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Hi there,
While using the Clone Admin Console for the first time at one of my customers (version 1.0.14), a hugely important point popped up... or in my opinion: a serious bug everyone should know of! In short: Clone Definitions without a Profile are not applied! For this customer, the System Clone went horribly wrong due to this 😐.
Let's a have closer look, and why in my opinion there is a serious bug in the Clone Admin Console everyone should know of.
Note: I did also submit a ServiceNow Support Case regarding this issue. Unfortunately so far this has not been recognized by ServiceNow as an issue. Even more reason for me to share such critical knowledge gained.
Clone Admin Console
With the San Diego release, ServiceNow introduced the "Clone Admin Console". ServiceNow describes the Clone Admin Console as: "The Clone Admin Console provides a new, streamlined experience and enhanced visibility for cloning data between instances. All of your existing clone profiles, exclusions, preservers and scripts are brought into the new console. The clone request page is simplified, a on-demand backup option is added, and there is more visibility into clone progress."
Customers are still able to use the "old" way of requesting System Clones, though undoubtedly in the future that will be deprecated and customers will be forced to use the Clone Admin Console.
Bug
When requesting a System Clone using the Clone Admin Console, you will see an overview of the components involved, timelines, etcetera. Amongst this, the number of Definitions. Customers selecting no Clone Profile will see a count of all Exclusions/Preservers/Cleanup Scripts that are attached to the System Profile or have no Profile attached. After submitting the System Clone request, in the Clone Admin Console you will see a different count of all Exclusions/Preservers/Cleanup Scripts!
Before:
After:
Investigating this thoroughly, I got to know that when no Profile is selected, using the Clone Admin Console only the Exclusions/Preservers/Cleanup Scripts that are attached to the System Profile are taken into consideration and applied on the actual performed System Clone.
So why is this an issue?
1) The visual indication in the Clone Admin Console is inconsistent. The count of Definitions before submitting the System Clone request and after submitting the System Clone differs. It's also something you won't notice immediately.
2) With the old way of requesting a System Clone, when selecting no Profile all Definitions without a Profile would be included in the System Clone. With the Clone Admin Console this is not the case. This is a huge difference in way of working between the two methods.
Workaround
The workaround to overcome the issue of Definitions without a Profile attached not being performed in a System Clone is fairly simple. Create a new Profile, and attach all Definitions that don't have a Profile selected yet. When requesting a new System Clone, you would select the newly created Profile.
If you already performed a System Clone and faced exactly the issue described in this article, you can consider to use a backup of your instance. Be aware though: backups of subproduction instances are generally kept only for a few days!
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That's it. Hope you like it. If any questions or remarks, let me know!
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Kind regards,
Mark Roethof
Independent ServiceNow Consultant
9x ServiceNow MVP
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