SNOW-CAD Platform Features and Integration Practice Question
Which THREE considerations are important when designing a ServiceNow REST API for external consumption? (Choose three.)
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse internal implementation techniques (like GlideAggregate) with high-level design considerations for external REST APIs, or assume that OAuth 2.0 is strictly required when ServiceNow actually supports multiple authentication methods.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Implement rate limiting to protect the instance from overload.
Implementing rate limiting is crucial for protecting a ServiceNow instance from being overwhelmed by excessive API requests from external consumers. Without rate limiting, a single client could degrade performance for all users or even cause an outage. ServiceNow provides built-in mechanisms like the REST API rate limit property (glide.rest.rate_limit) to control request frequency per client.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Implement rate limiting to protect the instance from overload.
Why this is correct
Rate limiting prevents abuse and maintains performance.
- ✓
Use versioning in the API path (e.g., /api/now/v1/table).
Why this is correct
Versioning allows backward compatibility for consumers.
- ✗
Use GlideAggregate for performance in the API script.
Why it's wrong here
While GlideAggregate can be used, it's not a design consideration for consumption; it's an implementation detail.
- ✗
Always use OAuth 2.0 for authentication.
Why it's wrong here
OAuth is common but not always required; API keys or basic auth may be used based on requirements.
- ✓
Provide meaningful error messages in the response body.
Why this is correct
Clear error messages help consumers troubleshoot.
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This SNOW-CAD question is part of Courseiva's 481-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This SNOW-CAD practice question is part of Courseiva's free ServiceNow certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SNOW-CAD exam.