Flow Designer graceful shutdown and node restart behavior in Utah and later<!-- /*NS Branding Styles*/ --> .ns-kb-css-body-editor-container { p { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } span { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, #000000); } h2 { font-size: 24pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h3 { font-size: 18pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } h4 { font-size: 14pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--text-primary, black); } a { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718F); } a:hover { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #024F69); } a:target { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #032D42); } a:visited { font-size: 12pt; color: var(--now-color--link-primary, #00718f); } ul { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } li { font-size: 12pt; font-family: Lato; } img { display: ; max-width: ; width: ; height: ; } } Starting from the Utah release, ServiceNow performs a two-step graceful shutdown process when a node restarts or shuts down. This process allows in-progress Flow Designer executions to pause and resume on another node rather than terminating abruptly. The Tokyo release introduced a separate mechanism to identify abruptly terminated flows and mark them as presumed interrupted. How graceful shutdown works When a node shuts down or restarts in Utah and later releases, the system follows two steps. Prepare for Shutdown This step signals that the node is about to shut down and the system should begin preparing. The following occurs during this step: The node stops processing new background flow executions.The system attempts to pause in-progress flow executions so they can resume on another node.The system attempts to pause flows only between action executions — no action is left incomplete.The state of a paused flow becomes paused until it resumes on another node.A RESUME_FLOW_MESSAGE event is created to resume the flow execution on another node. The system does not pause flow executions in the following conditions. These executions may terminate abruptly if there is not enough time to complete: DataStream flowsAny Foreground executionsQuick API calls The system safely pauses flow executions between Step 1 (Prepare for Shutdown) and Step 2 (Shutdown). The INFO log message Flow execution paused due to node shutdown. is available under sys_flow_context to confirm a flow was paused. Shutdown This step signals that the node is shutting down. The following occurs: A cancellation event is scheduled with a default delay of 10 minutes. This gives flows time to be picked up and processed on another node before being cancelled.The cancellation delay can be configured using the system property com.glide.shutdown.schedule_flow_cancellation_after_sec. The cancellation event can be identified by the name flow.cancel_due_to_shutdown.The INFO log message Flow shutdown handler initiated, sys_flow_context count which are in progress is available to confirm that FlowShutdownHandler was called to schedule the cancellation. Unplanned shutdowns If an unplanned shutdown or restart occurs (for example, a power outage), the system does not have time to save the flow plan or execution details. This causes the flow to enter a PRESUMED_INTERRUPTED state. See Flow execution stuck in PRESUMED_INTERRUPTED state — KB1122093 for more information. Prior to Utah Before Utah, a node shutdown or restart caused flows to terminate abruptly and remain stuck in an in-progress state. The Tokyo release introduced logic to identify this situation and mark those full contexts as presumed interrupted.