Cloning guidelines

Note:

Valid for Utah and later.

For detailed information for cloning a ServiceNow instance, see the following topics.

Base system table exclusion and preservers on global tables used in DevOps


Table name	Exclude table entry present?	Data preservers entry present?
For DevOps tool
sys_alias	No	No
http_connection	Yes	Yes
discovery_credentials	Yes	Yes
oauth_entity_profile	Yes	Yes
oauth_entity	Yes	Yes
jwt_provider	Yes	Yes
jwt_keystore_aliases	Yes	Yes
sys_certificate	Yes	Yes
token_verification	Yes	Yes
sys_user_group	No	No
For DevOps apps
cmdb_ci_business_app	No	No
cmdb_ci_sdlc_component	No	No
cmdb_application_product_model	No	No

Tools cloned from source instance

The tools that are cloned from source instance will have a Connection alias (sys_alias) associated with them.
The Connection record and the Credential record aren’t cloned over from the source instance since those tables are excluded.
Tool URL will be empty because the tool URL is dynamically calculated using connection record.
Connect test fails because there’s no active connection.
All the underlying entities like projects, plans, pipelines, repositories, work items, commits, pipeline execution, and so on must be present under the tool.
The tool's token isn’t cloned.
New webhook inbound events won’t automatically start to come to the cloned target instance for these tools. The tools must be reconfigured to receive new inbound events.

Manual steps on cloned tools

Create Connection and Credential
- Use the Create New Connection & Credential action present under the related links on the tool record or manually create the connection (http_connection) and credential (discovery_credentials) record and associate with the tool's connection alias.
- Manually run the Connect action on the tool and make sure that the tool connection state is Connected.
Regenerate token and configure
- For the tools that support token-based webhook configuration, use the Regenerate token action from the Related Links on the tool record page.
- Regenerating the token creates a new token in the token_verification table and creates webhooks for the tool and repos that have Configure status as Configured.
- For the tools that don't support token-based webhooks, click Configure and enter the user name and password for the DevOps integration user.

Apps cloned from source instance

Apps that are cloned from the source instance will have all the app associations intact.
Business app and SDLC component links are maintained.
Manual steps aren't required after cloning.

Preserving data on target instance

Aim to preserve the existing tools, tool connections, and apps on the target instance.

Level 1 data preservers

Table 1. Required data preservers
Title	Table name	Purpose	Suggested filter
DevOps tool	sn_devops_tool	To preserve top-level DevOps tool list.	`connection_state=connected^EQ` to preserve all connected tools or filter on specific tool IDs.
Connection & Credential Aliases	sys_alias	Specified in DevOps tool to hold connection details.	`idLIKEdevops^ORidLIKEspoke^EQ` to preserve all aliases related to DevOps.
DevOps app	sn_devops_app	To preserve top-level DevOps App list.

Manual steps on preserved tools after cloning

Maintained by
If the tool on the target instance had any Maintained by user groups specified before cloning, update the user groups, and set them on the tool record manually after cloning.
Discover
- Projects, pipelines, plans, and repositories aren't present for preserved tools after the clone.
- For Azure DevOps tools, first perform Discover projects.
- Perform Discover action on the tool or the project to bring the pipelines, plans, and repositories details.
Track
Track the required pipelines, plans, and repositories.
Configure
- Optional for tools where the webhook url holds a reference to tool sys_id only. For example, GitHub, GitLab, Jira, Bitbucket.
- You must reconfigure Azure DevOps projects because the project sys_id has changed after rediscover.
- Token remains the same for the tool.
- Verify that there are no duplicate webhooks created in the third-party DevOps tool after reconfiguring.
Historical import
Use the import action or workspace to import historical data for plans, repositories, and pipelines.

Manual steps on preserved apps after cloning

Maintained by
If the app on the target instance had any Maintained by user groups specified before cloning, update the user groups, and set them on the app record manually after cloning.
Associate with app
Manually reassociate plans, repositories, and pipelines with the app.
Relink to SDLC component and application model
Manually associate the DevOps app to the SDLC component, and SDLC component to the application model.

