Properties installed with Developer Sandboxes

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated January 9, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Properties Installed with Developer Sandboxes

    The system properties in Developer Sandboxes allow developers to customize the behavior and performance of their testing environments. These properties can be accessed by enteringsysproperties.listin the navigation filter.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • glide.devsandbox.num.controller: Sets the number of controller nodes (default: 2). More controllers reduce the number of available sandboxes.
    • glide.devsandbox.node.healthytimemin: Defines the duration (in minutes) a node is considered healthy (default: 10). Adjusting this affects how often remediation occurs.
    • glide.devsandbox.node.pollintervalseconds: Determines the polling frequency (in seconds) for node status checks (default: 10). Generally stable and rarely needs adjustment.
    • glide.devsandbox.node.polltimeoutmin: Specifies the wait time (in minutes) for a node to shut down before being marked offline (default: 2). Longer wait times can delay retirement processes.
    • glide.devsandbox.defaulttableconfig: Sets the default table configuration (default: sharedtable) with options for fullcopy and zerocopy, impacting space and performance during sandbox creation.
    • glide.devsandbox.dsbdbcopierthreads: Controls the number of concurrent table creations (default: 1). Consult your account manager before changing this setting.
    • glide.db.dsb.datacopyprocessor.threads: Specifies concurrent data copy plans during sandbox creation (default: 1). This value interacts with other thread settings.
    • glide.db.dsb.datacopyprocessor.chunkcopy.threads: Sets the number of data copiers for each table (default: 5). Decreasing this will slow down sandbox creation.

    Key Outcomes

    By effectively configuring these properties, ServiceNow customers can optimize their Developer Sandboxes for performance and resource management, ultimately enhancing their development and testing processes.

    The system properties available in Developer Sandboxes govern application behavior, enabling developers to configure and optimize their testing environments effectively.

    Note:
    To open the System Properties [sys_properties] table, enter sys_properties.list in the navigation filter.
    These properties are available for Developer Sandboxes.
    Table 1. Properties for Developer Sandboxes
    Property Description Details
    glide.dev_sandbox.num.controller Number of nodes that run as a controller.
    • Type: number
    • Default value: 2
    • Can't be 0.
    • Increasing converts unassigned nodes to controller nodes.
    • Decreasing converts unassigned nodes to nodes.
    • More controller nodes mean you get fewer sandboxes.
    glide.dev_sandbox.node.healthy_time_min Time in minutes that a node is considered healthy. An unhealthy node that's assigned to a sandbox can be remediated by assigning it to another sandbox.

    Remediation is the process of detecting a sandbox that should be running on a node but isn't, and then assigning another node to run on the sandbox.

    • Type: number
    • Default value: 10
    • Increasing this value keeps a sandbox node up longer, so remediation happens less frequently.
    • Decreasing it takes a node down faster, so remediation occurs more frequently.
    • Do not set this value lower than the time it takes a node to restart, roughly 3 minutes. During a restart, the node is still considered healthy to prevent the remediator from reassigning sandboxes to another node.
    glide.dev_sandbox.node.poll_interval_seconds Number of seconds between status checks for a node expected to go offline in the sys_cluster_state table, which contains the nodes that are assigned to an instance.
    • Type: number
    • Default value: 10
    • Generally doesn't need to be changed.
    • Used during sandbox retirement to determine how often a node is checked for being set to offline.
    • Increasing means the polling happens more often.
    • Decreasing means that the polling happens less often.
    glide.dev_sandbox.node.poll_timeout_min Number of minutes to wait for a node to shutdown, and have a Status of Offline in sys_cluster_state table.
    • Type: number
    • Default value: 2
    • Generally doesn't need to be changed.
    • Used during sandbox retirement to determine how long to check for a sandbox node to be set to offline.
    • Increasing means the polling happens longer.
    • Decreasing means that the polling completes faster.
    glide.dev_sandbox.default_table_config Default table config in Developer Sandboxes.
    • Type: string
    • Default value: shared_table
    • Other possible values:
      • shared_table
      • full_copy
      • zero_copy
    • The full_copy value isolates tables but uses much more database space and can make sandbox creation slower, especially with large datasets.
    • The zero_copy value also isolates tables with less initial disk space, but starts empty and may consume more space as data is added.
    glide.dev_sandbox.dsb_db_copier_threads Number of concurrent table creations in a sandbox.
    • Type: number
    • Default value: 1
    • Other possible values: 1-5
    • Increasing threads can create more contention and load when creating sandboxes.
    • Warning:
      Do not change this value without consulting your account manager.
    glide.db.dsb.data_copy_processor.threads  Number of data copy plans to run concurrently during sandbox creation.
    • Type: number
    • Default value: 1
    • Other possible values: 1-5
    • This value is multiplied by the glide.dev_sandbox.dsb_db_copier_threads value.
    • Increasing threads can create more contention and load when creating sandboxes.
    • Warning:
      Do not change this value without consulting your account manager.
    glide.db.dsb.data_copy_processor.chunk_copy.threads Number of data copiers running at a time for each table.
    • Type: number
    • Default value: 5
    • Other possible values: 1-5
    • This value is multiplied by the glide.dev_sandbox.dsb_db_copier_threads and glide.db.dsb.data_copy_processor.threads values.
    • Decreasing this value slows down sandbox creation.