Keeping PDIs Available for Active Builders: Upcoming PDI Reclamation Changes

[ServiceNow]

Lately, it’s become harder for developers to get a Personal Developer Instance (PDI) when they need one.

Demand has outpaced capacity, and inactive instances are preventing builders from getting access. 

That’s why we’re reclaiming inactive PDIs as one step in a broader effort to make PDIs more consistently available for developers who are actively building.  

We know these changes may be frustrating for some developers, but it’s an important step toward improving access across the developer community.  

Here’s what’s changing and how to protect your work. 

What's Changing

We're reclaiming PDIs that meet both of these conditions: 

• 90 days or older (based on when they were provisioned) 
• Haven't had a PDI login in the last 10 days 

Background processes and developer site logins don’t count toward activity. An explicit login to your PDI is required.  

How You'll Know if You’re Affected 

No one’s PDI will be reclaimed without advance notice. If your PDI is eligible for reclamation, you’ll receive three email notifications: 

1. July 7: First notification  
2. July 10: Reminder sent one day before reclamation 
3. July 11: Reclamation notification  

If you've received a PDI reclamation email, plan for your PDI to be reclaimed even if you log in after receiving the notification. Please back up anything you want to keep before your scheduled reclaim date. 

How to Protect Your Work 

Before your PDI is reclaimed, make sure you’ve backed up anything you want to keep: 

• Export your update sets. 
• Connect scoped apps to source control. 
• Export custom data you'll want later. 
• Save attachments and configurations. 
• Back up custom scripts and properties. 

PDIs are designed for experimentation, learning, and short-term projects. Regular backups are the best way to preserve your work. For detailed backup instructions, see How to Back Up Your Personal Developer Instance (PDI). 

Where This Is Headed 

Reclaiming inactive PDIs is just one step in a broader effort to improve PDI availability for developers. 

We’re also evaluating improvements to the underlying PDI infrastructure to provide a more reliable and performant developer experience. 

We’ll continue monitoring how well these changes improve access for developers while evaluating additional improvements. As those plans are finalized, we’ll share updates with the Community. 

Questions? Let us know in the comments below. 

[fjvm9]

Hi All,

I let my be released back into circulation it was due to be reclaimed tomorrow. Again as others have stated I was not a candidate for reclaimation and regularly see discrepencies on last used and last logins.

The is a slight cynic in me thinking this excercise is more budgetary/infrastructure rebalancing than a supply and demand issue. 

If that is the case fine as I understand this is a fantastic resource for folks to have at no charge. 

Just my tuppence worth.

Thanks

Frank

[Dan T_]

I'll add my note to the pile.  I log in daily to my PDI and trigger updates in update sets.  I have a fix script that I specifically use to ensure that I don't get reclaimed due to no "material changes" in the platform.  My PDI hadn't even hibernated since my last login but today I can't login and in the developer site, it's no longer linked to me.

I think that the 90 day usage is a hard limit, not 90 days and no logins in a week.  I've had this PDI for upwards of a year.

It's not all the code you lose, it's all the plugins that you install to test new or additional features that is the kicker for me.  I can save off my code sure - it's just the hours to reinstall plugins that is the real loss.

I appreciate the free instance and use it extensively - many times before we decide to invest in new platform features.  We're a 13 year customer of ServiceNow so changes in the PDI program aren't new to me but this one is a kick in the pants.

[gjz]

Like a few others - my PDI was reclaimed even though I have been actively using it.  The rules for reclaiming do not appear to apply they take it anyway.  Very frustrating.

[JC Moller]

Something went seriously wrong with these reclaims, and Servicenow does not take responsability for the wrong actions or even bother to explain them. Starts to look like the recent firing of 2500 employees. Just fire away, no need to explain. Sad. 

- Christian

[gustavohem07]

Good initiative. The requirement for explicit PDI logins is an important detail that many developers may overlook. Personally, I already follow this practice and try to access my PDI at least once in a while to keep the environment active and healthy. Hopefully these changes will help improve PDI availability for active builders and provide a better overall developer experience.

[bensweets]

I'm annoyed. I received those notifications, but was active in my PDI, not just signing into the dev site or with background processes, so I thought I was going to be fine, but it was still reclaimed, just as others are saying. I'm only now seeing this post, but even with the conditions described, my PDI should not have been reclaimed. I noticed that the "Last accessed" date for my PDI on the dev site was also incorrect when I signed in, so I'm wondering if there may have been a bug in how that value was getting updated?

[LouisA245199140]

ServiceNow

Your response is disappointing in the extreme.  I, like so many others here, followed the rules... but hey, cost-cutting is king, right?

[jeffreyluto]

I was on waiting list and about to update to a new version that is one of the PDI versions and I got an email that my request would not be fulfilled. 

[glideFather]

ahoy @Dan T_, 
A plugin installation started to create a record in an update set some time ago. So when you have that update set and promote it to another environment, it will ask you to agree to install the plugin, or ignore to skip the installation.

I agree it is annoying, just wanted to share this with you in case you'd be doing backups.

For me it is frustrating because I use PDIs as example to follow during de-customisations. Most of my clients have unbelievably broken instances and a PDI works as a model I aim to follow, since some records get deleted, renamed or heavily customised there. Losing a PDI after 90 days in the middle of a project would make things much harder for me. ://

[Angie Scott]

For many of us (developers AND admins), we like to have an 'out of the box' instance to compare new features, etc. when our company instance is customized. 

It is EXTREMELY frustrating to build an instance to the 'company' specifications/licensed products, use it for a few months, and lose it to reclamation. There HAS to be a better way to provision PDIs. Maybe we could 'check what we want' and a PDI could be created FOR us instead of us having to sit and watch paint dry by installing every plugin individually? (After finding it, that is.) If the process to provision a PDI matched to our company's setup were easier, I'd be HAPPY to let my PDI be reclaimed when I finish researching a particular item. Instead, I want to keep it as long as possible b/c I put in ALL THAT WORK! 

Plug-in/Application updates need to be easier, too. On PDIs and regular instances. 

I understand these are 'non-rev' features, but if devs/admins aren't happy, it will be communicated to clients and impact ServiceNow eventually.