The Perspectium MBS: Replicate and Integrate ServiceNow Data without Performance Degradation

The Message Broker System (MBS) is an enabling feature of Perspectium’s data replication and integration technology for ServiceNow.

It acts as a store-and-forward-capable message broker service that both prevents data loss, and allows for scalable, high-throughput data replication.

Perspectium and its MBS is unlike the typical, point-to-point data replication and integration technologies for ServiceNow, that are often reliant on web services and API to initiate and complete data transfers.

Web services and API-based replication and integrations use standard protocols to cast a wide net of compatibility.

In contrast, Perspectium is purpose-built for ServiceNow to provide users of the platform with the fastest possible throughput, improved data resilience, and high data quality.

Table of contents:

1. What is the Perspectium MBS, and How Does it Work?
2. What Makes the MBS Different?
3. Benefits of the Perspectium MBS
4. Conclusion

What is the Perspectium MBS, and How Does it Work?

The What

The Perspectium MBS is a cloud-enabled bridge between ServiceNow and connected systems. It is an example of a store-and-forward technology whereby information is sent to and preserved within an intermediary (a queue) before its intended target system is ready to ingest it. 

The MBS ensures that in the event of a disruption, such as an outage at the target system, the data can wait securely in the store-and-forward queue until the target system is operational again. 

But improved data resilience is only part of the picture, with the MBS also allowing for massive throughput due to a more efficient data transfer process, and a much smaller impact on ServiceNow’s performance. 

As such, users benefit from a scalable, API-free approach to data replication, capable of transferring over 20 million ServiceNow records per day while preserving ServiceNow’s operational resources and performance. 

The How

Perspectium applications are installed locally within ServiceNow, allowing them to initiate data transfers via efficient push technology (HTTPS POST). Transferred data is encrypted and temporarily stored in the MBS. 

Target systems can then retrieve data from the MBS via HTTPS GET, which is then decrypted and ingested by the target system with the original schema intact. 

Retrieving data from the MBS rather than ServiceNow means that the ServiceNow platform’s performance is not impeded by the process – even when data is replicated to multiple targets – allowing far greater throughput and scalability than typical, point-to-point, web services and API-based solutions.

What Makes the MBS Different?

The Traditional Approach

Most ServiceNow integrations rely on API calls making requests to retrieve particular data. While these API calls are initiated externally, they have to be processed by ServiceNow using the Platform’s system resources to query the database for the relevant data. 

This processing happens on the data layer shared by ServiceNow users, who require those system resources to complete their own tasks such as monitoring the dashboard, producing reports, and managing incidents.

So, the more frequent and higher the volume of requests for ServiceNow data, the more noticeable the impact on ServiceNow’s performance. The impact is most severe when ServiceNow is integrated with multiple target solutions and repositories. 

Performance issues disrupt day-to-day users of the Platform and limit the rate at which data can be transferred out of the Platform, leading to disruption within every department that uses and/or benefits from ServiceNow data and insight.

The Perspectium Approach

In contrast, Perspectium’s message bus-enabled data replication and integration technology bypasses the need for API calls to initiate data transfers from ServiceNow. Instead, it uses the more efficient push technology that, unlike API, does not share the same data layer as users. 

This means Perspectium can push data to the MBS with minimal disruption and without raising the various security concerns typical of APIs. It also means the target system—or even multiple target systems—can retrieve data from the MBS without affecting ServiceNow’s performance. 

Hence, users can enjoy throughput, scalability, resilience, and security that cannot be matched by API alternatives. 

• Related post: Why You Should Avoid Web Services and API ServiceNow Integrations

Benefits of the Perspectium MBS

Perspectium and its MBS provides numerous benefits to ServiceNow users:

Real-time data transfer and data availability 

Perspectium and its MBS enables real-time data transfer, improving the availability of  ServiceNow data around the enterprise and providing timely access to data and insight when it is required. 

Monitor data transfers

Dashboard monitoring allows users to monitor the status of data transfers with visibility into the records replicated and should there be any, information about any errors.

High data throughput 

Perspectium takes advantage of its ServiceNow-native delivery and uses efficient push technology to initiate data transfers.

This, coupled with the fact target systems retrieve data from the MBS rather than ServiceNow directly, allows for high-throughput data transfers that do not impede ServiceNow performance. 

• See also: ​​Integration Throughput Explained for ServiceNow Users

Scalability

With target systems retrieving data from the MBS, Perspectium integrations can effectively scale without any additional strain on ServiceNow. This allows users to feed ServiceNow data into multiple targets to serve multiple different use cases simultaneously.

Multiple use cases

Perspectium’s high-throughput, scalable approach to data replication and integration makes it an ideal solution for data lake building and/or data warehousing, allowing systems to be populated quickly.

It also allows users to feed massive volumes of ServiceNow data into solutions for reporting and analytics, Business Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning. 

Bulk and dynamic data transfer 

Perspectium’s MBS-enabled approach to data replication and integration allows for both bulk and dynamic data transfers.

This means users can manually select records, tables, etc., to be included in a data transfer, or define conditions that trigger the automatic transfer of data. 

Prevent data loss

The MBS is designed to hold the encrypted data in a queue until it is ingested by the target system, which typically happens in less than a second. 

However, if there is an issue at the endpoint that prevents it from ingesting the data, the MBS will retain the data until the target system is back online, preventing one of the most common causes of integration/replication-related data loss. 

Encrypted and secure

When Perspectium replicates and transfers data, it is encrypted with only the customer holding the encryption keys. Encryption is applied when data is at-rest within the MBS and in-transit.

• Related resource: Keeping Your ServiceNow Intgerations Secure

ServiceNow-native application, delivered as-a-service

Being a native solution, Perspectium is accessed and managed via the Now Platform. Thus, users can work with a familiar UI without learning new technologies.

And as a fully managed integration-as-a-service (IaaS) solution, Perspectium is delivered, implemented, and maintained by experts well-versed in ServiceNow.

Thus, an organization’s internal teams can focus on more productive projects instead of worrying about implementation or on-going maintenance.  

Perspectium and its MBS – Used by ServiceNow Itself

Speaking to the quality and capabilities of the product and service, ServiceNow selected Perspectium to provide data replication and integration services for their own, internal ServiceNow instances.

If you think you have a ServiceNow data replication or integration use case that Perspectium could address, talk to us!