Instance Troubleshooter

A free store application, helps ServiceNow instance administrators to identify issues on their instances.

With our deep ServiceNow expertise and commitment to innovation, InnovateDigital can help you maximise the value of the Instance Troubleshooter, ensuring a robust and high-performing ServiceNow environment for your organisation.

This application detects issues in instances across several product categories. When invoked, each product troubleshooter runs one or more checks and reports findings with detailed information about the issues found.

SAMPLE REPORT

 

 

number

priority

state

short_description

description

sys_class_name

ST00001001

1 – Critical

New

P1 ‘Prod Check if
clone target for prod is set to true’: Please investigate findings

Check Description: The
property glide.db.clone.allow_clone_target for production instances is
default set to false, but in some scenarios it can be set to true to clone
over the production instance but then not reverted after the clone.

Scan Task

ST00001002

2 – High

New

P2 ‘Enabling debug
properties may cause disk size issues’: Please investigate findings

Check Description:
Debug properties should only be enabled during testing in the instance.
Enabling these properties at other times could unnecessarily bloat the size
of the database and cause disk size issues.

Scan Task

ST00001003

2 – High

New

P2 ‘Export Row
Limit check 2 for UI ‘: Please investigate findings

Check Description: Due
to the way the platform must load the data into memory while converting to
.xls and .xlsx formats, there are known memory issues when exporting large
reports to Excel. Therefore, the platform restricts the number of
rows/columns you can export.  This limitation is controlled via
properties:

Scan Task

ST00001004

2 – High

New

P2 ‘Guest account
does not exist’: Please investigate findings

Check Description:
The out-of-the-box guest account is necessary when processing some inbound
actions.  For example, when the system needs to create or update records
and the sender is not from a valid domain.

Scan Task

ST00001005

2 – High

New

P2 ‘Outbound email
disabled’: Please investigate findings

Check Description:
If the glide.email.smtp.active property is set to ‘false’, then the instance
is currently configured to NOT send any email.

Scan Task

ST00001006

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Unexpected behavior
when inactive mandatory variables’: Please investigate findings

Check Description:
The variable editor doesn’t display and gives a null pointer exception when
there are mandatory variables that are inactive. Even if the variable is
inactive this unexpected behavior is caused if the variable is mandatory

Scan Task

ST00001007

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Catalog
business rule customizations’: Please investigate findings

Check Description:
User should not create Before Business rule customizations on catalog related
tables.

Scan Task

ST00001008

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Synchronous
AJAX call in client scripts’: Please investigate findings

Check Description:
Code that uses synchronous AJAX feels very slow and affects user experience.

Scan Task

ST00001009

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Custom
Mandatory CMDB attributes’: Please investigate findings

Check Resolution
Details: Custom Mandatory CMDB attributes cause IRE to fail with required
attribute missing errors.
Review these custom mandatory attributes to avoid IRE issues.

Scan Task

ST00001010

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘No snc_external
access to “Data Table from URL Definition” widget’: Please
investigate findings

Check Description:
“Data table from Url definition” inherits from “Data
Table”, so both widgets need the same access/criteria. Currently
“Data table from Url definition” allows access to
“snc_external” user, similar access should be added to “Data
Table” widget.

Scan Task

ST00001051

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Workflows
Activities should not use current.update() function’: Please investigate
findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Workflows Activities should not
use current.update() function”. If duplicate findings (findings with the
same source for the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not
be repeated on this task. To improve the health of the instance, please
resolve these findings and then resolve this task.



Check Priority: P3



Check Category: manageability



Documentation URL:
https://docs.servicenow.com/csh?topicname=c_VldtScptCurrentDotUpdate.html



Check Description: When a record is inserted, current.update() can cause the
workflow to cause an infinite loop. When a record is updated,
current.update() causes all script engines to run twice. To avoid an infinite
loop when a record is inserted, remove unnecessary current.update() calls
from custom scripts.



Check Resolution Details: Remove unnecessary current.update() calls from
custom scripts.

Scan Task

ST00001034

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘ISET record has
at least one import set run record completed per transform map’: Please
investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “ISET record has at least one
import set run record completed per transform map”. If duplicate
findings (findings with the same source for the same check) are found in
subsequent scans, they will not be repeated on this task. To improve the
health of the instance, please resolve these findings and then resolve this
task.

