Configuration file options

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 4 minutes to read
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    Summary of Configuration file options

    Theacc.ymlconfiguration file controls the settings for the Agent Client Collector (ACC) in ServiceNow's Australia release. This file enables you to customize agent identity, authentication, connection behavior, security, logging, and proxy settings to optimize integration with MID Servers and your ServiceNow instance.

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    Basic Configuration

    • Agent Identification: Define the agent name (defaults to hostname) and specify the backend-url list of MID Server WebSocket endpoints for connectivity, supporting fallback URLs.
    • Authentication: Configure api-key, user, and password for secure basic authentication between ACC and MID Server, with encryption applied on startup.
    • Logging: Adjust log-level (e.g., Info, Debug) to control the verbosity of ACC logs.
    • Security and Execution Control: Use allow-list to restrict executable commands via a JSON file, and applclassificationbehavior to manage shell CI creation modes (simple, off, full).

    Advanced Configuration

    • Plugin and TLS Verification: Control plugin signature verification (verify-plugin-signature) and TLS certificate validation (insecure-skip-tls-verify) to suit security requirements.
    • Connection Optimization: Enable or disable automatic MID Server selection (enable-auto-mid-selection) and configure command execution preferences regarding installed executables versus ACC plugins.
    • Log Redaction: Use command-log-redaction-regex to automatically mask sensitive information (passwords, user credentials) from logs and payloads.
    • Feature Toggles: Manage PowerShell command execution, asset plugin downloads during checks, and agent upgrade source URLs.
    • Certificate Management: Configure certificate rotation timing with certificate-rotation-days-out to maintain secure communications.
    • Network and Keepalive Controls: Define NIC filtering and limits on NICs per IP type for keepalive actions to optimize network resource usage.
    • Security Enhancements: The allow-list-global-only option restricts allowed commands to those specified explicitly, ignoring bundled ACC plugin allow lists for tighter control.

    Proxy Auto-Configuration (PAC) Settings

    • Proxy Setup: Specify the PAC file location with pac-file, supporting both local file paths and remote URLs.
    • Cache and Refresh: Control caching duration (pac-cache-ttl) and refresh intervals (pac-refresh-interval) to ensure up-to-date proxy rules.
    • Connection Management: Set connection timeout (pac-dial-timeout) and enable automatic PAC cache reset on proxy connection failures (pac-reset-on-connect-failure) to maintain reliable proxy connectivity.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By configuring acc.yml appropriately, customers can ensure secure, reliable, and efficient communication between the Agent Client Collector and MID Servers. The options support robust authentication, streamlined connection handling with failover, detailed logging with sensitive data protection, and proxy configuration to fit diverse network environments. These settings empower administrators to tailor agent behavior to their security policies, network architecture, and operational needs, resulting in enhanced stability and control of ServiceNow agent integrations.

    Options available in the acc.yml configuration file.

    Table 1. Basic configuration options for acc.yml configuration file
    Option Type Default Description Example
    name String Agent_<value of the hostname command> Agent name registered on the SN instance can be specified by the user. The result of the 'hostname' command is used as the default. name: <name of agent>
    backend-url List wss://127.0.0.1:8800/ws/events List of MID Webserver endpoint URLs to communicate with. If communication cannot be configured with the first URL, the system moves to the ensuing URLs until it establishes a connection. Works when enable-auto-mid-selection=true backend-url: <mid server ip>:<websocket port>
    api-key String <None> API key used by the MID Server to authenticate incoming agent connections. Value is encrypted on initial agent startup. api-key: <mid web server api key>
    user String admin Username used for basic authentication.

    If this parameter is empty, the agent does not start.

    user: "agent-01"
    password String admin Password used for basic authentication. Value is encrypted on initial agent startup.

    If this parameter is empty, the agent does not start.

    password: <secure-password>
    log-level String Info Amount of logging to appear in the acc.log file. Values:
    • Panic
    • Fatal
    • Error
    • Warn
    • Info
    • Debug
    log-level: debug
    allow-list String /etc/servicenow/agent-client-collector/check-allow-list.json Path to the JSON file that contains the list of check commands the agent can execute. Comment out this parameter to disable the allow-list.

    If this parameter is empty, the allow-list is disabled.

    allow-list: /etc/agent/check-allow-list.json
    appl_classification_behavior List simple Indicates whether to enable shell CI creation on the agent.
    Possible values are:
    • simple: Indicates that shell CI creation is enabled.
    • off: Indicates that no shell CIs are created for the application.
    • full: Indicates that complete Discovery of the application CIs is performed using patterns.
    appl_classification_behavior: off
    Table 2. Advanced configuration options for acc.yml configuration file
    Option Type Default Description Example
    verify-plugin-signature Boolean true Verifies the plugin signature before execution. Disable when using self-signed or developmental plugins. verify-plugin-signature: true
    insecure-skip-tls-verify Boolean true Determines whether to verify the certificate when connecting to the MID Server.

