Connect to ServiceNow Data from a Connection Pool in Jetty



The ServiceNow JDBC Driver supports connection pooling: This article shows how to connect faster to ServiceNow data from Web apps in Jetty.

The CData JDBC driver for ServiceNow is easy to integrate with Java Web applications. This article shows how to efficiently connect to ServiceNow data in Jetty by configuring the driver for connection pooling. You will configure a JNDI resource for ServiceNow in Jetty.

About ServiceNow Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live ServiceNow data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Get optimized performance since CData uses the REST API for data and the SOAP API for schema.
  • Read, write, update, and delete ServiceNow objects like Schedules, Timelines, Questions, Syslogs and more.
  • Use SQL stored procedures for actions like adding items to a cart, submitting orders, and downloading attachments.
  • Securely authenticate with ServiceNow, including basic (username and password), OKTA, ADFS, OneLogin, and PingFederate authentication schemes.

Many users access live ServiceNow data from preferred analytics tools like Tableau, Power BI, and Excel, and use CData solutions to integrate ServiceNow data with their database or data warehouse.


Getting Started


Configure the JDBC Driver for Salesforce as a JNDI Data Source

Follow the steps below to connect to Salesforce from Jetty.

  1. Enable the JNDI module for your Jetty base. The following command enables JNDI from the command-line:

    java -jar ../start.jar --add-to-startd=jndi
  2. Add the CData and license file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, into the lib subfolder of the context path.
  3. Declare the resource and its scope. Enter the required connection properties in the resource declaration. This example declares the ServiceNow data source at the level of the Web app, in WEB-INF\jetty-env.xml.

    <Configure id='servicenowdemo' class="org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext"> <New id="servicenowdemo" class="org.eclipse.jetty.plus.jndi.Resource"> <Arg><Ref refid="servicenowdemo"/></Arg> <Arg>jdbc/servicenowdb</Arg> <Arg> <New class="cdata.jdbc.servicenow.ServiceNowDriver"> <Set name="url">jdbc:servicenow:</Set> <Set name="OAuthClientId">MyOAuthClientId</Set> <Set name="OAuthClientSecret">MyOAuthClientSecret</Set> <Set name="Username">MyUsername</Set> <Set name="Password">MyPassword</Set> <Set name="Instance">MyInstance</Set> <Set name="InitiateOAuth">GETANDREFRESH</Set> </New> </Arg> </New> </Configure>

    ServiceNow uses the OAuth 2.0 authentication standard. To authenticate using OAuth, you will need to register an OAuth app with ServiceNow to obtain the OAuthClientId and OAuthClientSecret connection properties. In addition to the OAuth values, you will need to specify the Instance, Username, and Password connection properties.

    See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide on connecting to ServiceNow.

  4. Configure the resource in the Web.xml:

    jdbc/servicenowdb javax.sql.DataSource Container
  5. You can then access ServiceNow with a lookup to java:comp/env/jdbc/servicenowdb: InitialContext ctx = new InitialContext(); DataSource myservicenow = (DataSource)ctx.lookup("java:comp/env/jdbc/servicenowdb");

More Jetty Integration

The steps above show how to configure the driver in a simple connection pooling scenario. For more use cases and information, see the Working with Jetty JNDI chapter in the Jetty documentation.

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Rapidly create and deploy powerful Java applications that integrate with ServiceNow data includingSchedules, Timelines, Questions, Syslogs, and more!