ServiceNow is a cloud-based most popular ITSM and ticketing tool used by many companies. It automates business processes to improve efficiency and brings many fruitful results. ServiceNow is popular because of its easy usage which allows developers to build unique solutions effectively. It enhances the service delivery system. Moreover, with the help of ServiceNow’s developer program, a developer can start his professional journey. Developers generally need an instance to develop and run applications. The ServiceNow platform offers a personal developer instance which is most useful for developers.
Let us understand how we can develop a personal developer instance in the ServiceNow Platform through this article.
Before moving to the main content, you should know about the ServiceNow developer and the personal developer instance in brief.
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What do you mean by ServiceNow Developer?
A ServiceNow Developer is a person who develops and customizes the ServiceNow tool as per the customer’s needs. He can work on integrations efficiently and develop many custom apps using the NOW platform. A ServiceNow developer holds all the required skills to use the platform. His main responsibility is managing the instance with some changes per the customer’s needs. Therefore, to develop several apps he needs an instance that ServiceNow provides as a Developer instance.
Using this instance he can build some valuable assets without disturbing the customer or other instances.
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What is ServiceNow Personal Developer Instance (PDI)?
The Personal Developer Instance in ServiceNow is a Sandbox for the developers that help them to experiment with the ServiceNow platform. Also, it helps to enhance their knowledge with this platform to build more valuable assets. Therefore, developers can experience the complete utilization of the SNow platform. Also, they can test their apps without obstructing customers or other non-production instances. Hence, using this instance, developers can test their skills, develop awesome apps, and add plug-ins to them.
Now let us know the process of creating a personal developer instance in SNow.
Process of creating a ServiceNow Developer Instance
Before diving into the major process, there is a registration process in the ServiceNow Developer Program. After registering yourself for this program you can start using it.
- For registration, you need to go to the link https://developer.servicenow.com/app.do#!/home for Signing Up and Click on the ‘Register’ option.
- Then complete the registration with your username, email, and password credentials and click the ‘Submit’ button.
- Later ServiceNow will send email verification to the registered email with the account. You need to validate the same through the given link in the email. After validation of the account, a Sign-in window will appear.
- Now you can log in to your ServiceNow Developer Platform for further usage. After entering your details click on the ‘Sign-in’ button and you will enter the platform.
- Then you need to check “Click here to accept the ServiceNow Developer Agreement” the checkbox given. Then just click the ‘Submit’ button.
- Here you will get a Form with some questions which you need to answer and click on the ‘Submit’ button.
- Thus, your registration for SNow Developer Instance is complete.
Request for Creating ServiceNow Personal Developer Instance
After the registration process, you can make a request for a ‘Developer Instance’ from the developer platform. Go to the ‘Manage’ option and select the ‘Instance’ option there. Then click on the ‘Request instance’ button.
Then you can see the ‘Please Note’ form. Fill out the form with details of the way you want to use the Developer Instance. Then click on the ‘I Understand’ option.
After that, you will find different types of versions available for the Instance. You have to select the instance version that you want to use. Its latest version available is the ‘ Kingston’. However, it is suggestible to choose the latest version. Also, it will take very less time to create an instance. Once you are done with your Instance creation, you will get the login credentials along with the URL to use it.
Go to the provided URL and log in with the credentials you got and you will be on the SNow platform.
Thus, after logging into the instance, you can access all the features of the ServiceNow Developer Instance.
Further, you can update your ServiceNow personal developer instance if you already have one. You can upgrade to the latest or higher version from the existing one. But you need to keep in mind that once you upgrade to the new version, then you can’t revert or use the previous version of your instance.
To upgrade your Instance version, just open the ‘Account’ menu and access the ‘My Instance’ option. Then you click on the ‘Actions’ to get the ‘Upgrade Instance’ option. Click the button, you will find the versions that you can apply to your PDI.
The activity of the Instance
- To keep your ServiceNow Personal Developer Instance active, then you need to follow the below points.
- If there is no activity in your Instance for ten (10) days, then it will be released back to the available instances pool. And you may lose access to it.
- Thus, you need to maintain the activity of the Instance regularly. Because once it is released back you cannot recover the past data.
- Moreover, if your Developer Instance remains inactive for more than 24 hours, then it will move to a hibernation state. You can make it active again by going to the ‘Manage -> Instance’ options. Your Personal Developer instance will be active again after a few minutes.
- Hence, you need to keep your instance active regularly without leaving it idle.
- Further, if you want to transfer your work or data to the new or updated set. Then you can export the file in the form of an XML file and can save it to your local system. From there you can import it to another instance easily.
- Moreover, you can reset your Instance to the starting state by doing the following. Reach to “My Instance” page, Click on the “Reset and Wipe Instance” option in the “Action” section. But if you reset the instance, you can lose your customizations and other Config.
ServiceNow developer instance versions
The following are the different versions of ServiceNow Developer Instance released in different years.
- Aspen (2011)
- Berlin (2012)
- Calgary (2013)
- Dublin (2013)
- Eureka (2014)
- Fuji (2015)
- Geneva (2015)
- Helsinki (2016)
- Istanbul (2017)
- Jakarta (2017)
- Kingston (2018)
- London (2018)
- Madrid (2019)
- New York (2019)
- Orlando (2020)
- Paris (Q3 – 2020)
- Quebec (Q1 – 2021)
- Rome (Q3 – 2021)
- San Diego (Q1 – 2022)
The names of these versions are based on the City name. You can expect many new versions to come in the future.
Thus, this is the way you can build your Personal Developer Instance using the SNow platform.
Bottom Line
Now you have all the details so that you can build your Personal Developer Instance in ServiceNow. You can try building apps, instances, and many others using the platform and improve your skills further. Learning ServiceNow skills will help you more to build new apps and extend your career much better.