Level 2 data preservers

Aim to preserve the data and relations under DevOps tools and DevOps apps. These preservers should be used along with the level1 preservers and manual steps.

Table 2. Required data preservers
Title	Table name	Purpose	Suggested filter
Plugin: DevOps Data Model
Artifact Repository	sn_devops_artifact_repository	Top-level list of artifact repositories. Required to keep artifact repos that are associated with a preserved tool.	`tool=toolid^EQ`, where `toolid` is the tool being preserved.
Artifact	sn_devops_artifact	Top-level list of artifacts. Required to keep artifacts that are associated with a preserved tool.	`artifact_repository.tool=toolid^EQ`, where "`toolid`" is the tool being preserved.
Pipeline	sn_devops_pipeline	Top-level list of pipelines. Required to keep pipelines that are associated with a preserved tool.	`tool=toolid^EQ`, where `toolid` is the tool being preserved.
Release Version	sn_devops_plan_version	Top-level list of release versions. Required to keep release versions that are associated with a preserved planning tool.	`plan.tool=toolid^EQ`, where `toolid` is the tool being preserved.
Plan	sn_devops_plan	Top-level list of plans. Required to keep plans that are associated with a preserved planning tool.	`tool=toolid^EQ`, where `toolid` is the tool being preserved.
Project	sn_devops_project	Top-level list of projects. Required to keep projects that are associated with a preserved tool. Currently supported by Azure DevOps.	`tool=toolid^EQ`, where `toolid` is the tool being preserved.
Repository	sn_devops_repository	Top-level list of repositories. Required to keep repositories that are associated with a preserved coding tool.	`tool=toolid^EQ`, where `toolid` is the tool being preserved.
App to Artifact Repository	sn_devops_m2m_app_artifact_repository	App/Artifact Repo associations. Required to keep the relationship between preserved apps and artifact repositories.	`app=appid^EQ`, where `appid` is the app being preserved.
App to Artifact	sn_devops_m2m_app_artifact	App/Artifact associations. Required to keep the relationship between preserved apps and artifacts.	`app=appid^EQ`, where `appid` is the app being preserved.
App to Plan	sn_devops_m2m_app_plan	App/Plan associations. Required to keep the relationship between preserved apps and plans.	`app=appid^EQ`, where `appid` is the app being preserved.
Plugin: DevOps Vulnerability Integrations
DevOps Security Orchestration Relation	sn_devops_security_orchestration_relation	Required to keep the relation between DevOps entitiy (for example, pipeline) and a security tool.	reference_table=sn_devops_pipeline

Custom integration data preservers

Aim to preserve the meta-data related to any custom tool integrations on the target instance. These data preservers can be used with both level1 and level2 preservers.

Table 3. Required data preservers
Title	Table name	Purpose	Suggested filter
Plugin: DevOps Data Model
Custom tool Integration Capability	sn_devops_integration_capability	Required to keep the supported actions to integration capability mapping records of custom tool integration.	`tool_integration=customToolIntegrationId^EQ` , where `customToolIntegrationId` is the sys_id of the custom tool integration.
Custom tool Integration Capability Mapping	sn_devops_tool_capability_mapping	Required to keep the integration capability mapping records of custom tool integration.	`tool_integration=customToolIntegrationId^EQ` , where `customToolIntegrationId` is the sys_id of the custom tool integration.
Custom DevOps Tool Integration	sn_devops_tool_integration	Required to keep the tool integration record of custom tool integration.	`sys_id=customToolIntegrationId^EQ`, where `customToolIntegrationId` is the sys_id of the custom tool integration.
Custom Tool permissions	sn_devops_tool_permission	Required to keep the permission check records of custom tool integration.	`tool_integration=customToolIntegrationId^EQ` , where `customToolIntegrationId` is the sys_id of the custom tool integration.
Plugin: DevOps Workspace
Custom tool Onboarding task type	sn_devops_ws_onboarding_task_type	Required to keep the onboarding task types of custom tool integration.	`tool_integration=customToolIntegrationId^EQ`, where `customToolIntegrationId` is the sys_id of the custom tool integration.

Level 3 data preservers

Aim to have all the m2m mapping intact in the target instance.