September 11, 2024
This is a Xanadu-compatible release.
Xanadu Support – Fully compatible with the latest ServiceNow Xanadu release. As always, SnowMirror 5.9 is backward compatible with previous ServiceNow versions too. Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to Xanadu.
July 8, 2024
After the successful beta-testing program, the 5.8 release contains the generally available version of the custom Performance API.
Performance API – This custom API, once installed in ServiceNow and reconfigured in SnowMirror, promises much faster data transfer compared to the traditional REST API. To take advantage of the Performance API, you’ll need to install an update set in your ServiceNow environment and then reconfigure your SnowMirror setup. Detailed instructions are available in the docs.
Synchronization Tagging – New feature to tag individual synchronizations and to filter them using these tags. This feature enables managing synchronizations in groups and makes large SnowMirror installations easier to use.
March 25, 2024
This is a Washington-compatible release. It also brings a new possibility to define multiple mirror databases in a single SnowMirror installation.
Washington Support – Fully compatible with the latest ServiceNow Washington release. Important: the cmdb_ci table and its table hierarchy have a new field “product_instance_id”. It might trigger a table reload if Auto Schema Update is enabled. Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to Washington.
Multiple Mirror Databases – Added an option to configure multiple connections to the mirror databases simultaneously and assign synchronizations to them.
Available only if your license supports it.
January 15, 2024
The Performance API is now in its preview phase. It’s been thoroughly tested and is ready for use. We are eager to hear any feedback from our customers. The Performance API is available only in the Cluster Edition, but we offer beta-testing licenses to anyone interested.
Performance API – This custom API, once installed in ServiceNow and reconfigured in SnowMirror, promises much faster data transfer compared to the traditional REST API. To take advantage of the Performance API, you’ll need to install an update set in your ServiceNow environment and then reconfigure your SnowMirror setup. Detailed instructions are available in the docs.
It achieves better download times by turning off ACL checks, skipping business rules, and streaming the results. It is primarily targeted to the biggest ServiceNow customers with the largest amounts of data. It is an optional feature, the standard REST API remains a default option and it works great in most of the cases.
September 25, 2023
We skipped a bit of numbering to emphasize that this is a more significant release. You can find a new UI look & feel and more flexible schedulers inside.
Vancouver Support – Fully compatible with the latest ServiceNow Vancouver release. As always, SnowMirror 5.5 is backward compatible with previous ServiceNow versions too. Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to Vancouver.
Facelifted User Interface – There is a new skin available in SnowMirror replacing the legacy look & feel which has been with us since the first release. It is not a new user interface, just a new look. The UI works the same way as before.
Flexible Schedulers – Now you can define more than two schedulers for a synchronization. This brings more flexibility for complex replication scenarios. All of your existing schedules are not affected.
March 22, 2023
This is a Utah-compatible release.
Utah Support – Fully compatible with the latest ServiceNow Utah release. As always, SnowMirror 5.1 is backward compatible with previous ServiceNow versions too. Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to Utah.
February 13, 2023
SnowMirror 5 contains support for storing ServiceNow data in cloud data lakes and storage.
Data Lakes –SnowMirror 5 supports replicating ServiceNow data into Amazon Redshift, Azure Synapse, and Snowflake cloud databases. Google BigQuery is coming in one of the next releases.
Cloud Storages –On top of the direct data lake support, SnowMirror 5 allows storing CSV files in the cloud storage such as Amazon S3, Azure Storage, and Google Cloud Storage. These data extracts can then be used for further processing. Please read more about the differences between databases and cloud storage replications.
IMPORTANT for Linux users –There are significant changes in the SnowMirror tech stack. Especially related to the H2 file database used for storing a SnowMirror config. Please pay attention to the new Linux upgrade instructions.
September 20, 2022
This is a Tokyo-compatible release. It also contains several new smaller features requested by the SnowMirror community.
Tokyo Support – Fully compatible with the latest ServiceNow Tokyo release. As always, SnowMirror 4.14 is backward compatible with previous ServiceNow versions too. Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to Tokyo.
May 23, 2022
This release brings updated JDBC drivers mainly for MySQL and Microsoft databases.
