How to manage and schedule instance upgrades - Support and Troubleshooting

How to manage and schedule instance upgrades Description This article provides information about scheduling, modifying, and cancelling upgrades for a production or sub-production instance. You can schedule an upgrade for a production or non-production instance manually in the Now Support portal or allow your instances to be automatically upgraded/patched by the ServiceNow Patching Program. For additional information about the ServiceNow Patching Program, please see ServiceNow Patching Program FAQs .

If you are unable to schedule an upgrade or patch for a specific instance , please check to see if there is already an existing upgrade/patching CHG for that instance by navigating to Instances > Instances Dashboard and checking the Status and/or Scheduled Changes columns. If one already exists, you will need to modify the target version and/or planned start date of that CHG to the desired values since the system will not allow more than one upgrade CHG to be raised for the same instance.

Partners have the ability to request upgrades for the customer accounts that they are associated with. Please note that both the partner and the customer account must have version entitlement in order for the partner to submit an upgrade request on their customer's behalf.

Due to security constraints, we do not allow ServiceNow employees to Schedule and Manage upgrades for customer instances. This includes Customer Services & Support and Support Account Managers (SAM).

See the following site for the latest upgrade documentation: Upgrade to Utah

Watch this 3-minute overview of how to schedule, reschedule, and cancel an instance upgrade.

Note : If the desired version has not yet been released, please read more about the " Early Release " program. Table of Contents Upgrade Wizard: Manual Upgrades: Viewing the instance upgrade and patch information Scheduling an upgrade for a production or non-production instance Modifying a scheduled upgrade or patch Modifying Target Version Canceling an upgrade Upgrade Wizard: Upgrade Wizard is a step-by-step guide to help customers reduce the time to upgrade by using easy-to-follow navigation.

Customers can access the Upgrade Wizard in the following way:

Within the Instance Dashboard page, customers can click on the "Upgrade Now" button(s) located on the top section of the page.

If any of the instances are nearing End of Life or there is a new family available, the banner (as shown above) will appear in the Instance Dashboard page that will direct the them directly to the Now Support Upgrade Wizard.

For a step-by-step guide on using Upgrade Wizard please review KB0792425: Upgrade Wizard - User Guide .

Manual Upgrades: Viewing the instance upgrade and patch information 1. Access the Now Support portal with your customer credentials.

2. Navigate to Instances > Instances Dashboard

3. If you are a partner and manage other company instances, use the Switch Company below your username to specify a different company.

Dashboard element Description Instance name Name of the customer's instances. There is also an indicator that displays if the instance is ' Production ' or ' Non-Production '. Status An instance can have the following different states:

Up to date : Displays when instances are on the current family release on the latest patch Family release available : Displays when there is a family release available to upgrade beyond the current family of this instance Patch available : Displays when there is a patch available on the current family release beyond the current patch of this instance End of Life : Displays when instance is end of life Nearing End of Life : Displays when instance is nearing end of life Upgrade Scheduled : Displays when an upgrade/patch is scheduled for an instance Current Version Displays the current version that the instance is running on. This column also displays the date on which it was last upgraded. Scheduled Changes Displays the open changes against a given instance. Cases Displays the open cases against a given instance. Actions button & fly out Actions that can be performed on the specified instance, depending on the current state of the instance. Security Resources This section displays multiple resources all related to the security of your instances.

Filtering options On the top section of the list view, there are a few filtering options. You can click on the Filter button to display a group of filtering options that you can use as per your preference. Also, there is a sorting capability that allows you to sort the instances by Production-> Non-Production (and vice versa). Bulk Actions button This button allows you to export the Instances dashboard list view in various formats (PDF, Excel, CSV) Scheduling an upgrade for a production or non-production instance Access the Now Support portal with your customer credentials. Navigate to Instances > Instances Dashboard. [Partners only] From the user menu, use the Switch Company feature to select a company. Select the instance that you want to upgrade or patch. In the Actions menu, click Upgrade an Instance. Upgrade an Instance service catalog item opens up pre-populated with the instance name and available versions to which you can upgrade/patch the instance.

Specify a date and time for the upgrade or patch by selecting an available slot displayed: Note : The availability of time slots for upgrades and patches are based on a reservation system. Once the allocated reservations for a specific time slot are filled, the time slot is removed from the calendar and can no longer be selected . Please note that Customer Support does not have the capability to reschedule upgrades/patches to time slots that are not visible on the scheduling calendar.

Switch between weeks using the icon. Click on the date range: to switch to a different month. When Selecting a desired time slot. Validate change start date and time on time slot selection. Start date and time is shown as per users timezone that is set in Now Support (HI). Click Submit. You will then see a confirmation window that an Upgrade change has been scheduled with the CHG#: Modifying a scheduled upgrade or patch Navigate to the Now Support portal . Navigate to Instances > Instances Dashboard. [Partners only] From the user menu, use the Switch Company feature to select a company. Find the instance with the scheduled upgrade/patch that you want to modify and click on the number under the 'Scheduled Changes' column

A page will load showing all changes that are open for the instance. Click on the CHG# to get to the Change record: The change request form for the upgrade/patch opens. a. You can modify the date and time of an upgrade or patch by clicking on the Reschedule Upgrade button.

b. Reschedule upgrade dialog opens up with time slots available for an instance patch or upgrade.

c. Select a time slot. Validate change start date and time on time slot selection. Start date and time is shown as per users time zone in the Now Support portal. Click Save .

5. Validate Planned start date gets updated as per time slot selection on change form.

Modifying Target Version Requirement : in order to modify the Target Version, the user must belong to the change/instance owner account. Partners do not have the ability to act on behalf of their customers to modify the Target Version.

Navigate to the Now Support portal . Navigate to Instances > Manage Instances. Find the instance with the scheduled upgrade/patch that you want to modify and click on the number under the 'Scheduled Changes' column: A page will load showing all changes that are open for the instance. Click on the CHG# to get to the Change record:

The change request form for the upgrade/patch opens, go to the "Details" section tab. You can modify the target version of an upgrade/patch by clicking on Target Version field dropdown. Select the desired version and click Save .

4. Validate updated Target Version gets updated on change form.

Note : Target version can only be updated more than 2 hours prior to change request planned start date/time. Please reschedule your change if Target Version needs to be updated within 2 hours of change request planned start date/time. Canceling an upgrade Only Self-scheduled requests can be canceled. For information about rescheduling a patch, see ServiceNow Patching Program FAQs .

To cancel a self-scheduled upgrade or patch:

Navigate to the Now Support portal . Navigate to Instances > Instances Dashboard . [Partners only] From the user menu, use the Switch Company feature to select a company. Find the instance with the scheduled upgrade/patch that you want to modify and click on the number under the 'Scheduled Changes' column A page will load showing all changes that are open for the instance. Click on the CHG# to get to the Change record The Change request opens. Click Cancel Upgrade at the top of the change.

Additional Information KB0815260 - Patching and Upgrade Timing Advice