Cloning instances with Service Exchange

Release version: Yokohama

Updated January 30, 2025

3 minutes to read

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Summary of Cloning instances with Service Exchange

When cloning ServiceNow instances that have Service Exchange installed, it is crucial to manage specific Service Exchange tables carefully to maintain connectivity and data integrity post-clone. The default system clone profile does not preserve all necessary Service Exchange table data, so creating a custom clone profile with tailored settings is essential.

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Creating a Custom Clone Profile

ServiceNow customers must create a custom clone profile by navigating to All > System Clone > Clone Profiles and selecting New. This profile must specifically include or exclude certain Service Exchange tables to control how data is preserved or replaced during cloning. Proper configuration ensures that connections and related data remain consistent and functional.

Key Considerations for Service Exchange Tables

Company Field Consistency: If the same company does not exist on both the provider and consumer instances, the company field is deleted during clone, causing inbound and outbound connections to enter an Error state.
Even if the company exists on both instances, connections may still require reestablishment and reactivation of Capture Definitions after cloning.

Table Preservation and Exclusion Rules

The impact of cloning on table data depends on whether tables are listed in the Preservers and/or Exclusions lists of the clone profile:

Included in both Preservers and Exclusions: Target instance retains existing data; source data is not copied.
Included in Preservers only: Target keeps existing data and receives additional data from the source without overwriting.
Included in Exclusions only: Target table is emptied; no source data copied.
Not included in either list: Target table is replaced entirely by source data.

Recommended Tables for Clone Profile Configuration

ServiceNow provides specific lists of Service Exchange tables that must be included in either the Preservers or the Exclusions lists for both provider and consumer instances. Customers should:

Ensure all relevant tables from the provided lists are added to the appropriate section of the custom clone profile.
Remove any Service Exchange tables not listed to avoid unintended data loss or corruption.

Examples of Table Behavior During Cloning

snsbservicebridgesettings (in both lists): Preserves existing connection settings on the target instance; source settings do not overwrite.
snsbconentitlement (in preservers only): Target retains existing entitlement records and adds new ones from source.
snsberror (in exclusions only): Target’s error records are cleared and no source error records are copied.
snfdsoffering (not in any list): Target table is fully replaced by source data.

Practical Impact for ServiceNow Customers

By correctly configuring a custom clone profile with the appropriate Service Exchange tables preserved or excluded, customers can:

Maintain Service Exchange connectivity and data integrity after cloning.
Avoid connection errors due to missing company mappings or overwritten settings.
Ensure that essential records such as entitlements, connection settings, and capture definitions are preserved or updated as needed.

Following these guidelines helps ServiceNow customers seamlessly clone instances without disrupting Service Exchange functionality.

When installing Service Exchange, certain tables must be preserved or excluded to maintain connectivity after a clone.

If the default system profile is used, some of the Service Exchange table data isn’t preserved. To address this issue, you must create a custom clone profile with specific settings required for Service Exchange. Navigate to All > System Clone > Clone Profiles and select New to create a custom profile. For more details on clone profiles, see Create a custom clone profile (legacy). In this profile, you must validate if the following Service Exchange tables are included in the custom profile:

Note:

If the same company isn’t present on the provider and consumer instances, the Company field is deleted, and the inbound and outbound connections move to an Error state.
Even if the same company is present on both the instances, the Connection may be in an Error state. In this case, you must reestablish the connection and activate the Capture Definitions.

Service Exchange tables to preserve

The following scenarios describe how clone operations affect table data based on table configuration in the preservers and the exclusions tables list.

Table 1. Clone operation results by table configuration
Preservers tables	Exclusions tables	Result on target instance
Included	Included	Target table retains existing data. The system preserves existing records and copies no records from the source.
Included	Not included	Target table retains existing records and receives additional records from the source table. The system does not overwrite existing records.
Not included	Included	Target table is empty after the clone. The system discards existing target records and copies no records from the source.
Not included	Not included	Target table contains only source table data. The system replaces all pre-existing target records with records from the source.

Add the following Service Exchange tables to the Clone Profile Preservers list if they’re missing. Remove any Service Exchange tables that aren’t in this list.


