Splunk On-Call (VictorOps)

CatalogScorecards

Splunk On-Call (formerly known as VictorOps) is an alert and on-call management platform.

Integrating Cortex with Splunk On-Call allows you to:

• Pull in on-call rotation data and escalation policies
  • The on-call user or team will appear in the Current On-call block on an entity's details page.
  • You can also view on-call information on an entity page in its side panel under Integrations > On-call.
• Create Scorecards that track progress and drive alignment on projects involving your on-call schedule

How to configure Splunk On-Call with Cortex

Prerequisites

Before getting started:

• Create a Splunk On-Call API key.
  • Note: If the key is granted Read-only permissions, Cortex will only perform GET requests.
• Obtain your Splunk API ID.
  • In your Splunk On-Call portal, navigate to the Integrations page then click the API tab. Your API ID is displayed above your API keys.

Configure the integration in Cortex

1. In Cortex, navigate to the VictorOps settings page:
   1. In Cortex, click your avatar in the lower left corner, then click Settings.
   2. Under "Integrations," click VictorOps.
2. Configure the VictorOps integration form:
   • API ID: Enter your API ID from Splunk On-Call.
   • API key: Enter your API key from Splunk On-Call.
   • Organization slug: Enter your Splunk On-Call organization slug.
     • This can be found at the end of the URL for your Splunk On-Call portal (e.g., https://portal.victorops.com/dash/<EXAMPLE-SLUG>)
   • Client ID and Client secret: Enter the client ID and secret associated with the application link you created in the previous steps.
3. Click Save.

If you’ve set everything up correctly, you’ll see the option to Remove Integration in settings.

You can also use the Test configuration button to confirm that the configuration was successful. If your configuration is valid, you’ll see a banner that says “Configuration is valid. If you see issues, please see documentation or reach out to Cortex support.”

How to connect Cortex entities to Splunk On-Call

Editing the entity descriptor

With the Splunk On-Call integration, you can tie on-call rotations to entities by defining the x-cortex-oncall block with your schedule metadata:

x-cortex-oncall:
  victorops:
    type: SCHEDULE
    id: team-abcd12345

Field	Description	Required
type	Type of on-call data (in this case, SCHEDULE)	✓
id	ID for the team assigned to the given schedule	✓

You can find the team ID in the Splunk On-Call portal on the teams page (e.g., https://portal.victorops.com/dash/cortex-app#/team/<TEAM_ID>/users).

Expected results

Entity pages

Once a Splunk On-Call schedule is defined in an entity descriptor, the user or team who is on call will appear in the Current On-call block on that entity's details page.

You can also find on-call information for a given entity on the On-call page under the Integrations tab.

Scorecards and CQL

With the Splunk On-Call integration, you can create Scorecard rules and write CQL queries based on Splunk On-Call schedules.

See more examples in the CQL Explorer in Cortex.

Check if on-call is set

Check if entity has a registered team.

Definition: oncall (==/!=) null

Example

For a Scorecard focused an production readiness, you can use this expression to make sure on-call is defined for entities:

oncall != null

This rule will pass if an entity has a service, schedule, or escalation policy set.

Number of escalations

Number of escalation tiers in escalation policy.

Definition: oncall.numOfEscalations()

Example

This expression could be used in a Scorecard focused on production readiness or service maturity:

oncall.numOfEscalations() >= 2

This rule checks that there are at least two tiers in an escalation policy for a given entity, so that if the first on-call does not ack, there is a backup.

On-call metadata

On-call metadata, including type, ID, and name.

Definition: oncall.details()

Example

You can use this expression in the Query builder to find all entities with an on-call rotation that includes a specific team. Let's say we want to find all entities that the "Sample Team" team is on-call for and the team's ID in Splunk On-Call is sample-team1234. Our query would then be:

oncall.details().id == "sample-team1234"

Still need help?

The following are all the ways to get assistance from our customer engineering team. Please use the option that is best for your users:

• Email: help@cortex.io, or open a support ticket in the in app Resource Center
• Chat: Available in the Resource Center
• Slack: Users with a connected Slack channel will have a workflow added to their account. From here, you can either @CortexTechnicalSupport or add a :ticket: reaction to a question in Slack, and the team will respond directly.

Don’t have a Slack channel? Talk with your customer success manager.