Connect ServiceNow with Basic Auth – StackOne Hub

Find the policies that gate access to the Table API.

• Sign in to your ServiceNow instance at https://[your-instance].service-now.com
• In the left navigation filter, type api access (or navigate to System Web Services > API Access Policies > REST API Access Policies)
• Click REST API Access Policies to open the list of existing policies

Recent ServiceNow releases (Washington D.C. and later, including Australia) ship with method-specific policies instead of a single “Basic Auth” policy.

• Newer releases (Washington D.C.+): look for Table GET API Access Policy and Table POST API Access Policy — pre-installed and Active=true by default
• Older releases: look for a single policy named Basic Auth (REST API = Table API, REST API PATH = now/table)
• If either layout is present and Active, you can skip to Step 2 below
• If you previously created a custom wildcard policy (e.g., for API Key auth) and removed the pre-shipped policies, ensure that policy has Advertise all auth schemes ticked or includes a Basic Auth inbound profile — otherwise Basic Auth will return HTTP 401

Simplest path — keep the policies ServiceNow ships and just verify they are active.

• Open Table GET API Access Policy — confirm Active is checked, then Update if you changed anything
• Open Table POST API Access Policy — confirm Active is checked
• If Table POST shows Apply to all methods/resources/versions = false, verify the Resource pattern is /now/table/{tableName} and the table list covers the tables you plan to write to (incident, problem, change_request, etc.)
• These pre-shipped policies allow Basic Auth by default — no profile attachment is required because the platform applies the BasicAuth profile automatically once it is active (see Step 2)

If the pre-shipped policies are missing (or you deleted them in favour of a single broad policy), create one yourself.

• From the REST API Access Policies list, click New
• Name: StackOne Connector Policy (or similar)
• Active: ✓
• REST API: select Table API (REST API PATH auto-fills to now/table)
• Apply to all methods: ✓
• Apply to all resources: ✓
• Apply to all versions: ✓
• Apply to all tables: ✓
• Advertise all auth schemes: ✓ — this allows Basic Auth alongside any explicit profiles. Skip this only if you want to restrict to specific profiles
• Under Inbound authentication profiles, click Insert a new row… and add a Basic Auth profile if one exists in the dropdown (e.g., BasicAuth for none public processors). If only API Key profiles appear, leave this empty — Advertise all auth schemes will cover Basic Auth
• Click Submit

Only needed if GET-by-ID requests (e.g. /now/table/incident/{sys_id}) start returning 401 even after the above policies are active. Most newer releases do not require this.

• If you see a policy named REST API resource by id (or similar), open it and set Active = true
• If not present and you hit 401s on GET-by-ID, click New with: REST API = Table API, REST API PATH = now/table, Resource = /now/table/{tableName}/{sys_id}, Apply to all methods/tables/versions = true, attach a Basic Auth inbound profile, then Submit

Find the list of inbound auth profiles on the instance.

• In the left navigation filter, type inbound auth
• Click System Web Services > API Access Policies > Inbound Authentication Profile

Most instances already have the profile — just toggle it on.

• Look for a row named BasicAuth for none public processors (description “BasicAuth for all none public processors”, Apply to all none public processors = true)
• Open the record — if Active = false, tick Active ✓ and click Update
• Because Apply to all none public processors = true, no further wiring is required — Basic Auth will work for any access policy that doesn’t explicitly restrict the auth profile list

On some hardened instances the BasicAuth profile may have been removed. Recreate it.

• From the Inbound Authentication Profile list, click New
• Pick the Basic Auth profile type if the form asks for a class
• Name: BasicAuth for none public processors
• Active: ✓
• Apply to all none public processors: ✓
• Description: BasicAuth for all none public processors
• Click Submit

Find your ServiceNow instance name from your login URL.

• Sign in to your ServiceNow instance
• Note your instance URL format (e.g., https://dev12345.service-now.com)
• Your instance name is the subdomain before .service-now.com (e.g., dev12345)
• For Personal Developer Instances, the name typically follows the pattern dev#####

Use the same username and password you use to sign in to ServiceNow.

• Username: Your ServiceNow account username (e.g., admin or your assigned username)
• Password: Your ServiceNow account password
• Ensure your account has necessary roles by navigating to User Administration > Users, search for your username, and check the Roles tab
• Required roles: admin, itil, or rest_api_explorer for Table API access