How to clone to a target instance that has in-development applications

[Dawn Jurek]

Here's the dilemma of the day - you're developing applications on your DEVelopment instance, and you need to clone your PRODuction instance to your DEV instance to test the changes. But here's the catch - one or more of those applications are still in-development. What should you do?

Let's say you throw caution to the wind and start the clone anyway. When the clone is complete and you refresh your DEV instance (clone target) from PRODuction (clone source), you find that the in-development applications are completely missing or are the wrong versions on the target instance, post-clone. Arg! What happened? In this sixth installment of our best practices series, we look at three different ways you can preserve those in-development apps.

What happens to in-development applications when you clone over the development instance

After a clone, the target instance will have whatever version of the application the source instance had when cloned. For example, if the source had the latest version, the target will have the latest version post-clone. The source will still be a sys_app (sys_store_app applications are read-only) application, meaning it can be developed further. However, if the latest application version is 1.2 and the clone source has version 1.1, the post-clone target will have a developable application that is version 1.1, the same as the source instance. If the clone source has no version of the application installed, the target will, likewise, have no version of the application available post-clone.

Post-clone development best practices

If you have applications in development on an instance that will be used as a clone target, before cloning to that instance, do one of the following with all of your in-development applications to allow continued post-clone development:

• Save the application to source control (git hub integration in Studio, available starting in Helsinki ). Then restore the application to the target instance from the source control repository after the clone.

• Publish the application to an update set, and install it back to the target instance, post-clone.

• Install the most recent version of the application to the source instance prior to the clone.

Dilemma solved -   you can clone your PROD instance and keep your fledgling apps. Happy developing!

--

Behind the scenes here at ServiceNow, the Knowledge Management and Multimedia teams work closely with subject matter experts to disseminate critical information to our customers. We've found that certain topics come up frequently, in the form of best practices that can help you keep your ServiceNow instances running smoothly. This series aims to target those topics so that you and your organization can benefit from our collective expertise.

See Annotate scripts and customizations with comments for the first installment on script comments.

See Limit the Number of Users with the Admin Role for the second installment on user roles.

See Where to avoid linking to a reference field when configuring a list for the third installment on list configuration.

See Developing on your production instance for the fourth installment on development.

See When to create a new table vs. when to extend for the fifth installment on application development.

To access all of the blog posts in this series, search for "nowsupport best practices series."