N-able N-central REST API integration instructions

Randy White
Randy White
  • Updated

This article provides instructions on how to integrate N-able N-central to Lifecycle Manager.

Note: This article captures third-party steps and/or an interface that may have since been updated.
Note: As you connect integrations, review which clients will sync into the platform.
Imported clients count toward your purchased account limit, and many integrations may sync all clients by default.
We will notify you when you are close to exceeding your client limit.		  

Who can use this feature?

  • ScalePad Hub Administrators
  • Users with Manage Sync Settings permissions in their ScalePad Hub account.
  

What you'll need:

  • Administrator Credentials: Confirm that you have Administrator user credentials for your N-able N-central account.
  • N-central version: You must run N-central version 2024.6 or later for the Two-way sync option to work.
  • Professional Network license: For us to sync your network hardware assets (e.g. firewalls) from N-central, you will need to have the "Professional Network" license assigned with the hardware assets inside N-central.
  

 

Step 1: Create an integration role

  1. Sign into N-Able N-Central with your Administrator credentials.
     
  2. From the top-level menu, navigate to Administration > User Management > Roles.
     
  3. Click Create Role.

     
  4. Enter a Name and Description for the new role.

Step 2: Set the role's permissions

Configure the following permissions for the role:

  1. In Configuration > Monitoring, set Service/Tasks to Read Only.
    Nable_Ncentral_REST_config_monitor_service_tasks.png
     
  2. In Devices > Devices view, select the dropdown in the upper right and choose Manage.

     
  3. In Devices > Network Devices, set Edit Device Settings to Manage. n-central-network-devices.png

Note: If you don't plan on using two-way sync to write purchase or expiration dates back to your RMM from Lifecycle Manager, you can lock those two permissions to read-only instead of Manage:

  • Devices: Select the dropdown in the upper right and choose None to unset it.
    • Set All Devices to Read Only.
    • Set Network Devices > Edit Device Settings to Read Only.
  
  1. Click Save to save the new role.

Step 3: Create an Access Group

  1. From User Management > Access Groups, click Add > By Customers.
    Nable_Ncentral_REST_add_by_customers.png
     
  2. Enter a Name for the new Access group.
     
  3. Select the Propagate to all new Customers/Sites checkbox to include all future customers and sites.
    Nable_Ncentral_REST_create_access_group.png
     
  4. Select the Customer/Sites checkbox to select all current customers and sites.
     
  5. Click Save to save the access group.

Step 4: Create the integration user and assign access

Note: The N-able N-central API doesn't support multi-factor authentication. The integration won't work if MFA is enabled for the API user.  
  1. From User Management > Users, click Create User and fill in the required information.
     
  2. Under the Roles tab, click Assign Roles. Select the role you created in Step 2, and click Assign.
    Nable_Ncentral_REST_assign_role.png
     
  3. Under the Access Groups tab, click Assign Access Groups, select the access group you created in Step 3, and click Assign.
    Nable_Ncentral_REST_assign_access_group.png

Step 5: Enable API user account

We recommend making the dedicated Lifecycle Manager integration user account an API-only account, so it won't require multi-factor authorization.

  1. From the Users screen, User Details > User Information, select the MFA Not Required checkbox.
    Nable_Ncentral_REST_MFA_not_required.png
     
  2. Under Access, uncheck the checkbox next to Use Two-Factor Authentication.
     
  3. Under the API Access tab, select the API-Only User checkbox.
    Nable_Ncentral_REST_API_access_api_only.png
    Enabling API-only User allows access to N-central APIS but not the N-central user interface.
     
  4. Once you’ve assigned this user to the role, and the access group, and adjusted the security access you previously created, click Save.
     
  5. To authenticate the API user with a web token, click Generate JSON Web Token and copy the token for login use. For more information, see Generate an API web token.
     
  6. Click OK then Save.

Step 6: Generate an API web token

You generate the web token when adding a user or modifying an existing user.

  1. Click Administration > User Management > Users.
  2. Click Create User, or select the name of an existing user.
  3. Click the API Access tab.
  4. Click Generate JSON Web Token, and copy the token for login use.
  5. Click Save to exit.

Note:

API-only users in N-able N-central still follow the default 90-day password expiration policy. If the password expires, existing API tokens become invalid, and the integration will stop syncing. 

To restore the integration, reset the API-only user’s password, generate a new API token, and update it in Lifecycle Manager.

  

Step 7: Add N-able N-central REST API credentials into Lifecycle Manager

  1. From the ScalePad Hub, navigate to Integrations and click the Add integration button.
     
  2. The Add integration page will open. Search for and select N-able N-central REST.
     
  3. Enter your API token.
     
  4. Enter your N-able N-central Server Hostname (API)
    Your hostname should look something like nable.yourcompany.com
     
  5. N-central Server Hostname from UI (optional): If you are using a dual-port configuration, enter the hostname for the user interface, including the port number. For example: nable.yourcompany.com:8443.

Note:

N-able N-central REST supports two-way synchronization of purchase dates and warranty expiration dates by writing directly to write to the native "Warranty Expiry Date" and "Purchase Date" fields. These dates are queried by Lifecycle Manager and written back into N-able N-central REST.

You must be running N-central version 2024.6 or later for the Two-way sync option to work. See Enabling Two-Way Sync Fields for further information.

  

Nable_ncentral_REST_main.png

When you click Connect now, Lifecycle Manager performs a full sync. When finished, your hardware assets will be visible in Lifecycle Manager.

Any questions? Reach out to our Lifecycle Manager support team by submitting a support ticket.
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