MySQL Database Driver – We have replaced Oracle’s MySQL driver with LGPL-licensed MariaDB Connector/J. The main reason for a switch are licensing terms of the drivers. Users who use MySQL don’t have to change any configuration. The only exception would be if you configured SnowMirror to use some custom JDBC parameter. Usually, customer don’t add any JDBC parameters.
SQL Server Database Driver – We have added an optional support for Microsoft’s JDBC driver. We have been using open-source JTDS driver. However, JTDS driver is not actively developed and maintained anymore.
March 7, 2022
This is a ServiceNow San Diego compatible release. As always, the release supports even previous ServiceNow versions back to Orlando. Please upgrade your SnowMirror now or latest together with your San Diego upgrade.
San Diego Support – Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to San Diego. This guide might prevent confusion when SnowMirror connects to San Diego for the first time. SnowMirror 4.12 is backward compatible back to Orlando.
REST API Performance Improvement – Improved performance when downloading data using REST API. We have added “sysparm_no_count” parameter to all requests. Therefore, ServiceNow does not have to count total number of records every time SnowMirror requests a page of data. That makes ServiceNow to respond faster. This is especially useful on large tables.
September 16, 2021
This is a ServiceNow Rome compatible release. As always, the release supports even previous ServiceNow versions back to Madrid. Please upgrade your SnowMirror now or latest together with your Rome upgrade.
Rome Support – Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to Rome. This guide might prevent confusion when SnowMirror connects to Rome for the first time. SnowMirror 4.11 is backward compatible back to Madrid.
Read Replica – New option to download data from a read-replica database. If your instance has a read-replica then it can improve SnowMirror and even ServiceNow performance. It is configurable globally on the Settings → ServiceNow page or per synchronization in Advanced Settings.
July 29, 2021
Since this release, SnowMirror supports Azure Synapse as part of our roadmap of SnowMirror deployments in the cloud.
Azure Synapse Support – You can now store ServiceNow data directly to an Azure Synapse data warehouse. The technical solution is very similar to the existing Snowflake connector. We recommend installing SnowMirror on an Azure VM when using Synapse.
SSO Improvements – Single sign-on configuration for SnowMirror UI authentication is now easier to use.
March 11, 2021
This is a Quebec-compatible release. It also contains several new smaller features requested by the SnowMirror community.
Quebec Support – Fully compatible with the latest ServiceNow Quebec release. As always, SnowMirror 4.9 is backward compatible with previous ServiceNow versions too. Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to Quebec.
Temporary Tables – There is a new option for using temporary tables during clean loads. At the end of a run, SnowMirror copies the data from a temporary table to the live table instead of renaming and dropping tables. This option is slower but it preserves table permissions and custom indexes.
New Notification Types – New notification to get emails just for failures and successes. Emails are not sent for warnings to avoid many emails for known warnings.
August 21, 2020
SnowMirror 4.8 is fully compatible with the latest ServiceNow Paris release. It also introduces a few minor changes including the new version notification feature.
Paris Support – Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to Paris. This guide might prevent confusion when SnowMirror connects to Paris for the first time. SnowMirror 4.8 is backward compatible back to London.
Version Checker – If there is a new SnowMirror version available then there is a new notification in the footer. The check is performed by a browser, so there is no need to open ports to the SnowMirror website.
July 9, 2020
We continue improving SnowMirror by implementing feature requests from our community.
OAuth2 support – If you use REST API for communication with ServiceNow you can utilize the OAuth2 protocol for authentication.
Meta-Data Cache – added a new configuration option that allows synchronizations not to re-refresh meta-data cache on every synchronization run when Auto Schema Update is enabled.
Data Truncation – In some cases, data coming from ServiceNow does not fit into a database column in the mirror database. The most common and recommended solution is to change the data type in the mirror database. Since 4.7.12, you can configure SnowMirror to truncate the data and store it truncated.
March 12, 2020
This is an Orlando-compatible release and it also introduces a new activity visualization page and a troubleshooting guide.
Orlando Support – Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to Orlando. This guide might prevent confusion when SnowMirror connects to Orlando for the first time.
