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

Customers

• list_customers — List all customers (organizations, sites, and clients) from N-central. Optional: page_number (int), page_size (int), sort_by (str), sort_order (str)
• get_customer — Get a specific customer by ID from N-central. Required: customer_id (int)

Devices

• list_devices — List all devices from N-central with optional customer filter. Optional: customer_id (int), page_number (int), page_size (int), sort_by (str), sort_order (str)
• get_device — Get a specific device by ID from N-central. Required: device_id (int)
• list_device_details — Get service details for a specific device from N-central. Required: device_id (int)

Active Issues

• list_active_issues — List all active issues (alerts/notifications) from N-central. Optional: page_number (int), page_size (int), sort_by (str), sort_order (str)
• get_active_issue — Get a specific active issue by ID from N-central. Required: active_issue_id (int)

Scheduled Tasks

• list_scheduled_tasks — List scheduled tasks from N-central with optional device filter. Optional: device_id (int), page_number (int), page_size (int)
• get_scheduled_task — Get a specific scheduled task by ID from N-central. Required: task_id (int)

Jobs

• list_jobs — List jobs from N-central with optional filters. Optional: page_number (int), page_size (int), sort_by (str), sort_order (str)