N-Central

Overview

The N-Central integration lets Bumblebee workflows interact with your N-able N-Central instance. It is useful for querying device information, managing customers and sites, and automating RMM operations.

Prerequisites & Setup

Before setting up the N-Central integration, you need:

• An N-Central instance running version 2023.9 or later
• An Administrator account to create API users
• A dedicated API-only user with a JSON Web Token (JWT)

Account-Specific vs. Global API Keys

N-Central supports two levels of API access:

• Account-specific API key (JWT): Generated per user and scoped to that user's assigned roles and access groups. This is the recommended approach — it follows the principle of least privilege and limits API access to only the customers, sites, and features the user is authorized to see.
• Global-level API key: Created via a system-level or admin account with broad access across all customers and sites. Use this only when you explicitly need unrestricted access to the entire N-Central instance.

For Bumblebee, we recommend creating a dedicated API-only user with account-specific permissions.

Create an API User in N-Central

1. Log in to N-Central and navigate to Administration > User Management > Users
2. Create a new user (e.g., First Name: "Api", Last Name: "User")
3. Under the ROLES tab, assign the appropriate roles
4. Under the ACCESS GROUPS tab, assign the access groups that define customer/site visibility
5. Under USER DETAILS > USER INFORMATION, disable Two-Factor Authentication
6. Under the API ACCESS tab, enable API-Only User, save the user, then click Generate JSON Web Token
7. Copy the JWT immediately — it cannot be displayed again after closing the dialog

Configure in Bumblebee

1. Go to the Integrations page in Bumblebee
2. Select N-Central
3. Enter:
   • JWT Token — the JSON Web Token generated from your API user
   • Server URL — your N-Central instance URL (e.g., https://your-ncentral-server.com)
4. Click Save to store the credentials

Authentication Flow

N-Central uses a two-step authentication process:

1. JWT Token — The initial token generated from the N-Central UI (what you provide to Bumblebee)
2. Access Token — Bumblebee automatically exchanges the JWT for a short-lived access token via POST /api/auth/authenticate, and refreshes it as needed

You only need to provide the JWT. Bumblebee handles the token exchange and refresh automatically.

Available Tools

Devices

• list_devices — List devices with pagination. Optional: pageSize (int), pageNumber (int)

Customers

• list_customers — List customers under a service organization. Required: soId (int)

Sites

• list_sites — List sites for a customer. Required: customerId (int)

Service Organizations

• list_service_orgs — List all service organizations in your N-Central instance