ServiceNow Update Set Leading Practices Part 1

[dipak_thakor]

There are numerous methods available in the ServiceNow Platform for deploying applications on the ServiceNow platform, the method we are going to look at today is updatesets.

System Update sets

An update set refers to a collection of configuration modifications that can be transferred from one instance to another. This functionality enables administrators to consolidate a series of changes into a designated set, which can then be moved as a single unit to other ServiceNow instances for the purposes of testing or deployment. It is important to note that when an update set is reverted, there exists an out-of-the-box business rule that will remove the sys_upgrade_state record upon the deletion of a customer update, which is considered standard behavior.

An update set is represented as an XML file that includes:

- A collection of record details that distinctly identify the update set.
- A compilation of configuration changes.
- A status that indicates whether another instance is permitted to retrieve and implement the configuration changes.

Update sets monitor modifications to applications and platform features, thereby allowing developers to create new functionalities in a non-production environment and subsequently promote those changes to another instance.

Update Set Leading Practices

• For large update sets (>1000 XMLs), split into smaller update sets to avoid complexity.
• Regularly test and commit smaller sets of updates to minimize errors and enhance performance.
• Organize update sets by features or functionality.
• Define a universal naming convention, as a minimum standard. Add the story number, short description and application scope.
• Restrict number of XMLs per update set to 500-1000 XML entries.
• Limit the number of update sets per batch to 5 update sets for small to medium size projects.
• Limit the number of update sets per batch to 10 update sets for large size projects.
• Deploy updatesets outside core business hours, as they may trigger a full system cache flush, which may negatively impact performance.