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Send Us Your ServiceNow Export

When we are troubleshooting an issue with your ServiceNow archive, we will tell you exactly what we need and ask for only that - we don't want you to hand over your entire instance data.

In most cases we ask for a structural or metadata export (for example the sys_* metadata tables such as sys_db_object and sys_dictionary) rather than a full data dump, so you do not need to export (or share) your business records.

What we'll ask for​

We will specify the exact scope when we raise a request. This might be:

  • Metadata / structure — the ServiceNow schema and metadata tables (for example sys_db_object, sys_dictionary, sys_documentation, and the sys_ui_* tables) so we can see how your instance is structured.
  • Specific tables — a bounded set of business tables relevant to the issue, not the whole instance.
  • Attachments — only if the problem involves attachment data. ServiceNow stores attachment metadata in sys_attachment and file content in sys_attachment_doc (chunked Base64 rows) inside the database.

For the underlying processes for producing data (the mirror planner, native database exports, or cross-engine conversion via cz export), see Getting Your ServiceNow Data.

Producing a metadata export with cz export​

The easiest way to give us exactly what we need is the metadata export built into the cortex-util.exe CLI. It exports only the ServiceNow sys_* configuration/metadata tables with data, and everything else as structure only — no business records:

cortex-util.exe cz export --connection-string "server=archive-host,1433;uid=user;password=pass;database=snow_mirror;engine=mssql" --file servicenow-metadata.cze
  • Metadata only is the default — no extra flag needed.
  • --expanded — include all sys_* tables except known record-data families (for example exclude sys_cs_conversation data).
  • --RelatedLists — include related lists in the exported metadata.
  • --schema <name> — qualify tables with a non-default schema (for example servicenow_mirror on PostgreSQL).
  • --full — exports data for every table (a full database dump). We will not normally ask for this.

See the CZ export and restore section on the ServiceNow page for cz restore and splitting large exports into sized parts.

Sending the file​

Once we've agreed what to send, if it is too large to attach to an email, we can work with a OneDrive or Google Drive link, or we recommend Our Box Drive. Contact us if you need to arrange a more secure transfer method.