ServiceNow KB: How to manage and schedule instance upgrades (KB0541128)

Overview

Customers can access the hi self-service portal as a single location for managing upgrades and patches on all of their production and non-production instances. The upgrade and patch processes are similar for both types of instances. Partners can upgrade and patch instances for their own company and their associated companies. Note that during the upgrade or patch process certain instance functionality, such as scheduled jobs and email, might be unavailable.

You can upgrade and patch your instance by request, as described below, or be automatically upgraded or patched by ServiceNow. For additional information about the ServiceNow Patching Program, see ServiceNow Patching Program FAQs.

Partners can request an upgrade for associated customers. However, both the partner and the associated customer must have the version entitlement in order for the partner to submit an upgrade request on behalf of the associated customer.

See the following sites for the latest upgrade documentation:

Note: If the desired version is not available yet, it will require the "Early Access program".

Viewing the instance upgrade and patch information

Access the hi self-service portal with your customer credentials.
Navigate to Instances > Manage Instances .

If you are a partner and manage other company instances, use the Company Switcher below your user name to specify a different company.

Following is a description of the various dashboard elements.

Dashboard element	Description
Instances Tab	Central place to manage and view all activities related to your instance
Patching and Upgrades Tab	This tab displays the instance Patching & Upgrades programs in progress. For questions regarding your specific program, contact us through the "Ask a question" button. For information about the Patching & Upgrades programs, consult our Community page.
Calendar Tab	Graphically represent a defined schedule for change request and its related schedule spans.
Helpful Resources Tab	Learn more about release notes and notable known errors.
Actions column	Actions that can be performed on the specified instance, depending on the current state of the instance.
Sort	Ability to sort Instance list on 'Instances Tab' on following criteria: By: Name(A-Z) By: Name(Z-A) By: Production-Non-Production By: Non-Production-Production
Ask a Question	Have a question on your scheduled upgrades or patches? Use 'Ask a question' feature to get your queries answered by ServiceNow support. Instances Tab: Patching and Upgrades Tab:

Scheduling an upgrade for a production or non-production instance

Access the hi self-service portal with your customer credentials.
Navigate to Instances > Manage Instances .
[Partners only] From user menu, use the Switch Company feature to select a company.
Select the instance that you want to upgrade or patch.
In In the Actions menu, click Upgrade Instance .
Upgrade an Instance service catalog item opens up per-populated with the instance name and available versions to which you can upgrade or patch the instance.
Specify a date and time for the upgrade or patch either by:
1. Using the icon, which is placed under Select Upgrade Date and Time field
2. By clicking anywhere on ‘Select Upgrade Date and Time’ field.
Select Upgrade Date and Time dialog opens up with time slots available for an instance patch or upgrade.

- Note: Upgrade or patch available time-slots gets populated for current week. If no time-slots are available in current week, next available week is populated with available time-slots. Time-slots will be available on 30 minutes interval.
  1. Switch between weeks using icon.
  2. Click on Select Upgrade Date and Time dialog to switch to a different month.
  3. Select a time slot. Validate change start date and time on time slot selection. Start date and time is shown as per users timezone in HI.
    - Note: Selecting the time-slot for an upgrade or patch is important. Select the upgrade or patch to start 10–15 minutes before the Upgrade scheduled job runs. This setting allows enough time for the upgrade or patch request to update HI's records about which release version your instance should be on before the Upgrade scheduled job runs.

11. Click Submit.

A confirmation message appears. If you do not need an entitlement, the change request gets created.

If you need an entitlement, the entitlement request number is included. Click the entitlement request number to view the request.

12. Click Confirm.

Modifying a scheduled upgrade or patch

Navigate to the hi self-service portal.
Navigate to Instances > Manage Instances .
[Partners only] From user menu, use the Switch Company feature to select a company.
Find the instance with the scheduled upgrade or patch that you want to modify and click CHG # under Record.

The change request form for the upgrade or patch opens.
You can modify the date and time of an upgrade or patch by clicking on Reschedule Upgrade button.
Reschedule upgrade dialog opens up with time slots available for an instance patch or upgrade.
1. 1. Select a time slot. Validate change start date and time on time slot selection. Start date and time is shown as per users timezone in HI.
Validate Planned start date gets updated as per time slot selection on change form.

Canceling an upgrade

A Self-scheduled request can be canceled. For information about rescheduling a patch, see ServiceNow Patching Program FAQs.

To cancel an self-scheduled upgrade or patch:

Navigate to the hi self-service portal.
Navigate to Instances > Manage Instances .
[Partners only] From user menu, use the Switch Company feature to select a company.
Find the instance with the scheduled upgrade or patch that you want to modify and click CHG # under Record.
The Change request opens. Click Cancel Upgrade at the bottom of the change.

Notifications

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