Activity Visualization – Every synchronization run displays its progress in a visual way. It clearly shows individual phases of the run. The activity page shows which phase and which step has failed. It also displays a human-readable error message with an explanation.
Troubleshooting Guide – SnowMirror contains a catalog of typical errors and warnings. Each error has its own error code used on an activity page, activity log and in SnowMirror documentation. For every single error code, there is a guide with one or more recommendations on how to tackle such an issue.
October 24, 2019
From today, we’re supporting Snowflake, an increasingly popular choice used by over a thousand enterprise companies worldwide.
Snowflake Support – Snowflake can be used as a mirror database. It cannot be used as a configuration database.
Parallel Data Processing – The previous versions were updating the mirror database or otherwise processing the data right after downloading it from ServiceNow. With slower databases or during differential strategies this was inconveniently blocking the worker threads.
SnowMirror 4.5 introduces a separate data-processing thread pool. So, there is a set of threads downloading the data and an independent set of threads updating the mirror database. The sizes of the thread pools are configurable to reflect different environments. The new approach improves overall performance and data throughput even for standard databases.
September 9, 2019
SnowMirror 4.4 is fully compatible with the latest New York ServiceNow release. There are no major changes in New York that would affect the SnowMirror replication process. Just a few minor meta-data changes.
Upgrades – Please check the ServiceNow Schema Changes before upgrading to New York. This guide might prevent confusion when SnowMirror connects to New York for the first time.
April 17, 2019
This is a Madrid-compatible release and it also contains an important infrastructure upgrade including Java 11 and Tomcat 9.
IMPORTANT – Users on Linux or users with additional installation adjustments have to finish the upgrade with several manual steps. Please check the Release Notes for more details.
Madrid Compatible Release – SnowMirror has been tested with the latest ServiceNow Madrid release and it is fully compatible with it. As always, SnowMirror stays compatible with the old releases, at least back to Jakarta.
Technology Stack Upgrade – SnowMirror upgrades to Java 11, OpenJDK, and Apache Tomcat 9. This change resolves the new commercial Java licensing conditions by using the open-source version.
Attachment Replication Performance – Improved performance of attachment synchronizations. A synchronization can download data from multiple ServiceNow connections at once.
January 31, 2019
This release contains a set of smaller feature requests including changes in synchronization of certain table types, changes in Auto Schema Updates and it also supports SAML-based single sign-on.
IMPORTANT – Upgrade to this version requires access to several new ServiceNow system tables (i.e. sys_table_rotation, sys_table_rotation_schedule, sys_archive_log, sys_properties). Please adjust the permissions for your SnowMirror user account according to the Release Notes.
Table Rotation Support – SnowMirror can read rotation/extension tables directly from ServiceNow shards, thus improving the performance of the replication. It can also be configured to store data into multiple mirror tables (i.e. one mirror table per shard).
Configurable Synchronization Execution – A new “Synchronize…” feature enables to run a synchronization and to choose all possible settings how to run it. E.g. threading options, dry run mode, differential load with checking missing updates, etc.
Auto Schema Update (no truncation) – A new option “Enabled (no truncation)” which does not truncate a mirror table when a new column is created. There is also a possibility to exclude a column from Auto Schema Update.
Single Sign-On Authentication – SnowMirror can authenticate users using single sign-on over SAML 2.0 protocol and Web SSO profile.
September 5, 2018
SnowMirror has been using Direct Web Services, the out-of-the-box SOAP API in ServiceNow, from the very beginning. This major release comes with an option to switch to the more modern REST API.
ServiceNow REST API – It is possible to configure SnowMirror to use the ServiceNow REST API instead of the traditional SOAP API for replicating the data. The replication algorithms are different for both APIs because of their different feature sets. The REST API is more modern and it is expected that ServiceNow will further improve and evolve only this integration standard. Performance tests indicate that the REST option might have higher data throughput than SOAP, but the exact numbers depend on many factors.
Please note that this new feature is still in Beta and we recommend our users to evaluate it in their sub-production environments first.
London Release Compatibility – SnowMirror has been thoroughly tested with the latest ServiceNow London release and it is fully compatible with it. As always, SnowMirror stays compatible with the old releases, at least back to Istanbul.