Check Priority: P3

Check Category: manageability

Documentation URL:
https://docs.servicenow.com/csh?topicname=r_ImportRunHistory.html

Check Description: There should be at least one import set run record for
each transform map associated to the data source. The import set run record
holds information on the transform. If one import set run record exists per
transform map, and each of these import set run records’s status is set to
Completed, then the transform phase was executed and completed. This is
marked as 3-Moderate because the transform phase may still be running in
which case is not an error but partial transform.

Check Resolution Details: If you are expecting at least one record to be
transformed, then check the logs for any errors or warnings that may have
prevented the platform from transforming the data into the target table. Keep
in mind that this may be normal if the transform phase has simply not started
yet.

Scan Task

ST00001045

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ”Favorite’
Lists without a filter condition’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “‘Favorite’ Lists without a filter
condition”. If duplicate findings (findings with the same source for the
same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not be repeated on this
task. To improve the health of the instance, please resolve these findings
and then resolve this task.



Check Priority: P3



Check Category: user_experience



Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0962377



Check Description: It is not good practice to view a list of records without
a filter condition in place as the platform is not able to use a database
index to keep the transaction performance. This also places an unnecessary
load on the database.







Check Resolution Details: We strongly recommend using condition filters on
any list transactions where users have saved the list as a ‘favorite’ for
frequent access.







1. Review the lists saved as favorites that have no filter condition



2. Re-create the list favorite with a useful condition to reduce the result
set to be retrieved

Scan Task

ST00001036

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ”Desktop only’
catalog items are showing up on the ServiceNow Mobile apps’: Please
investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “‘Desktop only’ catalog items are
showing up on the ServiceNow Mobile apps”. If duplicate findings
(findings with the same source for the same check) are found in subsequent
scans, they will not be repeated on this task. To improve the health of the
instance, please resolve these findings and then resolve this task.

Check Priority: P3

Check Category: user_experience

Documentation URL:
https://docs.servicenow.com/csh?topicname=config-now-mob-properties.html

Check Description: Catalog Items are showing in Mobile App even though the
availability setting has been set to ‘Desktop only’.

Check Resolution Details: As property:
glide.sc.mobile.include_desktop_only_items is set to ‘true’, the ‘Desktop
only’ catalog items are added to the mobile applications.

To change this behavior, set the property to false.

Scan Task

ST00001039

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Cascade
Variable is not working in Order Guide’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Cascade Variable is not working in
Order Guide”. If duplicate findings (findings with the same source for
the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not be repeated on
this task. To improve the health of the instance, please resolve these
findings and then resolve this task.



Check Priority: P3



Check Category: manageability



Documentation URL:
https://docs.servicenow.com/csh?topicname=c_CascadeTheOrderGuideVariables.html



Check Description: Cascading variables require that the same variable be on
both the order guide and the ordered items. It can be useful to define each
variable once in a variable set, then assign the variable set to both the
order guide and the individual catalog item. This approach avoids duplication
and ensures that the variable is the same in both locations.



Check Resolution Details: Check if Order Guide Variable name and Catalog Item
Variable name are different. To make this cascade variable work you need to
adjust to be the same name

Scan Task

ST00001015

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Custom Business
Rule on cmdb tables with abort action code’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Custom Business Rule on cmdb
tables with abort action code”. If duplicate findings (findings with the
same source for the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not
be repeated on this task. To improve the health of the instance, please
resolve these findings and then resolve this task.

Check Priority: P3

Check Category: upgradability

Documentation URL:
https://docs.servicenow.com/csh?topicname=c_BusinessRules.html

Check Description: Custom Business Rules with abort action code on CMDB
tables causes discovery issues

Check Resolution Details: Review these custom / customized business rules and
ensure that it’s not impacting the discovery process

Scan Task

ST00001035

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘MID Server used
in JDBC Import cannot be part of a cluster’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “MID Server used in JDBC Import
cannot be part of a cluster”. If duplicate findings (findings with the
same source for the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not
be repeated on this task. To improve the health of the instance, please
resolve these findings and then resolve this task.



Check Priority: P3



Check Category: upgradability



Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0727739



Check Description: MID Server used in JDBC Import cannot be part of a
cluster.  A dedicated MID Server should be used for JDBC Data Source
imports.



