto-generated. |
In the Auth scope section, leave Auth scope empty and uncheck the Allow access only to APIs in selected scope checkbox.
Unchecking "Allow access only to APIs in selected scope" is required. When unchecked, access is governed entirely by the OAuth application user's roles and ACLs. If the checkbox is left checked or an Auth scope is added, different ServiceNow REST surfaces require different scopes and will conflict with each other, producing 403: Missing required api access scope or 403: Access to unscoped api is not allowed errors.
Click Save.
The Client secret is masked after saving. Copy it before clicking Save, or use the copy icon next to the field on the saved record. Store both the Client ID and Client secret securely; you will need them when configuring the integration in Synqly.
The OAuth application user is set directly on the creation form in step 2. Verify that the correct service account is selected before saving.
Do not create a REST API Access Policy that enforces a specific Auth Scope (for example on table_api_access) for OAuth traffic. Combining this integration with REST API Access Policies produces 403 scope-conflict errors identical to those described in step 2 above.
Client ID + Client Secret
| (authenticate)
v
OAuth Integration Record
| (acts as)
v
OAuth Application User
| (governed by)
v
Roles and ACLs
|
v
What the token can read or writeThe OAuth credentials themselves grant no permissions on their own—they are a key to the door. What is behind that door is defined entirely by the OAuth application user's roles, assigned in the next step below.
Open the Application User you set in step 2 and, in the Roles tab, select Edit.... Assign:
| Collection | Purpose |
|---|---|
cmdb_read | Baseline read/list access on CMDB hardware aligned with Access scope and purpose. |
| Custom role from administrators | Include only when administrators paired an optional ACL with that role or otherwise require it on the integration account. |
In your integration or connector settings, supply:
URL
The root URL of your ServiceNow instance, for example https://<tenant>.service-now.com/.
Client ID
The Client ID from the Application Registry record.
Client Secret
The Client Secret from the Application Registry record.
Token URL (optional)
Only set this if your identity provider issues tokens from a URL other than your ServiceNow instance's default OAuth token endpoint.
OAuth Scopes (optional)
Leave empty for a Broadly scoped Application Registry (recommended). Only set this if the registry is Securely scoped with explicit Auth Scopes—see the warning in step 2 above.