May 2, 2018
The SnowMirror 4.0 replication core is completely redesigned. It uses a lower-level approach of connecting to ServiceNow, it better utilizes the ServiceNow cluster and the algorithms are fully parallel. All of this results in a significant performance boost.
Performance Boost – The major difference is that SnowMirror is able to identify individual ServiceNow nodes and maintain two sessions with each node separately. This increases the number of replication threads, especially for bigger ServiceNow instances. The second leap forward is the fact that even a single synchronization can utilize the whole thread pool (i.e. all connections) which makes a single-running table several times faster than before.
Fast Difference Delete Strategy – Unlike the original Differential strategy, the new Fast Diff Strategy should be much faster. It identifies the parts of a table where a delete could be and compares the keys only in these parts. The rest of the table is not being downloaded which enables the strategy to finish much faster.
December 20, 2017
SnowMirror 3.9 is fully compatible with Kingston and introduces an option to resume a failed synchronization.
Kingston Support – The only major challenge with the Kingston release is the new Function Fields feature. Unfortunately, the ServiceNow API does not send these fields together with the records, so temporarily excludes the function fields from the replication. This issue has been reported to ServiceNow and the future releases will hopefully fix that.
Resume Feature – If a synchronization fails for whatever reason (e.g. DB error, network error, ServiceNow outage) then it is possible to resume such a failed synchronization. SnowMirror then starts the replication process from the last successfully replicated record. This is especially useful for long-running full synchronizations.
June 30, 2017
SnowMirror 3.8 introduces the option to integrate SnowMirror authentication with Active Directory and adjusts the replication algorithms to the latest ServiceNow release called Jakarta.
Jakarta Support – Jakarta release brings several undocumented changes in the out-of-the-box API and related plug-ins. SnowMirror algorithms were revised and adjusted to these changes. Please note that older releases do not work with Jakarta correctly. If you plan upgrading to Jakarta then the upgrade to SnowMirror 3.8 is required too.
LDAP Integration – SnowMirror allows you to integrate it with corporate Active Directory or LDAP. When selecting this security realm then the users are not being stored in the configuration database but they are being authenticated against LDAP. The existing roles are being mapped to groups in LDAP.
April 27, 2017
SnowMirror 3.7 focuses on improvements in the SnowMirror Backup module such as the new attachment backup feature and support for differential backups.
Attachment Backup – This new feature enables performing full, incremental and differential backups of attachments. The retention period settings is available as well. The attachments are stored in a directory structure where each record has its own folder named by the record’s display value and the folder contains the attachments.
Differential Backup – Differential backup is a new type of backup storing all the changes since the last full backup.
Independent SnowMirror Backup – SnowMirror 3.7 contains improvements which allow SnowMirror Backup to be purchased as a standalone product or as upgrade to SnowMirror Enterprise Edition.
February 10, 2017
SnowMirror 3.6 upgrades the underlying technologies to the latest versions (Java 8, Tomcat 8) and introduces several useful improvements.
Edit Mappings – This new feature allows editing database column data types for individual fields. So it is possible to override the default SnowMirror mapping. E.g. it is possible to extend a varchar column to CLOB and such a setting persists even if the temporary tables are being used for the full loads. See the feature in the user manual.
Synchronize Since – It is possible to trigger an incremental load since a specified time stamp. This feature is useful for fixing inconsistencies even without the need of a full load.
Skipping Failing Records – The setting options allow synchronizations to finish even if there were records failing to insert into the DB. The synchronization then finishes with the warning status. The maximum number of skipped records is configurable.
December 7, 2016
The new SnowMirror 3.5 focuses on the ServiceNow Istanbul release and on those customers who utilize SnowMirror for replicating large sets of tables.
Istanbul Support – SnowMirror 3.5 fully supports the latest ServiceNow Istanbul release. The Aggregate Plug-In check was re-worked, several data-type mappings were improved and ServiceNow database view replication algorithm was updated.
Advanced Filtering – SnowMirror allows filtering of the lists of synchronization and the list of historical runs is the new, advanced way which was inspired by the ServiceNow filtering feature. It is possible to define several criteria using a large set of variables and joining them together using boolean operators.
