Lookup Next Hub function
Summarize
Summary of Lookup Next Hub function
The Lookup Next Hub function in the Telecommunications Network Inventory application allows ServiceNow customers to input a network interface record and retrieve related physical connection details. Integrated as an action within Workflow Studio, this function automates the retrieval of physical connection and interconnected port information, enhancing network inventory management.
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Key Features
- Returns physical connection records related to a specified network interface, or an empty response if none exist.
- Provides the sysid and port names of front and back ports when there is a configuration item (CI) relationship between them.
- Identifies NextHub interfaces and their connected interfaces at the other end of a physical connection.
- Available as a Workflow Studio action, enabling streamlined inventory data operations within Telecommunications Network Inventory workflows.
- Input parameters include the network interface record and options for handling multiple records (e.g., returning only the first record).
Input and Output Details
Input:
- Network Interface: Reference field for the network interface record to query.
- If multiple records are found: Choice to return only the first physical connection record or handle accordingly.
Output:
- Physical Connections: List of sysids of physical connection records related to the input network interface.
- Interconnected Port: List of sysids of ports interconnected to the input network interface.
- NextHub Interface: List of sysids of interfaces at the far end of the physical connection.
- NextHub Interconnected Interface: List of sysids of interconnected interfaces at the other end.
Practical Use Cases
- Retrieving no data when no physical or internal connections exist for a given interface.
- Returning related network interface records when interconnected interfaces exist.
- Obtaining both physical connection records and related interface records for comprehensive network mapping.
- Extracting NextHub interface identifiers and their interconnected interfaces for advanced network topology insights.
Roles and Availability
Users with the admin role can add and configure this action within Workflow Studio flows. This function supports efficient network inventory data operations by automating physical connection lookups.
The Lookup Next Hub function enables you to take the network interface record as input and return the details of the related physical connection record. You can automatically get the details of the physical connection and interconnected ports of the equipment in the Telecommunications Network Inventory application when you use the Workflow Studio application.
- Physical connection that is related to the port.
- Empty response if no physical connection is related to the port.
- sys_id of the front and back ports, and the port name, if there’s a configuration item (CI) relationship between the front and back ports.
- NextHub interface and the interfaces that are connected to the other end of the physical connection.
- NextHub interconnected interface and the interconnected interfaces that are connected to the other end of the physical connection.
You can use this function as a Workflow Studio action in the Telecommunications Network Inventory workflow.
Roles and availability
Users with the admin role can add an action to a flow and define the configuration details of the flow. This function is available as a Workflow Studio action in the Telecommunications Network Inventory application so that you can perform inventory-related data operations.
Input fields
The following table lists the input fields in the Lookup Next Hub action and their descriptions.
| Field Name | Description | Data Type |
|---|---|---|
| Network Interface | Network interface record. | Reference.Network Interface |
| If multiple records are found action | Option to select the action when multiple records are found. You can select Return only the first record from the list to return the details of the first physical connection record. | Choice |
To learn more about the variable data types, see Flow Designer input and output data variables.
Output
The following table lists the information about the function output.
| Name | Description | Data Type |
|---|---|---|
| Physical Connections | Returns the list of sys_ids of the physical connection records that are related to the network interface. | Array.String |
| Interconnected Port | Returns the list of sys_ids of the ports that are interconnected to the network interface. | Array.String |
| NextHub Interface | Returns the list of sys_ids of the interfaces that are connected to the other end of the physical connection. | Array.String |
| NextHub Interconnected Interface | Returns the list of sys_ids of the interconnected interfaces that are connected to the other end of the physical connection. | Array.String |
Example
- Use Case 1
- If the input is passed as Interface-1 of Equipment-1 as shown in the following example, the function returns empty records, because the network inventory has no physical or internal connections in the network inventory.
- Use Case 2
- If the input is passed as Interface-1 of Equipment-1 as shown in the following example, the function returns the network interface record of Interface-2.
- Use Case 3
- If the input is passed as Interface-1 of Equipment-1 as shown in the following example, the function returns the network interface record of Interface-2 and the physical connection record of PC-1.
- Use Case 4
- If the input is passed as Interface-1 of Equipment-1 as shown in the following example, the NextHub Interface is 3 and the NextHub Interconnected Interface is 4.