Check Resolution Details:

Scan Task

ST00001017

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Custom Pre
& Post Sensor script for Discovery’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Custom Pre & Post Sensor
script for Discovery”. If duplicate findings (findings with the same
source for the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not be
repeated on this task. To improve the health of the instance, please resolve
these findings and then resolve this task.

Check Priority: P3

Check Category: upgradability

Documentation URL:
https://community.servicenow.com/community?id=community_blog&sys_id=c0ac2225dbd0dbc01dcaf3231f96198d

Check Description: Customized Pre and Post scripts can cause issues in
Discovery so this check would help you to identify this customization to take
corrective actions

Check Resolution Details: Review these custom / customized Pre and Post
scripts to ensure discovery would not fail

Scan Task

ST00001008

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Check if system
timezone is inactive’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Check if system timezone is
inactive”. If duplicate findings (findings with the same source for the
same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not be repeated on this
task. To improve the health of the instance, please resolve these findings
and then resolve this task.



Check Priority: P3



Check Category: user_experience



Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0867539



Check Description: If the system timezone is inactive, users may be unable to
select a timezone in the general system settings. Alternatively, duplicate
timezones may be displayed for some users (PRB1448481).



Check Resolution Details: Please uncheck the inactive field and save this
record.

Scan Task

ST00001038

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Scheduled
reports for inactive users’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Scheduled reports for inactive
users”. If duplicate findings (findings with the same source for the
same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not be repeated on this
task. To improve the health of the instance, please resolve these findings
and then resolve this task.

Check Priority: P3

Check Category: manageability

Documentation URL:
https://docs.servicenow.com/csh?topicname=schedule-report.html

Check Description: Checking for any scheduled reports still active that are
running as deleted users or inactive users

Check Resolution Details: Data may not appear on reports created by an
individual whose user account is deactivated. To ensure that the desired data
appears, an active user must recreate the scheduled report.

Scan Task

ST00001025

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Public tags are
not visible to everyone’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Public tags are not visible to
everyone”. If duplicate findings (findings with the same source for the
same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not be repeated on this
task. To improve the health of the instance, please resolve these findings
and then resolve this task.



Check Priority: P3



Check Category: user_experience



Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0783711



Check Description: Public tags are not visible to everyone on the forms. The
issue is happens if the ‘Global’ field is set to ‘false’ in the label_entry
record for the particular tag in question.



Check Resolution Details: 1) Go to the label table.



2) Search for the tag you created.



3) Add “Global” field on “label” form to the list view.



4) Change the ‘Global’ field to ‘True’

Scan Task

ST00001012

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Verify there
are no Orphan records for Connection [sys_connection] table’: Please
investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Verify there are no Orphan records
for Connection [sys_connection] table”. If duplicate findings (findings
with the same source for the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they
will not be repeated on this task. To improve the health of the instance,
please resolve these findings and then resolve this task.

Check Priority: P3

Check Category: upgradability

Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0858601

Check Description: Verify there are no Orphan records for Connection
[sys_connection] table.

Navigating to sys_connection table shows a list of records. However, any
attempts to open up the records fail with the error ‘Target Record Not
Found’.

This issue may happen after a clone that that was done recently.

Check Resolution Details: Remove orphan records are described in KB0858601

Scan Task

ST00001037

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Reports without
a filter condition’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Reports without a filter
condition”. If duplicate findings (findings with the same source for the
same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not be repeated on this
task. To improve the health of the instance, please resolve these findings
and then resolve this task.



Check Priority: P3



Check Category: performance



Documentation URL:
https://docs.servicenow.com/csh?topicname=reporting-landing-page.html



Check Description: It is not good practice to create a report without a
filter condition as the platform is not able to use a database index to keep
the transaction performant. This also places an unnecessary load on the
database as the query will execute a full table scan, and on large tables in
particular this can be expensive.



Check Resolution Details: We strongly recommend using condition filters on
any reports that are created on the instance.  The idea is that by using
a filter condition, the query can use an existing index to make the query/s
and therefore the report load faster, and reduce the load on the database. If
a filter condition is subsequently added to a report and there is no
improvement, considering adding an index to improve the query execution.