Synchronization Priority – The scheduler settings now allow to specify the synchronization priority. Higher priority synchronization triggers always before a synchronization with lower priority if waiting on a replication thread and it is possible to display the queue of waiting synchronization runs.
August 8, 2016
The new SnowMirror 3.4 introduces a set of most requested features we collected at our booth during Knowledge16.
Index Replication– This new feature allows creating the same indexes in the mirror database as they are defined on the ServiceNow side. It makes reporting directly from the large mirror databases much easier. The indexes in ServiceNow are designed very well from the reporting perspective, so usually a very few additional indexes have to be created on the mirror side.
Schema Changes Notifications – SnowMirror notifies every time there is a new field in ServiceNow table. It works for the modified or removed fields as well and for the new indexes if the index replication feature is enabled. The notifications work independently on the Auto Schema Update feature. So even if the schema is not being updated automatically then users get notified about changes on the ServiceNow side.
NOTE: Index replication is disabled for both new and upgrading users. The feature can be enabled manually in Settings -> Generall Settings.
May 6, 2016
1. ServiceNow Helsinki Support
SnowMirror 3.3 fully supports the latest ServiceNow Helsinki release Patch 0. Table index handling has been re-worked and the replication algorithm together with data mapping has been adjusted. All connection testers and validation functions were improved and the whole application has been tested against a number of Helsinki instances.
2. ServiceNow Backup
This is a completely new module or even a product provided by the SnowMirror team. SnowMirror is now a fully-featured backup tool for individual ServiceNow tables including full and incremental backups, backup retention policies and a restore procedure.
3. Data Archiving Support
ServiceNow contains an optional Data Archiving plug-in which allows moving data that is no longer necessary for immediate day-to-day access from primary tables into a set of archive tables. The latest SnowMirror 3.3 supports removing archived records from a mirror table by using the Audit Delete strategy which is reading the ServiceNow archive log to find the set of removed records. It supports replication of the archive tables themselves as well.
NOTE: Both backup and archiving features are still in a Beta stage. Existing customers interested in evaluating the features please contact our support team at support@www.snow-mirror.com.
March 3, 2016
If enabled, SnowMirror compares the number of records in ServiceNow with the number of records in the mirror DB after each synchronization run. If there is an inconsistency in the numbers then the run finishes with a new warning status. New notification types are available so SnowMirror is able to send emails on warnings.
More features and fixes:
Differential Synchronization – new type of synchronization downloading missing records and deleting the orphans (Enterprise Edition only)
Activity Log Retention – configurable retention of logs and even synchronization run history
NOTE: SnowMirror is no longer distributed in two editions. Both Lite and Enterprise editions are distributed as one package and all the features are driven by licenses.
January 26, 2016
SnowMirror 3.1 fully supports the ServiceNow Geneva release Patch 1. The data type mapping has been adjusted, all connection testers and validation functions improved and the whole application has been tested against a number of Geneva instances.
Display Values Improvements
Starting with 3.1 SnowMirror is analyzing all the meta-data in the System Dictionary to figure out which field is going to be a display value for a certain record so all the display value columns get correct data types. These new rules apply only to synchronizations created in the new version. Older tables with the 1000-char strings are still supported for data downloads.
IMPORTANT: this new algorithm requires access to additional meta-data table: sys_dictionary_override. Existing users shall adjust privileges of their SnowMirror ServiceNow users.
November 13, 2015
The replication algorithm no longer uses the sys_created_on column but only the sys_updated_on column. ServiceNow confirms that using this single column is better for the overall performance. The disadvantage is that SnowMirror is not able to count the number of new records before the synchronization begins. It can only count created and updated records together. Using this algorithm ServiceNow strongly recommends creating indexes on the ServiceNow side for larger tables to avoid full-table scans during the incremental loads.
More features and fixes:
Synchronization validation – including the check of existing indexes
Consistency check – at the end of each run
Encoded queries and views replication improved
Synchronization filter and sorting – UI improvement
ServiceNow server time usage – requires Aggregate Web Service plugin
Clean & Synchronize using temporary tables
SnowMirror Monitor – Fuji-compatible ServiceNow application, the old update set is deprecated
