When planning backups for ServiceNow, review the tables you can exclude.
These tables contain system data or non-mission-critical data that is not crucial to backup. Excluding these tables allows backups to complete within a reasonable time frame and reduce overloading the ServiceNow platform, preserving instance performance. The following tables are excluded from backups.
Prefixed System Tables
- ar_
- ecc_
- gcf_external_staging
- ml_
- nlq_
- pa_
- syslog
- sys_replication_queue
- ts_
- v_
- ua_
System Tables
- sys_api_stats
- sys_api_stats_requestor
- sys_app_quota
- sys_cache_build_pattern
- sys_cluster_node_stats
- sys_cluster_state
- sys_event_processor
- sys_import_set
- sys_import_set_row (and all tables that extend)
- sys_mutex_pattern
- sys_notif_stats
- sys_number_counter
- sys_outbound_http_log
- sys_pattern
- sys_query_pattern
- sys_rate_limit_rules
- sys_script_pattern
- sys_status
- sys_transaction_pattern
- sys_trend
- sys_trigger
- sys_user_session
- sysevent
- sysevent0000
- sysevent0001
- sysevent0002
- sysevent0003
- sysevent0004
- sysevent0005
- sysevent0006
- sysevent_queue_stats
- sysevent_queue_stats_node_detail
Global Tables
- aa_performance_statistics
- asset_job_log
- em_batch_map
- import_set_flow_engine_context
- jrobin_archive
- jrobin_database
- jrobin_datasource
- jrobin_definition
- jrobin_graph
- jrobin_graph_line
- jrobin_graph_set
- jrobin_graph_set_member
- jrobin_shard
- jrobin_shard_location
- plan_execution
- plan_mysql
- plan_oracle
- scheduled_import_set
- sn_app_insights_aggregates
- sn_app_insights_ecc_queue
- st_license_detail_metric
- st_sys_design_system_icon
- svc_recomputation_log
- sys_concurrent_import_set
- sys_concurrent_import_set_job
- sys_execution_context
- sys_execution_plan
- sys_flow_context_chunk_archive
- sys_flow_report_doc_chunk_archive
- sys_import_set_execution
- sys_import_set_row_error
- sys_import_set_run
- sys_multi_import_set
- sys_parallel_data_loader_execution_context
- sys_rest_insert_multiple
- sys_rest_insert_multiple_column_mapping
- sys_robust_import_set_transformer
- text_search
- ua_app_family
- ua_app_usage
- ys_watermark
Attachment Tables
The Attachment API is used to retrieve attachments from the ServiceNow instance.
- sys_attachment_doc
- sys_attachment_doc_v2
Metric Tables
- metric0
- _metric_
Audit Tables
- sys_audit
- sys_audit_delete
Log Tables
- log0
- log_entry0
- log_message_
- log_rows0
- log_transaction0
Unauthorized Tables
These out of the box tables are not accessible via the REST API. To allow the REST APIs to read them, configure the table application access setting “Allow access to this table via web services”. More information is available at ServiceNow.
- appsec_domain_listing
- appsec_hardening_configurations
- appsec_hardening_guide_categories
- appsec_isc_banner_configuration
- appsec_isc_event_configuration
- appsec_security_dashboard_event_logs
- appsec_security_notification_list
- appsec_security_notification_type
- clone_cleanup_script
- clone_data_exclude
- clone_data_preserver
- clone_profile_cleanup_scripts
- clone_profile_exclusions
- clone_profile_preservers
- global
- gsw_change_log
- gsw_content
- gsw_content_group
- gsw_content_information
- gsw_status_of_content
- multi_factor_browser_fingerprint
- multi_factor_criteria
- pa_filters
- password_policy
- plan_execution
- plan_mysql
- plan_oracle
- sn_appclient_store_outbound_http_quota
- sn_appcreator_app_template
- sys_coalesce_strategy_deferred
- sys_geocoding_request
- sys_index
- sys_index_explain
- sys_offline_app
- sys_package
- sys_package_dependency_item
- sys_package_dependency_m2m
- sys_plugins
- sys_querystat
- sys_stage_storage_alias
- sys_storage_alias
- sys_storage_table_alias
- sys_store_app
- sys_table_partition
- sys_upgrade_history_log
- syslog_app_scope
- syslog_email
- ua_instance_state_config
- v_expression_cache
- v_private_cache
- v_shared_cache
Shadow Tables
Shadow tables are created to support Rollbacks denoted with a "$" in the table name.
Non-standard Tables
- Tables with multi primary keys.
- Tables using a non 32 character GUID primary key, instead of the default sys_id.
Table Rotations and Table Extensions
These tables tend to create very large data sets and contain non mission critical data.
- Table rotations provide performance optimizations to manage large data sets by rotating tables in partitions or shards, allowing older data to be systematically archived while maintaining system efficiency.
- Table extensions provide partitions or shards to preserve data sets for extended periods without overwriting.
Remote Tables
Remote tables connect to third-party sources, another instance, or other tables via script definitions. Remote tables are “copies” of external data cached in memory. The external data lives in memory in read-only mode, which makes the data temporary within the remote table.