Upgrade Progress

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Upgrade Progress in ServiceNow Zurich Release

    The Upgrade Progress feature in ServiceNow Zurich release enables customers to monitor the status of their instance upgrade in real time. It provides detailed progress bars and information about each stage of the upgrade process, helping administrators understand exactly which phase the upgrade is in at any moment. This visibility assists in managing expectations and troubleshooting during upgrades.

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    Key Features

    • Stage Monitoring: Displays progress bars for stages including Upgrading Platform, Updating Schema, Loading Plugins, and Completing, clarifying what the system is doing at each step.
    • Upgrade Details: Shows current and target versions, current activity with progress bar, and the specific file being updated.
    • Node Status Tracking: Visual indicators reflect each node’s status during the upgrade (Pending, Running, Successful, Failed, or Down), with the ability to select and view details per node.
    • Node Specific Information: For the selected node, displays running time, current build version, and uptime or downtime duration, helping in pinpointing node-level issues.
    • Integration with ATF Test Generator and Cloud Runner: If installed and the environment meets certain conditions (e.g., non-federated, not self-hosted, SNATFTG plugin active), users can schedule automated test generation runs directly from the Upgrade Monitor page, facilitating testing validation during upgrades.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    • Provides transparency and control over the upgrade process by showing exact progress and current activities.
    • Helps identify and isolate issues quickly by monitoring individual node statuses and upgrade steps.
    • Enables integration with automated testing tools to validate functionality during upgrades, reducing risk.
    • Supports confident upgrade planning and execution by clearly indicating versions and upgrade phases.

    When an upgrade is underway, Upgrade Progress displays progress bars and other information to help you monitor the process.

    You can view the status of each of the stages during an upgrade process. It helps you to know exactly which stage you are in at any point of the upgrade process.

    Image showing ATF store app advertisement banner

    If you have the ATF Test Generator and Cloud Runner store application installed, you can schedule test generation runs from the Upgrade Monitor page. The above message shows up during an upgrade process when the following conditions are met.
    • The SN_ATF_TG plugin is not active.
    • The instance is not a fed instance.
    • The instance is not a self-hosted instance.
    Note:
    You can now confidently upgrade your instance by using the ATF Test Generator and Cloud Runner store app. See Exploring ATF Test Generator and Cloud Runner for more information.
    Once the database upgrade starts, the following details show up. Image showing the status of an in-progress upgrade
    Table 1. Upgrade Progress details
    Field Input Value
    Current version Current version of the instance
    Target version Target upgrade version of the instance
    Upgrade Progress A progress bar depicting where the upgrade is in the overall process. The length of a section in the bar does not indicate the relative duration of that process.
    Upgrade Progress: Upgrading Platform The system is applying upgrades to elements that form the foundation of the platform.
    Upgrade Progress: Updating Schema The system is scanning the plugins to create a list of tables that require upgrading. This prevents the system from upgrading the same table multiple times.
    Upgrade Progress: Loading Plugins The system is loading both core and optional plugins. Some features require more than one plugin, so the number of plugins listed may not match the number of optional features installed.
    Upgrade Progress: Completing The system is upgrading components that need to be completed after the previous three stages are done.
    Details Shows the current activity, a progress bar for the current activity, and the file currently being updated.
    Node Upgrades The color of the icons represents the status of each node during this upgrade: Pending, Running, Successful, Failed, or Down.
    Node The selected node indicated by the arrow. To change the selection, position the mouse cursor over the icon for the node to select.
    Running time How long the selected node (indicated by the arrow) has been running. If the selected node is offline, this value stops updating and shows how long a node was online before going offline.
    Version The current build for the selected node (indicated by the arrow).
    Successful upgrade When the selected node is online, shows how long the node has been online. If the selected node is offline, shows how long the node has been offline.