Push notification retention
Summarize
Summary of Push notification retention
Push notification retention enables ServiceNow customers to archive and destroy push notification records that are no longer needed or when the Push Notification table grows excessively large. This feature helps maintain optimal system performance and data management by automatically moving older records to an archive table and eventually deleting them based on retention rules.
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This capability has been available starting with the Jakarta release and requires activation of specific plugins and rules to function.
Key Features
- Plugins Required: The feature relies on the Data Archiving plugin for archiving and destroying records, and the Push Retention plugin to define retention rules.
- Default Retention Rules:
- Push notifications older than 365 days are archived from the
Push Notification [syspushnotification]table to the archive table. - Archived notifications older than 365 days in the
Push Notification Archive [arsyspushnotification]table are destroyed (deleted).
This results in a total retention of two years (one year active, one year archived) before permanent deletion.
- Push notifications older than 365 days are archived from the
- Activation: On new ServiceNow instances, the Push Retention plugin and its archive/destroy rules are active by default. For upgraded instances, manual activation of both the plugin and the rules is required after reviewing and approving them.
- Manual Archiving: Customers can manually archive push notifications on demand instead of relying solely on scheduled archiving jobs.
- Compatibility: If your instance already uses other methods (such as table cleaners) for managing push notification records, you do not need to activate Push Retention. To prevent accidental data loss, avoid running multiple retention processes simultaneously on the same instance.
Practical Considerations for ServiceNow Customers
- Review and approve archive and destroy rules before activation, especially on upgraded instances.
- If replacing an existing push notification management process with Push Retention, deactivate the existing process first to avoid conflicts.
- Understand that archived data is moved to a separate archive table, preserving the original Push Notification table’s performance.
- Contact ServiceNow professional services or your sales representative for assistance when transitioning from other record management implementations to Push Retention.
Expected Outcomes
By implementing push notification retention, you can expect automated lifecycle management of push notification records, which helps keep your instance’s data storage efficient and prevents excessive table size growth. This leads to improved system performance and streamlined data governance without losing important notification history prematurely.
You can archive and eventually destroy push notifications that you no longer need or if your Push Notification table is excessively large.
Push notification retention is available starting with the Jakarta release.
Push notification archive and destruction plugins
The push notification archiving and destruction feature uses the Data Archiving and Push Retention plugins. The Data Archiving plugin must be active to archive and destroy push notification records. The Push Retention plugin provides a set of rules that specify when the system archives and destroys push notification records.
In new instances, the Push Retention plugin and associated archive and destroy rules are active by default. On upgraded instances, you must manually activate both the plugin and the archive and destroy rules. Be sure to review and approve the archive and destroy rules before activating them.
If your instance already has a process for managing push notification records, you do not need to activate the Push Retention plugin. If you want to replace your current process with Push Retention, be sure to deactivate the current process before activating the archive and destroy rules.
Archiving and destroying push notification records
Archiving means moving records from the Push Notification [sys_push_notification] table to the Push Notification Archive [ar_sys_push notification] table when they exceed the archive rule time limit. Destroying means deleting records in the Push Notification Archive table when they exceed the destroy rule time limit.
Default archive and destroy rules
- Push Notification - Over a year old: archives push notification records that were created more than 365 days prior to the current date.
- Push Notification Archive - Over a year old:destroys push notification records that have been archived for more than 365 days prior to the current date.