So just to be clear: Service-now does not sell hardware. The MID Server is not a piece of hardware — it's just a program. A pretty cool program, actually!
Not cool enough to dispense beer, though...
Our wiki has lots of technical details about the MID Server, but here's a high level view: the MID Server is a program that runs on any server hardware. It comes in several flavors, for different platforms (Windows, Linux, Solaris, and HPUX). These are actually all the same program (which is written in Java, and therefore is cross-platform); the only difference between them is the version of Java that's included. On Windows, the MID Server program runs as a Windows Service; on all the other platforms it runs as a daemon. For all platforms, the MID Server uses the standard Java Service Wrapper to "package" the actual Java program to run as a service or daemon (you may know the Java Service Wrapper from other applications in your environment).
The MID Server is not sold separately; it's a component that any Service-now customer is free to download and install as many times as needed in their organization.
In current versions of Service-now, the MID Server automatically upgrades itself when the Service-now instance upgrades itself. That means that you install the MID Servers just once in your enterprise; there's no need for you to ever deploy upgrades — and you don't have to worry about your MID Servers being "in sync" with your Service-now instance...
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, always a reason for good cheer in our home — but this year we have even more reason than usual for celebration. Last night we had the first good, hard rain of our rainy season — already over an inch by the time I left for work this morning. I live out in the chaparral on the western slopes of San Diego's coastal mountains, and from about late September to the first rains each year is "fire season" — the time of year when we have the deadly wildfires. Last year one such wildfire burned hundreds of homes, and came to within less than a mile of ours. So when the fire season ends with that first good rain, it's cause for celebration in our household...
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Have a safe and relaxing holiday...
