Commercial to Regulated Market(SPP-ServiceNow Protected Platform) Instance migration FAQ (Technical Support prespective) 1. Can we clone from Commercial to SPP? 2. Can we do a restore from Commercial to SPP? 3. If we are planning for migration, should we maintain commercial instance names on SPP? 4. Will there be any change in the Customer Support URL after migrating to SPP? 5. Will my Instance IP change when migrated to SPP? 6. How long will the migration take? 7. Will there be any outages during the migration? 8. Will there be any data loss during the migration from Commercial to SPP? 9. Will we get the same number of nodes/database capacity allocated once we migrate to SPP? 10. Will there be any change in end-user access to the instance after migrating to SPP? 11. Will my Instance URL change? 12. Does SPP support custom URLS? 13. Will my instance email address change? 14. Can we perform a dry run of the migration? 15. Can I perform a dry-run Commercial X to SPP Y migration? 16. What are the high-level steps for migration? 17. How will I keep track of progress during migration? 18. Can we do a dry-run Commercial Prod to SPP Prod migration? 19. Can we enable commercial to SPP email forwarding? 20. Can we enable commercial to SPP URL redirection? 21. How long will the URL redirection and email forwarding run after Go Live to SPP? 22. Will any changes be made to the commercial instance in lieu of a dry run?23. What happens to the commercial instance after it gets migrated to SPP?24. Will we be able to access a commercial instance after SPP Go Live? 25. What happens to existing integrations post-SPP migration? 26. Is there an option to roll back SPP to Commercial after going live?27. Do I have to reconfigure MID servers after migrating to SPP? 28. Will all existing features on the instance work in the SPP environment? 29. Can we use ServiceNow store functionality in SPP?30. Can we use App repo functionality to install our custom-scoped application after migrating to SPP? 31. Are my existing published custom-scoped application versions available after Go Live? 32. Will the existing clone targets work after migrating to SPP? 33. What data will be changed on the instance post-migration to SPP?34. How do I purchase Apps for my SPP instance? 35. Will my partner apps work in SPP? 1. Can we clone from Commercial to SPP? We cannot clone from Commercial to SPP as these are in 2 different infrastructures. SPP is high-security, so there is no direct connection between it and commercially hosted or other Regionally Regulated Market infrastructures. 2. Can we restore from Commercial to SPP? Restore can be initiated, but many prerequisites must be met first. You must match the backend infra versions to SPP/Regulated Market-approved versions (FIPS approved) before using the backup to initiate the restore. These activities do not create any functionality issues with the existing instance and must be one-time configurations. 3. Should we maintain existing Commercial instance names on SPP if we are planning for migration? Yes. It is better to retain the existing name as encryption keys are generated and linked with the instance name. During the migration, the source names should match the destination names; after migration, they can be changed within the Regulated Market infrastructure after Going Live. 4. Will there be any change in the Customer Support URL after migrating to SPP? Commercial support is support.servicenow.com, and Regulated Market support will have its own support URLS. Your account representatives will provide these links. 5. Will my Instance IP change when migrated to SPP? Yes. The IPS will be changed on the Regulated Market Infrastructure. 6. How long will the migration take? This depends on the size of your instance and how you want to move the data. This information can only be provided by performing a dry run for the Restore and calculating the time it takes to copy and restore the data to the Regulated Market infrastructure. Please work with your account representatives and discuss with impacted teams once the dry runs are complete. 7. Will there be any outages during the migration? Yes. The high-level summary is as follows: The Customer should disable "Email Send" and "Email Receive" before "instance down" so that the emails stay on the infrastructure and are not processed by the instance and will be included in the backupThe customer should confirm the “Instance down” time as a case update.ServiceNow Shut down the Commercial instance == Outage starts herePerform the backup of the Commercial instanceTransfer the backup of the Commercial instance to the Regulated Market.Initiate the restoration of Regulated Market Infrastructure.Once the instance is up, make the database changes from the backend to update the properties and configuration based on the Regulated Market Infrastructure.Repoint the nodes to the DBI on Regulated Market == Outage Ends hereServiceNow confirms the migration completion.The Customer can test the instance and enable "Email Send" and "Email Receive," which will process the emails from the infra. These timelines can be captured only with a dry run of the migration restore. The outage ballpark time is 4 hours+ to restore the pre- and post-restore infrastructure. The estimate varies with each case based on complexity. 