Custom URL Quick-Start Guide Table of Contents Standard DNSCustom URL Feature in the ServiceNow PlatformConfiguration 1. Standard DNS DNS DNS stands for Domain Name System, which is a system that translates domain names into IP addresses. It allows users to access websites and other internet resources using easy-to-remember domain names, rather than having to remember the IP addresses of every website they want to visit. DNS works by using a distributed database system that maps domain names to IP addresses, allowing users to access websites and other internet resources more easily and efficiently. A Record An A Record or Address Record, is a type of DNS record that maps a domain name to an IP address. It is used to identify the IP address of a specific server or host associated with a domain name. When a user types a domain name into a web browser, the A Record is queried to retrieve the IP address associated with that domain name, allowing the user to connect to the correct server or host. CNAME Record A CNAME Record, or Canonical Name Record, is a type of DNS record that maps an alias or subdomain to the canonical domain name. For example, a CNAME Record might be used to map www.example.com to "example.com", so that users can access a website using either domain name. CNAME can also be used to map URLs from different domains. This allows website owners to provide custom domain names for resources that are hosted on third-party platforms or services. When a user types the alias or subdomain into a web browser, the CNAME Record is queried to retrieve the canonical domain name, which is then used to retrieve the IP address associated with the domain name. 2. Custom URL Feature in the ServiceNow Platform CNAME is used in the Custom URL feature to enable a ServiceNow instance to be accessible from one or more company-branded or custom URLs. For example, the customer below is using their own brand, support.example.com to access their instance at example.service-now.com: 3. Configuration The following provisions have been designed to support this feature: Automation of the acquisition of a signed certificate on behalf of the customer for the customer's custom domain from letsencrypt.org.Automation of the configuration of the load-balancers to properly forward traffic destined for the custom URL.Automation of the renewal of the certificates before they expire.An API in datacenter to allow the customer instance to interact with integrations used for URL creation and certificate management. The diagram below shows all the steps necessary to set up the Custom URL feature: [1] This step occurs outside of ServiceNow. [2] Official Doc: Set a custom URL as the instance URL [3] Instance validates the custom domain to check: if it is DNS resolvabledomain has a CNAME for it and CNAME points to instance domain (example.service-now.com)no CAA record or if there is a CAA record it contains "letsencrypt.org" [4] Invoke datacenter REST API to register the new SSL certificate for the custom domain. The service-now network needs to be configured to serve a signed certificate that includes the customer's preferred domain for HTTPS. This is taken care by datacenter when user issues a new request. [5] Every Custom URL request will create a new data center job. Only one custom URL request can be in progress at a time. The default polling interval is 30 mins. User can poll datacenter Job status manually by clicking 'Poll' button which invokes the poll REST API. The path to the jobs is under Custom URL -> Jobs. Official Doc: Custom URL datacenter job information. .