Creating a ServiceNow Instance Backup: Common Fears and Concerns

A ServiceNow instance backup could literally save your organization. 

As a business-critical ITSM platform for many organizations, ServiceNow is often integrated with other key applications/systems for analytics, BI, AI, ML, etc.

As a solution so central to many organization’s operations, data loss and downtime to ServiceNow can have catastrophic effects. 

Consequences of downtime and data loss in ServiceNow include financial loss, operational disruption, reputational damage and the loss of customer trust. Such issues could even compound and lead to the outright failure and closure of the organization.

As a result, organizations must ensure ServiceNow is accounted for in their disaster recovery plan, and that the available backup and restore capabilities meet requirements.

Table of contents:

1. ServiceNow Instance Backups: The Basics and the Limitations
2. Common ServiceNow Instance Backup Fears
3. Conclusion: Take Control of ServiceNow Instance Backup Creation and Restoration

ServiceNow Instance Backups: The Basics and the Limitations

By default, the ServiceNow platform automatically creates periodic instance backups – both full, and differential. 

• Related post: What’s the difference between a full, and a differential ServiceNow backup

The creation of such backups is handled by ServiceNow, with users having zero control – or even influence – as to the backup schedule. 

Users also lack the ability to create backups on-demand, or customize what is included in a backup or restore

Restoring from a ServiceNow instance backup requires opening a case with ServiceNow’s support team. 

The initial steps require some communication between the customer organization and ServiceNow to establish:

1. When the issue began.
2. What happened.
3. Which backup should be restored.
4. If the instance is in a usable state.
5. What the delta data (data created since last backup) includes and how much is present.
6. If the instance is live or not.

Before the restoration is initiated, the customer organization must also confirm they are aware of the risks associated with restoration and whether they wish to proceed. 

Once initiated, the restoration process can take over 6 hours, and includes periods where the instance is offline and access to the platform limited.

• Related post: ServiceNow Backup Limitations

Common ServiceNow Instance Backup Fears

Partly due to the limitations of ServiceNow’s backup capabilities, but also down to more general assumptions and misconceptions, there are a number of backup-related fears, common among ServiceNow users.

Common ServiceNow instance backup fears include:

Fear #1: Data loss

The way in which backup and restore capabilities are configured and function, affects the amount of data that can successfully be recovered.  

In the case of ServiceNow, a number of limitations increase the risk of organizations experiencing unrecoverable data loss. In fact ServiceNow recommends only restoring from a backup created by their platform as a last resort.

One such limitation is the lack of control over when backups are created with no influence over scheduling or ability to create on-demand backups. 

This means that a data loss event is more likely to fall outside of the organization’s recovery point objective (RPO) – the latest point at which data should be recovered to, to avoid lasting disruption. 

The relatively short backup retention period (14 days) also means users have limited time to become aware of and respond to a data loss event. Anything outside of this short window will not be recoverable using ServiceNow’s inbuilt backup capabilities. 

The Solution

With no way to influence the backup schedule or frequency, and no insight into when backups will be created, organizations reliant on ServiceNow-made backups will always be at risk. 

Creating, implementing and training employees to follow a solid data retention policy will go some way in limiting the potential for data loss events. 

Additionally, the ServiceNow instance should be carefully monitored to spot and respond to data loss events as quickly as possible.

If data loss due to ServiceNow’s backup and restore capabilities is a concern users should implement an alternative backup and restore solution that enables:

• On-demand backups and greater control over backup scheduling to ensure the RPO can be met.
  For example: creating a backup before a significant ServiceNow update to limit the extent of unrecoverable data loss in the event of a botched update. 
• Backup retention in line with the organization’s requirements.

For example: indefinite backup retention.

Fear #2: Instance downtime

During ServiceNow’s restoration process, ServiceNow limits user access to the production instance, and the instance is taken offline for a significant period. 

Due to the importance of ServiceNow to departments around the organization and in everyday operations, downtime is a significant concern. It affects an organizations capacity to support its employees and deliver services to its customers.

In fact, the detrimental effects of downtime is part of the reason why ServiceNow recommends restoring using their capabilities as “​​a last resort”.

The Solution

Organizations that are reliant on ServiceNow-made backups should carefully monitor ServiceNow, in order to spot data loss events early. Early awareness of an issue affords organizations more time to plan around instance downtime. 

Alternatively, organizations can replace ServiceNow instance backup capabilities with a solution that can restore ServiceNow without downtime. 

Fear #3: Incompatibility with the business schedule

Since backup schedules are managed entirely by ServiceNow, end-users have no control over the backup schedule, and no ability to create backups on demand. 

ServiceNow aims to create backups at the “best time” within a 24-hour period, but there is no guarantee that this reflects operational habits/plans. 

Users might experience an impact in performance if they are using the platform during a backup. It also means that there could be up to ~23 hours of data loss which may not line up with the organization’s RPO.

The Solution

ServiceNow users can attempt to infer when a backup may be created based on past data, available via the “List of backups for the instance” Service Catalog Item.

Alternatively, users can simply take control of the backup creation process with a purpose-built backup and restore solution, providing complete control over the backup schedule and the option to make backups on-demand.

Take Control of ServiceNow Instance Backup Creation and Restoration

As this post establishes, many of the fears and concerns related to the ServiceNow instance backup capabilities have a legitimate basis. The potential for data loss and significant disruption should not be underestimated. 

While organizations can employ workarounds, factoring the platform’s limitations into their disaster recovery plan, the most effective approach would be to implement Snapshot – the purpose-built backup and recovery solution from Perspectium. 

Created by ServiceNow’s founding developer, Snapshot is an answer to the limitations of ServiceNow’s backup capabilities and the fears and concerns of the platform’s users.

With Snapshot, organizations can take control of ServiceNow instance backup creation and the restoration process, allowing them to:

• Create a user-defined schedule to automate backup creation
• Create on-demand backups as and when required
• Create unlimited backups and retain them indefinitely
• Backup and restore quickly, without affecting ServiceNow’s performance
• Restore without any ServiceNow downtime
• Granularly control what is backed up and restored with condition-based filtering

Would your organziation benefit from Snapshots backup and restore capabilities for ServiceNow? Talk to us today!