--- original_url: "https://jace.pro/blog/setting-up-a-servicenow-mid-server-in-3-minutes-no-docker-hub-required/" format: markdown ai_optimized: true --- Setting Up a ServiceNow MID Server in 3 Minutes (No Docker Hub Required)- # Setting Up a ServiceNow MID Server in 3 Minutes (No Docker Hub Required) May 19, 2026 [servicenow](/tags/servicenow/) Enable AI Animation# [Spinning Up a ServiceNow MID Server Without Docker Hub](#spinning-up-a-servicenow-mid-server-without-docker-hub) The `moers/mid-server` image on Docker Hub is convenient, but what if you want to understand what’s actually happening under the hood? Or what if you need to run a MID server on a machine without internet access to Docker Hub? Turns out, ServiceNow publishes version-specific MID server container recipes directly from your instance. You just need to ask it what version it’s running. ## [The Secret: `mid.version`](#the-secret-midversion) Every ServiceNow instance stores its own MID server version as a system property: `GET /api/now/table/sys_properties?sysparm_query=name=mid.version`This returns something like: `mid-linux-container-recipe.2024-12-19_1707272914`Or on newer instances: `australia-02-11-2026__patch2-04-17-2026_04-29-2026_2044`Either way, the last `MM-DD-YYYY` pattern in that string is the build date, which tells you exactly where to download the matching container recipe from `install.service-now.com`. ## [The Script](#the-script) Here’s a standalone shell script that does the whole thing — query your instance, download the recipe, build the Docker image, and start the MID server. This is adapted from [John Dahl’s servicenow_mid_server_docker_setup_script](https://github.com/johndahl-now/servicenow_mid_server_docker_setup_script) with a few tweaks for broader version format support: `#!/usr/bin/env bash set -euo pipefail # Configuration — set these here or in a separate secrets.sh mid_display_name="${mid_display_name:-aiinabox-mid}" mid_server_name="${mid_server_name:-docker_mid_server}" servicenow_instance="${servicenow_instance:-}" mid_username="${mid_username:-}" mid_password="${mid_password:-}" # Load secrets from external file (if present) if [[ -f ./secrets.sh ]]; then source ./secrets.sh fi # Validate required vars if [[ -z "$servicenow_instance" ]]; then echo "ERROR: servicenow_instance is not set." exit 1 fi if [[ -z "$mid_username" || -z "$mid_password" ]]; then echo "ERROR: mid_username and mid_password must be set." exit 1 fi # Check prerequisites for cmd in curl unzip docker; do if ! command -v "$cmd" &>/dev/null; then echo "ERROR: '$cmd' not found." exit 1 fi done if ! docker info &>/dev/null; then echo "ERROR: Cannot talk to Docker. Is it running and are you in the docker group?" exit 1 fi # Stop existing container if [[ -f docker-compose.yaml ]]; then echo "Shutting down existing container..." docker compose down 2>/dev/null || true fi # Get MID version from instance echo "Querying $servicenow_instance for MID version..." url="https://${servicenow_instance}.service-now.com/api/now/table/sys_properties?sysparm_query=name=mid.version&sysparm_fields=value&sysparm_limit=1" response=$(curl -s "$url" --request GET \ --header "Accept:application/json" \ --user "${mid_username}:${mid_password}") if echo "$response" | grep -q '"error"'; then echo "ERROR: API call failed. Check your credentials." echo "$response" exit 1 fi # Extract version (no jq needed — use cut) releasename=$(echo "$response" | cut -d'"' -f6) echo "MID Server release: $releasename" # Extract build date — finds the last MM-DD-YYYY in the string # Handles both: # mid-linux-container-recipe.2024-12-19_1707272914 # australia-02-11-2026__patch2-04-17-2026_04-29-2026_2044 build_date=$(echo "$releasename" | grep -oE '[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{4}' | tail -1) rel_month=$(echo "$build_date" | cut -d'-' -f1) rel_day=$(echo "$build_date" | cut -d'-' -f2) rel_year=$(echo "$build_date" | cut -d'-' -f3) # Download the recipe filename="mid-linux-container-recipe.${releasename}.linux.x86-64.zip" recipe_url="https://install.service-now.com/glide/distribution/builds/package/app-signed/mid-linux-container-recipe/${rel_year}/${rel_month}/${rel_day}/${filename}" echo "Downloading $filename ..." curl -fSL "$recipe_url" -o "$filename" mkdir -p ./recipe ./export chmod 777 ./export unzip -o "$filename" -d ./recipe mid_server_version=$(echo "$filename" | cut -d'.' -f2) # Build the Docker image echo "Building image ${mid_server_name}:${mid_server_version} ..." docker build --tag "${mid_server_name}:${mid_server_version}" ./recipe # Clean up rm -r ./recipe rm -f "$filename" # Create docker-compose.yaml and start cat > docker-compose.yaml <