Clone options
Summarize
Summary of Clone Options
This document outlines the various configurations available when requesting a clone in ServiceNow, providing essential settings to optimize data cloning from a source instance to a target instance.
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Key Features
- Lock Settings: Locks the clone request settings, preventing changes to the clone profile from affecting the request post-submission. Default is not selected.
- Data Copy Limit: Limits historical data from the Task table to 90 days. Consider excluding large tables to minimize clone time.
- Clone Frequency: Enables scheduling of recurring clones with options for frequency and maximum occurrences. Default is None.
- Backup Options: Allows selection between the most recent nightly backup or an on-demand backup starting at the specified clone time.
- Exclude Tables: Excludes specified tables from cloning, while maintaining their schema in the target instance. Default exclusions are still applied.
- Exclude Audit and Log Data: Prevents cloning of audit and log records, leading to usable but empty tables on the target. Activity streams may not match the source.
- Exclude Attachment Data: Excludes specific large files from cloning, though certain system-relevant files are not affected by this setting.
- Preserve Theme: Retains theme and CSS elements on the target instance, maintaining its look and feel after cloning.
- In-progress Global Update Sets: Preserves the last 90 days of in-progress global update sets on the target instance. Scoped update sets are not preserved.
Key Outcomes
By utilizing these clone options, ServiceNow customers can tailor their cloning processes to meet specific operational needs, ensuring efficiency and minimizing unnecessary data transfer. Proper configuration can lead to faster clone times and maintain essential functionalities in the target instance.
A reference topic that contains various configurations for your data when requesting a clone.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Lock settings for this clone request | If you use a clone profile, this option locks the settings and options at the time of the clone request. Any subsequent changes to the clone profile, regardless of when the clone runs, don’t affect the clone request.
This option isn’t selected by default. |
| Amount of data copied from the Task table | Limits the number of days of historical data for the task table and its child tables (for example Incident, problem, and change tables) to 90 days. To reduce clone time, consider excluding large tables altogether. When excluding tables, your target instance has the same table schema and hierarchy (empty usable tables) as the source instance. The default setting is to clone all data from the task table and its child tables to the target instance. |
| Clone frequency | This option enables you to schedule recurring clones from your source to your target instance. It enables you to define the clone frequency and the maximum number of occurrences. By default, the clone frequency is set to
None.
|
| Backup options | Specifies which backup the clone request uses.
|
| Exclude tables specified in Exclusion List | Helps to prevent cloning records from tables on the source instance, which are listed under Clone Admin ConsoleDefinitionsExclude Tables. If a table is on the Exclusion List, the clone excludes the records on the table as well as
records on the child tables. When excluding tables, their table schema and hierarchy are still cloned to your target instance. As a result, your target instance will have empty but usable tables after the clone. Note: Default table exclusions are still excluded and aren't affected by this setting. Including tables containing auditing, license usage, logging, and notifications. If you need the data from your excluded tables, you can choose to disable this setting. The default setting is that tables specified in the Exclusion List are excluded from a clone. |
| Exclude audit and log data | Helps to prevent the cloning of audit and log records from the source instance. This exclusion creates empty but usable audit and log tables on the target instance. Note: If you exclude audit and log data from your clone,
the activity stream for records doesn't match the source instance. The activity stream relies on the audit table to generate the history. The default setting is that audit and log data are excluded from a clone. |
| Exclude attachment data | Helps to prevent the cloning of certain files from the sys_attachment table, such as:
Note: The following default attachments and other system-relevant files
aren’t affected by this setting and aren’t excluded from a clone:Default attachments and other system-relevant files (for example catalog item images, theme images, and icons) aren’t affected by this setting.
The default setting is to exclude attachment data. |
| Preserve theme | Preserves the theme and CSS elements on the target instance. As a result, your target instance will keep its theme, its look and feel after a clone. The default setting is to preserve the theme on the target instance. |
| No. of days of In-progress Global Update Sets to be preserved | Preserves the last 90 days of in-progress update sets in the global application scope. This option enables you to keep in-progress, global update sets created within the last 90 days on your target instance. Note: The default isn’t to preserve update sets.This
option doesn’t preserve your in-progress scoped update sets. Update sets that are older than 90 days aren't saved. Review and commit your update sets before cloning. |