Is It possible to downgrade the instance ?

[naresh831]

Hello,
We are planning to upgrade our Prod instance to Kingston and want to know what is the process to downgrade back to previous version if we face any major issue. Will there be any data loss ? How much time does it take to downgrade ?

Please let us know your suggestions and best practices on it.

Thanks

[bradpsnc]

Hi naresh831,

This is more a question for the ServiceNow support team, they can be reached via phone or the /hi customer service portal. I believe it is possible, however you would not want to take that route as its time expensive. Your best bet is likely to clone production to a non-production instance, upgrade non-production and test that system thoroughly.

Regards,
Brad

[mishu1]

Hi Naresh,

The request to roll back or revert your Instance to the earlier version is done by raising a Change request on your customer's HI Instance (CRM portal). 

As soon as the ServiceNow support team sees the Change request, they will confirm from you as to whether or not your Instance can be rolled back to the earlier version. Once they get an approval from your end, they will kick start the roll back engine.

The time taken to roll back varies on multiple factors like- size of the Instance, connectivity of data center etc., however it usually takes more than an hour to roll back the Instance to its earlier version. Also, please note that during this roll back time span, all of the users (including admin's) cannot log into your Instance, till the time roll back gets completed. 

There will be no data loss during roll back as the Instance is not available during roll back, however the data which gets created during the upgrade process shall not be preserved during the roll back process. This is due to the fact that roll back shall be done from a daily back up taken at ServiceNow's data center for your Instance. Hence, the records which get created (either manually or via Integration), between the Upgrade start/end time and the time at which a daily back up was taken, will not be a part of the roll back process. You will have to either manually export all such records in an XML way and then import it back on your Instance, once the roll back gets completed.

Also, its advisable to never go for a roll back, rather try to resolve the issue at the earliest. Most of the ServiceNow upgrades done are smooth. Based on the severity of the issue being reported post the completion of the upgrade, a hyper care support should be provided for at least 1-2 weeks to resolve the issues at the earliest rather than opting for a roll back.

Regards,

Mishu

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