SolarWinds Service Desk MCP Server

SolarWinds Service Desk

Cloud-based ITSM platform following ITIL practices. Manages the full IT service lifecycle: incident → problem → change → release, plus asset management and procurement.

Entity Model

Service Management (ITIL)

• Incidents — service disruption reports. Lifecycle: New → Assigned → In Progress → Resolved → Closed. Priority/severity levels drive SLA timers.
• Problems — root cause investigations linked to multiple incidents. Lifecycle mirrors incidents with additional root cause analysis fields.
• Changes — planned modifications to IT infrastructure. Full CAB workflow: Requested → Planned → Approved → Implementing → Completed.
• Releases — bundled changes deployed together. Tracks deployment scheduling and success/rollback status.
• Risks — risk register entries with impact/probability assessments. Can link to changes and releases.

Asset Management / CMDB

• Assets — general IT assets (software licenses, cloud resources).
• Hardwares — physical IT equipment (servers, laptops, monitors) with specs, warranty, and location.
• Mobiles — mobile devices (phones, tablets) with carrier, IMEI, and MDM data.
• Configuration Items — CMDB entries with relationships to other CIs. The authoritative record for infrastructure dependencies.
• Catalog Items — requestable items in the self-service portal (new laptop, software access, etc.).

Procurement

• Contracts — vendor agreements with renewal dates, cost, and linked assets.
• Vendors — supplier directory with contact info and contract relationships.
• Purchase Orders — procurement requests linked to vendors and budget lines.

Organization

• Users — service desk agents and end users.
• Groups — assignment groups for routing incidents/changes.
• Roles — permission sets assigned to users.
• Departments — organizational structure for reporting and assignment.
• Sites — physical locations. Assets and users are associated with sites.
• Categories — hierarchical taxonomy for classifying incidents, changes, and assets.
• Solutions — knowledge base articles for known issue resolution.
• Audits — change audit trail across all entities.
• Change Catalogs — templates for standard/pre-approved changes.

Workflows

1. Incident triage: Pull the incident backlog, skim priority/status mix, open assignment groups, then scan knowledge solutions for repeat issues.
2. CMDB audit: Configuration items for dependency context, hardware plus generic assets for inventory breadth, contracts for renewals and entitlements.
3. Change management: Standard change templates, in-flight changes, release trains, and linked risks in one pass.
4. Procurement review: Vendor directory, active contracts, and open purchase orders for spend visibility.
5. Organizational setup: Departments, sites, routing groups, and roles together paint the routing model.

Gotchas

• Legacy product name: SolarWinds branding in the UI still pairs with older Samanage identifiers in API-facing material—treat naming drift as normal when searching docs.
• Pagination: JSON responses use per_page and page params. Default page size is 25. Max is 100.
• Audit trail: Enumerate audit entries to see change history across all entities. Each audit entry references the changed object type and ID.
• Hardware vs Assets vs Configuration Items: Three overlapping but distinct concepts — hardwares are physical equipment, assets are any tracked item (including software), and CIs are CMDB entries focused on dependencies and impact analysis.