8. Will data be lost during the migration from commercial to SPP? No data will be lost during migration. During the migration window, the instance is shut down, and the database is read-only, so no users can connect to it. A backup of the database is performed and restored on the Regulated Market infrastructure. 9. Will we get the same number of nodes/database capacity allocated once we migrate to SPP? The resources linked to the Regulated Market instance will remain configured on the commercial instance. 10. Will there be any change in end-user access to the instance after migrating to SPP? Regulated Market instances can only be accessed from allow-listed IPS for SPP-AU. The URL is provided well in advance for you. An OOB instance with the same name will also be created on the Regulated Market infrastructure well in advance. IPS and other secure information can be provided and set up before migration. Only the data is migrated from the commercial to the Regulated Market during migration. 11. Will my instance URL change? Post-migration, the URL will be changed from "instancename.service-now.com" to "instance name.servicenowcloud.* (depending on the Regulated Market domain)." 12. Does SPP support custom URLS? Yes, SPP supports custom URLS. 13. Will my instance email address change? Yes. The instance email will be changed from instancename@service-now.com to "instancename@servicenowcloud.* (depending on the Regulated Market domain)." 14. Can we dry-run the migration? A dry run can be performed before migrations. The migration program manager from ServiceNow can provide you with the specifics. Prerequisites and implementation take a few days, so dry runs should be planned correctly to accommodate all timeline segments. Please work with your account representative/architect for more information and to set up dry runs. 15. Can I perform a dry run for commercial X to SPP Y migration? Unfortunately, we can only do a dry run to match the source and destination. For example, X to X, prod to prod, dev to dev, or test to test. X over Y (prod over dev) cannot be tested because of dependencies of the instance and the encryption keys generated. You can initiate a PROD to DEV clone within the commercial environment and then run a commercial DEV to SPP DEV. 16. What are the high-level steps of migration? The steps are as follows. The customer should disable "Email Send" and "Email Receive" before "instance down "so that the emails stay on the infrastructure and are not processed by the instance.The customer should confirm the “Instance down” time as a case update.Shut down the Commercial instance and make it read-only from the database level. ==The outage starts here.Create backend configuration for an auto URL redirect to the SPP instance URLConfigure the backend to auto-forward instancename@servicenow.com emails to the SPP instance email.Create a backup of the Commercial instance.Transfer the backup of the Commercial instance to the Regulated Market.Initiate the restoration of the Regulated Market infrastructure.Once the instance is up, make the database changes from the backend to update the properties and configuration based on the Regulated Market infrastructure.Repoint the nodes to the DBI on Regulated Market == Outage Ends here.Have the customer test the integration and functionality.The customer should enable "Email Send" and "Email Receive," which will process the emails from the infra.Customer to release the instance to end users.URL redirection from commercial and auto email forwarding will function until commercial instances are retired.Commercial Instance retirement is requested by the customer_admin/ServiceNow Account representatives when ready.The customer can also request that the existing users and past tickets be moved from Commercial NowSupport to SPP NowSupport. 17. How will I keep track of progress during migration? As the migration process has many segments, communication timelines will be set once the outage window is established, and your account representatives/Migration program manager will be provided with status and details. Currently, the process is not automated. 18. Can we dry-run the commercial prod to SPP PROD migration? Yes, this is possible. However, the commercial PROD will not be shut down; only the restore will be tested. This process will not impact the functionality of the commercial PROD instance. If any LIVE data gets onto "instancename.servicenowcloud.com.xx" as part of post-migration dry run testing, ServiceNow cannot recover/transfer it. Please be careful when testing any live integration during this DRY RUN. 19. Can we enable commercial to SPP email forwarding? This is possible and will work if the commercial instance is available (not retired). Migration will make the commercial database read-only. We use the existing commercial instance record to configure email forwarding. 20. Can we enable commercial to SPP URL redirection? This is possible and will work if the commercial instance is available (not retired). Migration will make the commercial database read-only. We use the existing commercial instance record to configure the URL redirection. Customers can also work with their internal network team to create URL redirection within the customer network if they want a permanent redirection. 21. How long will the URL redirection and email forwarding run after the Go-Live to SPP? The redirection works as long as the commercial instance is available and operational on the commercial infrastructure. When the instance is retired, the instance record is decommissioned on NowSupport(Commercial) infra, and the backend configurations(Old FQDN, DNS, and Loadbalancer entries) are also removed, which removes the configuration. If customers want to extend the redirection option, they should work with their internal network team to create URL redirection within their network. 