Users	Table names
Provider	catalog_ui_policy catalog_ui_policy_action ih_sync_capture_definition ih_sync_definition ih_sync_inbound_definition ih_sync_outbound_definition ih_sync_process_event ih_sync_remote_system item_option_new sc_cat_item_catalog sc_cat_item_category sc_cat_item_user_criteria_mtom sc_cat_item_user_criteria_no_mtom sc_category scan_finding scan_task sn_sb_authorized_user sn_sb_error sn_sb_identity sn_sb_known_error_code sn_sb_pro_authorized_user sn_sb_pro_consumer_connection sn_sb_pro_entitlement sn_sb_pro_provider sn_sb_pro_provider_task sn_sb_pro_registration sn_sb_pro_remote_choice_definition sn_sb_pro_remote_record_producer sn_sb_pro_remote_service sn_sb_pro_remote_task sn_sb_pro_remote_task_variable sn_sb_pro_service_bridge_settings sn_sb_pro_transform sn_sb_provider_task sn_sb_release sn_sb_remote_script_approval sn_sb_remote_task sn_sb_rps_connection sn_sb_scratchpad sn_sb_service_bridge_settings sn_sb_transform_line sn_transport_profile sn_transport_queue sys_alias sys_user sys_user_has_role user_criteria
Consumer	catalog_ui_policy catalog_ui_policy_action ih_sync_capture_definition ih_sync_definition ih_sync_inbound_definition ih_sync_outbound_definition ih_sync_process_event ih_sync_remote_system item_option_new sc_cat_item_catalog sc_cat_item_category sc_cat_item_user_criteria_mtom sc_cat_item_user_criteria_no_mtom sc_category scan_finding scan_task sn_sb_authorized_user sn_sb_con_authorized_user sn_sb_con_consumer sn_sb_con_entitlement sn_sb_con_inbound_field sn_sb_con_outbound_field sn_sb_con_persona (consumer side) sn_sb_con_provider_connection sn_sb_con_provider_task sn_sb_con_remote_record_producer sn_sb_con_remote_task sn_sb_con_remote_task_def sn_sb_con_remote_task_variable sn_sb_con_service_bridge_settings sn_sb_con_transform sn_sb_error sn_sb_identity sn_sb_known_error_code sn_sb_provider_task sn_sb_release sn_sb_remote_script_approval sn_sb_remote_task sn_sb_rps_connection sn_sb_scratchpad sn_sb_service_bridge_settings sn_sb_transform_line sn_transport_profile sn_transport_queue sys_alias sys_user sys_user_has_role user_criteria

Service Exchange tables to exclude

Add the following Service Exchange tables to the Clone Profile Exclusions list if they’re missing. Remove any Service Exchange tables that aren’t in this list.


Users	Table names
Provider	ih_sync_capture_definition ih_sync_definition ih_sync_inbound_definition ih_sync_outbound_definition ih_sync_process_event ih_sync_remote_system scan_finding scan_task sn_sb_authorized_user sn_sb_connection sn_sb_entitlement sn_sb_error sn_sb_identity sn_sb_pro_inbound_field sn_sb_pro_outbound_field sn_sb_pro_persona sn_sb_pro_provider sn_sb_pro_registration sn_sb_pro_remote_record_producer_consumer_criteria sn_sb_pro_remote_task_def sn_sb_pro_remote_task_def_consumer_criteria sn_sb_pro_remote_task_variable sn_sb_pro_transform sn_sb_provider_task sn_sb_remote_record_producer sn_sb_remote_script_approval sn_sb_remote_task sn_sb_rps_connection sn_sb_scratchpad sn_sb_service_bridge_settings sn_sb_transform_line sn_transport sys_alias
Consumer	ih_sync_capture_definition ih_sync_definition ih_sync_inbound_definition ih_sync_outbound_definition ih_sync_process_event ih_sync_remote_system scan_finding scan_task sn_sb_authorized_user sn_sb_con_consumer sn_sb_con_inbound_field sn_sb_con_outbound_field sn_sb_con_persona (consumer side) sn_sb_con_remote_task_def sn_sb_con_remote_task_variable sn_sb_con_transform sn_sb_connection sn_sb_entitlement sn_sb_error sn_sb_identity sn_sb_provider_task sn_sb_remote_record_producer (consumer side) sn_sb_remote_script_approval sn_sb_remote_task sn_sb_rps_connection sn_sb_scratchpad sn_sb_service_bridge_settings sn_sb_transform_line sn_transport sys_alias

The following scenarios describe how clone operations affect table data based on table configuration in the Clone profile preservers list and the Exclude tables list.

The following examples use tables from this page to illustrate each scenario:

sn_sb_service_bridge_settings (included in both lists): The system preserves connection settings you configured on the target instance after the clone. Settings from the source instance do not overwrite them.

sn_sb_con_entitlement (included in Clone profile preservers only): The target instance retains existing entitlement records and receives additional entitlement records from the source instance.

sn_sb_error (included in Exclude tables only): The error records table is empty on the target instance after the clone. The system discards error records that existed on the target and copies none from the source.

sn_fds_offering (not included in either list): The system replaces the target table with source data. Records that existed on the target instance before the clone are replaced by source instance records.