What is Salesforce Sandbox? How to Create & Uses of Sandbox?

Introduction

Sandboxes are used to create multiple copies of the production organization. Various or several copies of the organization can be developed like one copy for development, another for testing and training and this can be done without any compromise of data in the production organization. Sandboxes are not mingled with the production organization, so the operations that are performed do not affect Salesforce production and vice versa.

This article is all about Salesforce Sandboxes. Here we will cover the introduction of Sandbox in Salesforce, sandbox Salesforce login, types of the sandbox in Salesforce, and how to use them. We will also discuss the types of Sandboxes, its considerations, and limitations.

What is Salesforce Sandboxes?

The development and testing environment within Salesforce is termed as Salesforce Sandbox. The sandbox copy of Salesforce is provisioned with all code, data, and configuration. As per the type of sandbox, used record data can also be included and saves. Salesforce Sandbox is not a separate version of the organization, instead, it is just a replica of the original one. Any change in the organization will not be automatically reflected in Salesforce Sandbox. A snapshot of the production environment on the date on which it is created is known as Salesforce Sandbox.

The Sandbox environment is created for several purposes like for training, development, testing, and others, even without affecting data and configuration in the Salesforce production instance. Salesforce sandbox cannot be considered as the backup of configuration at a point of time or production data, but Sandbox can also be used for other purposes like testing, coding, staging and quality assurance. Salesforce sandboxes are not considered for data backups for the following reasons:

• Sandboxes can only be refreshed once every 29 days
• Complete and full sandbox is available only in performance and unlimited editions, while for others it will have to be purchased as an add-on
• Depending on the type of license multiple sandboxes can be created and managed. All instances of the sandboxed are isolated, so the operations that are performed on one sandbox will not affect another one. Changesets can be deployed from one sandbox to another even within the same production org.

Sometimes different environments may be required for different requirements. Like while in the construction phase, multiple teams can work on development, so each team may require their own separate sandbox, while during the testing phase a separate environment may be required by testing teams. So, for various requirements, separate environments can be created and provided to the teams.

Different Types of Salesforce Sandboxes

There are four different sandbox types in Salesforce... You can easily understand the types of sandboxes after getting familiar with them. Popular sandbox types in Salesforce are:

As it has been mentioned earlier that Salesforce sandbox is the snapshot of the production environment on the date when you created or refreshed it. Sandbox is created in a separate environment for a number of purposes like testing, training, and development without affecting data or configuration of the Salesforce production instance.

1). Full Sandbox Salesforce

All data and metadata are included in the Full Salesforce sandbox. All custom setting records, object records and other information will be included in this sandbox. The case records that are created for the customers by the production environment or opportunities that are created by the sales team can be copied to the sandboxes. A few of the other options that can be copied to the sandbox and are available for the sandbox users are:

• Field History: You can copy some amount of data that is sufficient for configuration and belong to field history from the production
• Chatter Data: The chatter activities and posts can be from the production department.

While setting up this sandbox you should consider below-listed options:

• If you have sufficient file storage capacity then do not include Chatter data. Field history data does not take that much storage usually.
• If you are trying to set up a sandbox quickly then avoid the field box data.

As per requirement configure your sandbox to get the maximum output of this. The full sandbox of any organization must be strategic and thoughtful. In Sandbox mainly three activities can be run that are testing, development and training. Full sandboxes are much more suitable for testing and training rather than development.

2). Developer and Developer Pro Sandboxes

These sandboxes consist of metadata and no data is contained by them. For testing needs it is quite sufficient, additional data can be created if required via UI, it can be loaded by using data loader. If the only smaller data set is required then you should not use Full data sandbox. Like if you only need the information of accounts, contacts, cases, opportunities, and leads then you can create 10-100 records for each with ease. If you want to know the difference between developer and developer pro sandbox, then it is only the limits of data or file storage. Where a developer sandbox can store 200 megabytes, so on the other hand developer pro sandbox can store 1 GB of data.

Read: What is the Custom Setting in Salesforce? Know in 2020

3). Developer Sandbox Details

• Refresh Interval: 1 day
• Storage Limit: 200 MB Data
• What can be copied: Metadata Only
• Sandbox Template: Not Available

Developer Pro Sandbox:

• Refresh Interval: 1 day
• Storage Limit: 1 GB Data
• What can be copied: Metadata Only
• Sandbox Template: Not Available

4). Partial Data Sandbox Salesforce

Partial data sandboxes are quite similar to full data sandboxes except only that they allow the only subset of data to be copied from the sandbox to production. Salesforce copy engine can assist the user with data selection. Each copy can store around 10,000 records. The file and data storage limit of this sandbox is 5 GB.

This was all about the types! Now let’s talk about how to create a template and Salesforce sandbox login!

How can you create a Salesforce Sandbox Template?

Salesforce provides the provision to create Full and partial copy sandbox templates, while the templates cannot be created for developer and developer pro sandboxes. Through Salesforce sandboxes user can control the data size that he wants to copy from production to sandbox and vice versa and pick any specific object as well. Below-listed advantages are provided by the data sandboxes:

• Standard and custom data object can be selected through Sandbox template
• If an object is required by the organization then it is already included
• They can easily understand the object relationship
• The object list can be displayed with the total selected number

The sandbox template can be created at the time of creation. Although only 5 GB of data can be stored along with 5 GB of files in a partial or full sandbox. Now we will see how the sandbox template can be created and used, which may be either a partial or full sandbox. Below-listed steps must be followed for setting up the sandbox template:

• Find Sandboxes from the quick search menu
• Click New Sandbox
• Enter name and Sandbox description
• Select sandbox types
• Click start copy

Depending on the size of your org you can select the appropriate sandbox you can choose anyone.   When the copying will be completed you will receive a notification mail. You can click the link that is received on your mail to access the sandbox. If you want to add objects in the Salesforce sandbox template, then you will have to tick each object checkbox. The list of the selected objects will be displayed, moreover, the objects can also be deselected as well. After selecting the desired object, you can click on the save button and save the sandbox as well.

Users can perform Salesforce sandbox login at https://test.Salesforce.com by appending. sandbox_name to their Salesforce usernames. And to perform sandbox Salesforce login for a newly created or refreshed Sandbox, go to https://test.Salesforce.com and add the name of the Sandbox (. sandboxname) after your Production username.

How to choose the appropriate sandbox?

Now, that we have covered sandbox types in Salesforce and sandbox Salesforce login, let’s talk about how to choose the best type. If you have multiple sandboxes then you should use the appropriate one. Following factors can help you in selecting the best one for you:

• For the development team, full sandboxes are costlier as their creation and refreshing time is not suitable for developers as data access can also be provided to the developers that may not be appropriate
• For testing teams, partial data sandboxes may be suitable, especially if you want to use a subset of your data or only a part of data.
• For staging or user acceptance testing again partial copy sandboxes are appropriate, like for regional data it can be beneficial
• For production debugging, if testing for the partial amount of data is acceptable then it is good to use it for the sandbox.

Salesforce sandboxes are of much use and on top of that, there are four types of sandbox in Salesforce! But the user should use them in the appropriate manner, always.

Final Words

Here, in this blog, we have seen sandbox in Salesforce, Salesforce sandbox login, many types of sandbox in Salesforce, and their features. The use of sandboxes can make the development and testing process quite easier by providing a different environment to different teams.

Salesforce has provided these sandboxes to each team member that is involved in software or application development like developers, testers, coders, and others. These sandboxes have different features and are used as per user needs. The sandboxes have templates that are created as per the subscription that is taken by the organizations for their use.

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