Scan Task

ST00001032

3 – Moderate

New

P3 ‘Import Set
column’s size for User’s UserID should be set to 100′: Please investigate
findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Import Set column’s size for
User’s UserID should be set to 100″. If duplicate findings (findings
with the same source for the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they
will not be repeated on this task. To improve the health of the instance, please
resolve these findings and then resolve this task.

Check Priority: P3

Check Category: upgradability

Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB1163203

Check Description: The field’s max length for user’s user ID is automatically
set to 40 when using the Import Set feature to import user data.
Imported user names longer than 40 characters will be truncated.  This
check will alert if the user ID import set field max length is 40 and there
are users’ with user name exactly 40 characters in length.

Check Resolution Details: Increase the max length of the dictionary record
belonging to the import set usernamel field.

Scan Task

ST00001030

4 – Low

New

P4 ‘Import Logs do
not work unless you add property introduced in San Diego’: Please investigate
findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Import Logs do not work unless you
add property introduced in San Diego”. If duplicate findings (findings
with the same source for the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they
will not be repeated on this task. To improve the health of the instance,
please resolve these findings and then resolve this task.



Check Priority: P4



Check Category: user_experience



Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB1064627



Check Description: When an instance is upgraded to San Diego it will no
longer write import logs.  Messages that used to be recorded in the
import_log table prior to the San Diego upgrade are no longer being
recorded.  This is because, there is a new property from San Diego to
enable “glide.importlog.log_to_table” property to see import logs.



Check Resolution Details: Set the “glide.importlog.log_to_table”
property to True to see the import logs added in to the import table

Scan Task

ST00001024

4 – Low

New

P4 ‘TD Tags in
Email Client Template adds unwanted extra lines’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “TD Tags in Email Client Template
adds unwanted extra lines”. If duplicate findings (findings with the
same source for the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not
be repeated on this task. To improve the health of the instance, please
resolve these findings and then resolve this task.

Check Priority: P4

Check Category: user_experience

Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB1005102

Check Description: This is caused by PRB1547429

Extra <br/> spaces get added in the HTML table if there are <td>
tags in the email client body.

This will not break any functionality, just causing extra new lines appear
inside the table.

Check Resolution Details: As a workaround, try replacing <td> tags
inside the table with <th>. Check the format, if the <td> tags
are added by TinyMce Editor, then the source of the content needs to be
modified.

Scan Task

ST00001014

4 – Low

New

P4 ‘Single currency
mode – validate price records match locale’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Single currency mode – validate
price records match locale”. If duplicate findings (findings with the
same source for the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not
be repeated on this task. To improve the health of the instance, please
resolve these findings and then resolve this task.



Check Priority: P4



Check Category: manageability



Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0751553



Check Description: Single currency mode enabled validate records are using
correct currency



Check Resolution Details: Review record found and update to use correct
currency.

Scan Task

ST00001006

4 – Low

New

P4 ‘Check for home_refresh
user preference’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Check for home_refresh user
preference”. If duplicate findings (findings with the same source for
the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not be repeated on
this task. To improve the health of the instance, please resolve these
findings and then resolve this task.

Check Priority: P4

Check Category: user_experience

Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0535103

Check Description: User preference home_refresh defines the number of seconds
after which the page is forced to reload for a user.

Check Resolution Details: The recommended value for this is ‘off’. If set to
an integer value, please make sure that the value is the number of seconds
after which the page loads.

If this user preference is set at the system level, please be aware that all
users will experience unexpected page refresh unless overridden by a
user-specific preference.

Scan Task

ST00001013

4 – Low

New

P4 ‘Single currency
mode – validate currency records match locale’: Please investigate findings

This tasks contain
all findings pertaining to the check “Single currency mode – validate
currency records match locale”. If duplicate findings (findings with the
same source for the same check) are found in subsequent scans, they will not
be repeated on this task. To improve the health of the instance, please
resolve these findings and then resolve this task.



Check Priority: P4



Check Category: manageability



Documentation URL:
https://support.servicenow.com/kb?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0751553



Check Description: Single currency mode is enabled. Checking to validate
records are using the correct currency



Check Resolution Details: If currencies are not using the correct currency
code they need to be adjusted to using the same currency code as your
instance is running as single currency mode, you should only have one single
currency setup.

Scan Task