PDI is temporarily hibernating due to an infrastructure issue

[akhilmanchi]

Is anyone else's PDI stuck in "Waking Instance..."? I also see the message: "Your PDI is temporarily hibernating due to an infrastructure issue. Our team is working on a fix now." Is this a known ServiceNow outage, or should I restart my instance?

[Maulik176]

@Dr Atul G- LNG @Tanushree Maiti  I do not understand what did you mean by "There is no support available for PDI." That means that whatever work we have done on the PDI which is currently not working will be vanished? I have taken necessary backups but still asking from an information perspective. 

[Tanushree Maiti]

Hi @Maulik176 , 

• You can and should take regular backups of your work.
• If you face any instance-related issues, you cannot raise a case through ServiceNow University, as support is not available for Personal Developer Instances (PDIs).
• If your PDI is reclaimed due to inactivity and you have not backed up your data, you will permanently lose your work. No support is available to recover the data.

Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you take regular backups of your work from your PDI to avoid any data loss.

[Maulik176]

Understood, Thanks!

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Maulik176 

When we say there is no support, we mean there is no official ServiceNow support available for PDIs.

For a client instance, if there is an issue, you can contact ServiceNow Support and the relevant teams can investigate and help resolve it. However, a PDI is a free instance provided by ServiceNow for learning and development purposes.

If the PDI is down, not working, or experiencing an issue, you generally cannot raise a support case with ServiceNow for resolution. Community members can only share what they know based on their own experience and observations.

Therefore, in this situation, the best option is usually to wait and try again later.

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Summary: How to Back Up Your ServiceNow Personal Developer Instance (PDI)

This guide explains the different methods for backing up your Personal Developer Instance (PDI) to protect your work before a reset or reclamation.

1. Back Up Using ServiceNow Studio (Scoped Applications)

Use ServiceNow Studio for scoped applications.

Steps:

• Create a GitHub account (if you don't already have one).
• Generate a GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) with the repo scope.
• Create Basic Auth Credentials in ServiceNow using your GitHub username and PAT.
• Create a GitHub repository for your application.
• In System Applications > Studio, select your application.
• Link the application to Source Control using the GitHub repository URL and credentials.
• Push your application to GitHub.

Restore: Import the application back from Source Control using the same repository and branch.

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2. Back Up Using App Engine Studio (AES)

For applications built in App Engine Studio:

Steps:

• Configure GitHub and a Personal Access Token.
• Create ServiceNow credentials.
• Open App Engine Studio.
• Select your application.
• Choose Link to Source Control.
• Connect it to your GitHub repository.

Restore: Use Import App in App Engine Studio to retrieve the application from GitHub.

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3. Back Up Using Update Sets

Update Sets capture configuration changes made on the platform.

Steps:

1. Create a new Local Update Set.
2. Make it the Current update set.
3. Perform all configuration work within that update set.
4. Set the update set to Complete.
5. Export it as an XML file.

You can also:

• Export multiple update sets as a batch.
• Publish an entire scoped application to an Update Set and export it.

Restore: Import the XML file into Retrieved Update Sets, then Preview and Commit the update set.

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Important Notes

• Always store backups outside your PDI.
• GitHub is recommended for application source control.
• Update Sets capture configuration changes, not business data.
• Metadata such as records is not backed up automatically.
• Export any required custom data, attachments, scripts, and configurations separately.
• Never store passwords or sensitive credentials in a public GitHub repository.

Link: https://www.servicenow.com/community/developer-blog/how-to-backup-your-personal-developer-instance-p...