Requesting a new ServiceNow instance

You will be presented with a modal window, like the one shown in the following screenshot, to select a version of the ServiceNow instance you wish to launch. For the purpose of this book, we will be launching an instance running the Istanbul version of the ServiceNow platform. You can also select the latest version of the ServiceNow platform, which is Jakarta:

Release notes on the Istanbul version can be found at: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/istanbul-release-notes/.
Release notes on the Jakarta version can be found at: https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/jakarta-release-notes/page/release-notes/jakarta-release-notes.html.

It may take a few minutes for the developer portal to assign you an instance. Once the instance is available, you will be presented with details of your instance - such as the URL of the instance, the System Administrator's username (by default admin), and an alphanumeric password. Make sure to save this information for future reference:

You will also be presented with the credentials to log in to your instance, as shown in the following screenshot:

It may take up to 60 seconds to launch your instance, so be patient. Your instance may sleep or be reclaimed if there's no activity/usage for a few days. However, it is always easy to wake or request a new instance by visiting the MANAGE | Instance page in the ServiceNow developer portal. Each developer instance URL is different, but always has the dev prefix, and uses the service-now.com domain instead of servicenow.com. In case you forget your admin user's password, you can always reset it from the MANAGE | Instance page.