    Set as false to enforce full TLS verification.

    insecure-skip-tls-verify: true
    enable-auto-mid-selection Boolean true Controls the Auto MID Selection feature to connect to the optimal MID Web Server provided by the instance. enable-auto-mid-selection: true
    check-command-prefer-installed Boolean false Indicates the preference of executables provided within ACC plugins or executables available in the host system’s PATH variable.
    • false = ACC plugins
    • true = Executables in the host system's PATH variable
    check-command-prefer-installed: false
    command-log-redaction-regex String '-password[=\s]([^"\s]+)|-[pP]\s([^"\s]+)|--user\s[^":\s]+:([^\s"]+)|-pw\s([^"\s]+)|-u\s[^":\s]+:([^\s"]+)|[^"\s]+/([^\s"]+)@‘ The regex to search for and to remove potentially sensitive user information from ACC logs and payloads. '-password[=\s]([^"\s]+)|-[pP]\s([^"\s]+)|--user\s[^":\s]+:([^\s"]+)|-pw\s([^"\s]+)|-u\s[^":\s]+:([^\s"]+)|[^"\s]+/([^\s"]+)@‘
    powershell_installed Boolean false Disables powershell command execution on agents. powershell_installed: true
    allow-list-global-only Boolean false Set to true to enhance security by relying only on the allow list defined in the allow-list parameter you specify during configuration, ignoring allow lists bundled with ACC plugins. allow-list-global-only: false
    disable-assets Boolean false Indicates whether a check running with an asset (plugin) dependency fetches ACC plugins from the ServiceNow® instance, or uses a copy of the plugins in its cache folder.

    When set to false, additional assets can be downloaded during check execution.

    Set to true to enhance security and ensure that no new plugins are downloaded during check execution.

    disable-assets: false
    agent-upgrade-url-path String https://install.service-now.com/glide/distribution/builds/package/app-signed/ Indicates an alternate web server URL endpoint for downloading ACC installer packages when performing selective upgrade. agent-upgrade-url-path: https://<ip address>:<port>/acc_installers
    certificate-rotation-days-out Integer 28 Indicates the number of days before certificate expiration that an agent attempts to rotate its certificate. certificate-rotation-days-out=28
    enable-patterns-on-agent Boolean false Enables gathering details on the applications which run on the Agent Client Collector.

    This parameter is required only when using the Agent Client Collector for pattern execution.

    enable-patterns-on-agent: true
    keepalive-filter-nics Boolean true Indicates whether Network Interface Controllers (NICs) are filtered on the agent (true) or the MID Server (false) during keepalive action. keepalive-filter-nics: true
    keepalive-number_nics_per_ip_type Integer 1 Indicates the maximum number of Network Interface Controllers (NICs) per IP type (IP4, IP6) sent with a keepalive action. The indicated number is sent for each IP type.

    For example, if the value is 1, a maximum of 2 NICs are sent (0-1 each for IP4 and IP6). If the value is 4, a maximum of 8 NICs are sent (0-4 each for IP4 and IP6).

    keepalive-number_nics_per_ip_type: 4
    Table 3. Proxy Auto-Configuration (PAC) file parameters
    Option Type Default Description Example
    pac-file String

    (Required)

    "" (empty) Specifies the location of the PAC file to use for proxy configuration. Can be either:
    • A local file path (such as: file:///etc/proxy/proxy.pac)
    • A remote URL (such as: https://proxy.company.com/proxy.pac)
    pac-file: "https://proxy.company.com/proxy.pac"
    pac-cache-ttl Duration

    (Optional)

    30m (30 minutes) Determines how long proxy rules from the PAC file are cached in memory.

    Setting this to 0 disables caching.

    pac-cache-ttl: "1h" # Cache for 1 hour
    pac-refresh-interval Duration

    (Optional)

    30m (30 minutes) Specifies how often the agent is to check for updates to the PAC file.

    Useful when the PAC file is hosted remotely and may be updated periodically.

    pac-refresh-interval: "15m" # Check for updates every 15 minutes
    pac-dial-timeout Duration

    (Optional)

    30s (30 seconds) Indicates the amount of time to wait when establishing a connection through a proxy server before timing out. pac-dial-timeout: "10s" # 10 second timeout
    pac-reset-on-connect-failure Boolean

    (Optional)

    true When set to true, the agent clears the PAC cache and attempts to refresh the PAC file if a proxy connection proxy fails. This helps recover from proxy configuration changes or temporary proxy issues. pac-reset-on-connect-failure: true