Integrating NetCrunch with Zendesk helpdesk

This article will show you how to configure NetCrunch to Integrate with the Zendesk helpdesk.

Enable NetCrunch to post in Zendesk

To enable NetCrunch to post important alerts directly to your Zendesk, you need to first set up an Integration Profile for Zendesk in NetCrunch. To do so, click Monitoring Integration Profiles at the top of the NetCrunch menu.

In the editor, the new Integration Profile needs to be named and you will be asked for your company name, which is part of your domain (i.e. test for https://test.zendesk.com), an email address, and an API token. Instructions on how to find the API token can be found at: API Token Instructions and scroll to "API token". You might want to consider creating a new user that will be used to send tickets from NetCrunch to clearly identify the sender.

Integration Profile

Create an alert that sends tickets to Zendesk

To allow NetCrunch to utilize this integration, it's necessary to create an alerting script (or edit the already existing one). Follow the steps below to create a new Alerting Script.

  • Click Monitoring Alerting Escalation Scripts
  • In the Alerting Scripts window click Add Alerting Script
  • Click Add and select Action to Run Immediately
  • Click Integrations tab and select Zendesk Ticket
Create alerting Script

A new window will appear without much to configure. Make sure that you are using the correct profile. Test sending messages to Zendesk by clicking Test. The test procedure will open in a small window. If everything has been set up correctly, the test should finish with a "Successfully executed" message, and a new test ticket should now appear in the Zendesk window.

Test the Integration

This procedure will not work with the "Close Ticket" operation, however. To test the "Close Ticket" operation you are going to need to create an alerting script with the "Create Ticket" operation set as an Action to Run Immediately, and the "Close Ticket" operation as an Action to Run on Alert Close. You are able to choose which status the updated ticket should receive for the "Close Ticket" operation. The default, in this case, is the status "Closed". Now, select a node in NetCrunch and create an alert (for example Node Monitoring Disabled) to test and assign the Alerting Script to this alert. The following steps explain how to create a "Node Monitoring Disabled" alert for a single node.

  • Right-click the node where you want to create an alert
  • Select the Node Settings and click Alerts&Reports in the node settings window
  • Click Add Alert, select the Basic tab and choose Node monitoring is disabled
  • Right-click the new Alert and select Assign Predefined Alerting Script Your Script name
Assign the alerting Script

Triggering the alert (Disabling Node Monitoring) will now create a ticket in Zendesk. If this alert is closed (Node Monitoring Enabled), the ticket in Zendesk will be commented on and the status will be updated to your chosen status. If such an alerting script is attached to various alerts, NetCrunch will send tickets to Zendesk each time the given alert is generated on your machines.

Result

integrationzendesk

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