Platform Overview and Navigation · Topic 1 of 2
The Now Platform, Its Capabilities and the Instance
ServiceNow CSA basics: the Now Platform, its capabilities and services, and the instance, including production, sub-production and the MID Server.
- 4 min
- The Now Platform is one platform with one data model; ITSM, HR and others are applications on it.
- An instance is the customer's own copy, with its own database and URL.
- Typical instances are development, test and production; changes move up, usually by update sets.
What it is
The Now Platform is ServiceNow's cloud platform for digitizing and automating work. Products such as IT Service Management, HR Service Delivery and Customer Service Management are applications built on the same platform. They share one data model and one set of platform services.
An instance is your organization's own copy of the platform. It has its own application, its own database and its own URL, in the form <instance name>.service-now.com.
How it works
Platform capabilities and services
The platform gives every application the same building blocks, so an admin learns them once and reuses them everywhere.
| Capability | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Workflow automation | Workflow Studio builds flows, subflows and actions without code |
| Application development | Low code tools such as Studio and UI Builder for custom applications |
| Service Catalog and Knowledge | Self service requests and articles for end users |
| Integration | REST and SOAP interfaces, Integration Hub and the MID Server |
| Analytics | Platform Analytics for dashboards and reports |
| AI | AI features such as Virtual Agent and Now Assist |
| CMDB | A record of the configuration items that support services |
| Security and access | Roles, access control rules and auditing |
Common services such as notifications, approvals, search, scheduling and access control are built in. Applications call these services instead of building their own.
The instance
Each customer has its own instance with its own database. This is called a multi-instance architecture, and it means your data and customizations are not mixed with another customer's.
Most organizations run several instances.
| Instance | Typical purpose |
|---|---|
| Development | Build and change configuration |
| Test or QA | Check changes before release |
| Production | Live use by real users |
Changes normally move from development to test to production by update sets, which a later chapter covers. Data can be copied from one instance to another by a clone, which overwrites the target instance with the source's data.
The ServiceNow Developer Program offers a free Personal Developer Instance to learn and experiment. It is for learning, not for production work.
The MID Server
The MID Server is a Java application that runs on a server inside the customer's network. It lets the instance work with systems it cannot reach directly, such as devices behind a firewall. It starts the connection to the instance, so no inbound firewall opening is needed.
Releases and upgrades
ServiceNow publishes new family releases on a regular schedule, and the customer schedules when each instance is upgraded. The admin tests the upgrade on a lower instance first, because customized records can conflict with new out of box versions.
Roles and who administers the instance
Every instance has users with roles. The admin role is the all powerful role that can configure the whole instance, so it is given to few people. Most users hold narrower roles, such as a role for working incidents.
Because the platform is shared by all applications, a role or a table can serve more than one application. An admin should think of the platform as one system rather than a set of unrelated tools.
How the exam asks about this
- "A company wants a place to try a change without affecting live users." A sub production instance, such as development or test.
- "The instance must collect data from servers behind the corporate firewall." A MID Server.
- "Which statement describes how customers are separated?" Each customer has its own instance and database.
What to remember for the exam
- The Now Platform is one platform with one data model; ITSM, HR and others are applications on it.
- An instance is the customer's own copy, with its own database and URL.
- Typical instances are development, test and production; changes move up, usually by update sets.
- A clone copies data from a source instance to a target and overwrites the target.
- The MID Server connects the instance to systems inside a private network.
- Workflow Studio is the tool for building flows.
A clone overwrites the target instance. Never clone a lower instance over production, and expect the target to lose its own data unless it is preserved first.
Common mistakes
Thinking an application is a separate product. Incident, Change and the catalog all run on the same platform and share its tables, roles and services.
Treating a Personal Developer Instance as a test environment for the company. It is a free learning instance, not part of the customer's own line of development, test and production instances.
Assuming the MID Server hosts the instance. The instance runs in the cloud; the MID Server is a small agent on the customer's side that carries traffic.
Check yourself
What is an instance?
The customer's own copy of the Now Platform, with its own database, configuration and URL.
What does cloning do to the target instance?
It copies data from the source and overwrites the target's data.
When is a MID Server needed?
When the instance must communicate with systems inside a private network that it cannot reach directly.
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