22. Will any changes be made to the commercial instance in lieu of a dry run? Infrastructure within your commercial environment will be added with the FIPS-approved versions of backend applications such as databases. This is configured for the migration dry run. This will not impact your existing commercial infrastructure and functionality. A few legacy encryption components will be disabled on your commercial instance. 23. What happens to the commercial instance after it is migrated to SPP? The commercial instance is put into read-only mode from the database. Nodes will not be attached to it for users to log in. The instance record will be listed in the "Manage my instance" section on the Support portal until the instance is retired. 24. Can we access the commercial instance after SPP Go Live? Once the instance is migrated, the commercial instance is not accessible. From the backend, the instance will be put into read-only mode, and there will be no option to log in to it. If a URL redirection is configured(Customer network/NowSupport commercial network), the end user accessing the instance will be redirected to the Regulated Market instance. 25. What happens to existing integrations post-SPP migration? As the instance is a restoration of the commercial instance, the configuration remains intact. However, you must work with customer support and your account reps to ensure the external integration components are accessible from SPP. This can be tested during the dry run. Please keep in mind that all inbound traffic is explicitly restricted by the IP allow list. External integrations with a public dynamic IP range (e.g., GitHub with 2500+ public IPS) should be revisited for SPP-specific solutions. 26. Is there an option to roll back SPP to commercial after going live? There will not be a rollback option after Go Live. The commercial instance before cutover can be brought up on commercial from a service restore. Delta records created in the SPP instance post-Go Live can be transferred to the commercial instance. These instances are only accessible from allow-listed IPS, and ServiceNow cannot transfer any data from the SPP VM. We will help customers restore these records as soon as possible. But this will be a complex manual procedure, and we cannot provide a ballpark estimate. The base SOP for this will be data loss, where the instancing functionality will be restored as early as possible. The delta transfer takes a few days based on the amount of data and the requirements' complexity. We will involve multiple SME teams from a Fix Forward aspect. See Restoring a Production Instance from Backup 27. Do I have to reconfigure MID servers after migrating to SPP? Existing MID servers will continue to function; if there are any connectivity issues post-Go Live, we will assist you in fixing them. 28. Will all existing features on the instance work in the SPP environment? A few of the existing features will not work on SPP. This list is managed on this KB Services not available in ServiceNow Regulated and Self-Hosted Environments 29. Can we use ServiceNow store functionality in SPP? Regulated Markets has its version of the store, which can be accessed from its support portal. See Federal AppStore Login for details. 30. Can we use App repo functionality to install our custom-scoped application after migrating to SPP? You can use app repo functionality, but the app versions published in Commercial AppRepo will not be available for installation once migrated to SPP. You can take the app version as XML, and once you are on the SPP instance, this can be committed, and future versions can be uploaded to the AppRepo. For more information, please look at How to Move Custom Scoped Applications between instances. SPP ServiceNow application repository (Custom Applications) Entitlement check 31. Will my existing published custom-scoped application versions be available after Go Live? Currently, we cannot make published custom-scoped applications available after Going Live. If this is a requirement, we will try to find solutions. One way to solve this issue is to back up the app version in XML from the commercial developer before the migration. 32. Will the existing clone targets work after migrating to SPP? They will not work, because a new target needs to be created; the Domain of the instances will be changed. 33. What data will be changed on the instance after migration to SPP? Regulated Market-specific properties for automation and management will be changed from the ServiceNow backend during the Go-live outage change window. Customer-created data or custom configurations on the instance will not be changed. 34. How do I purchase Apps for my SPP instance? Purchasing Apps in SPP will be the same as in the commercial. You can work with your account representatives, and if you have any licensing issues, we can fix them after the ServiceNow Go-live outage change window. There will not be any changes to customer-created data or configurations on the instance. 35. Will my partner apps work in SPP? Yes. As we have regulated the Market Store, these apps will be available for download and installation based on your entitlement status.