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Sandbox in Salesforce? Different Types of Sandbox

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Salesforce is a leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform that allows businesses to optimize sales processes by tracking leads, managing pipelines, and automating tasks for faster deal closures.

Its service cloud enhances customer support with personalized experiences and quick issue resolution, while the marketing cloud enables targeted campaigns and improved customer acquisition.

Salesforce provides Sandboxes essential in application development, testing, and deployment processes. This article will help you understand what Salesforce Sandboxes are, their significance, and the different types available in Salesforce.

What is a Salesforce Sandbox?

A Salesforce Sandbox replicates your Salesforce production environment and is designed for development, testing, and training. This isolated environment enables users to experiment, develop new features, and run tests without impacting the live production data. As sandboxes are separate from the primary production environment, any changes made within them won’t affect real customers or business operations.

Furthermore, Sandboxes are essential for developers and administrators to test new features, customizations, and integrations in a controlled setting. By identifying and resolving potential issues before applying changes to the live system, sandboxes help minimize risks and safeguard system integrity. 

Overview of Salesforce Sandbox Types

Here’s a quick overview of Salesforce Sandbox and its types

Developer Developer Pro Partial Copy Full
Refresh Intervals 1 Day 1 Day 5 Days 29 Days
What is Copied Metadata only Metadata only Metadata and a sample of all the data Same as your production org
Sandbox Templates Not available Not available Available Available
Storage Capacity 200 MB 1 GB 5 GB Same as your production org
General Function Development and some test Development, quality assurance, integration testing, and training Quality assurance, user acceptance tests, integration tests, and training Performance testing, load testing, and a staging environment

Types of Salesforce Sandboxes

There are four primary types of Salesforce sandboxes - Developer, Developer Pro, Partial Copy, and Full Copy. Each type serves distinct purposes and has its features and limitations.

1. Developer Sandbox

It is designed for individual development and testing and provides a controlled environment. This helps developers to work on coding and testing without affecting the live production environment.

Key Features

  • Data and Storage Limits: The Developer Sandbox has a 200 MB storage limit for data and files. This capacity typically supports many development tasks, enabling developers to test configurations and code without handling large datasets.
  • Refresh Interval: Developers can refresh the Developer Sandbox once daily to access the latest metadata from their production environment. Refresh ensures the testing environment stays up-to-date.
  • Metadata Copy: The Developer Sandbox includes a full copy of the production organization’s metadata, such as:
  1. Custom settings
  2. Object definitions
  3. Apex classes
  4. Riggers
  5. Visualforce pages
  6. Reports, and dashboards.

Note that this sandbox does not copy any data from production, so you will either need to mock-up data or move data from production for development and testing. 

Using production data helps ensure development and testing are done against realistic data, saving you effort later in the development process. If you copy production data, you will likely want to anonymize it when you move it to the sandbox for security reasons.

Use cases

  • Suitable for testing new features or customizations before they are integrated with other features or customizations.
  • Developers can use this sandbox type when they need very little data to develop a feature or customization.

2. Developer Pro Sandbox

The Developer Pro Sandbox is a specialized Salesforce environment that supports more extensive development and testing activities than the standard Developer Sandbox.

Key Features

  • Data Storage Capacity: The Developer Pro Sandbox allows up to 1 GB of data and file storage, significantly more than the 200 MB limit in a standard Developer Sandbox. This increased capacity makes it suitable for more extensive development tasks and testing scenarios that require larger datasets.
  • Metadata Copying: It replicates all metadata from your production environment, including reports, dashboards, price books, products, apps, and customizations. However, it does not include standard and custom object records, documents, or attachments.
  • Refresh Frequency: This type of sandbox can be refreshed once daily, providing developers with a relatively up-to-date environment for testing and development compared to the longer refresh intervals of Partial Copy and Full Copy sandboxes.

Use cases

  • Helpful in building prototypes and testing with larger data sets than the Developer Sandbox can support.
  • Supports teams of developers working on different aspects of the same project where shared testing resources are needed.
  • Ideal for testing integrations with external systems where a more extensive set of data and more complexity are involved.
  • Provides an environment where developers can create training environments with more realistic datasets.
  • Enables developers to validate complex features or integrations that require more data than the Developer Sandbox allows.
  • Suitable for testing features that require more data than can be loaded into a Developer sandbox.
  • May be preferred for development because it allows more data than can be loaded in a Developer sandbox.

3. Partial Copy Sandbox

A Partial Copy Sandbox provides a subset of your production data and metadata for development, testing, or training purposes. It is advantageous when you need a sample of your production environment to perform tasks such as quality assurance, integration testing, or training without the overhead of copying the entire production org. 

Key Features

  • Metadata and Sample Data: It includes all metadata from your production organization and a sample of production data defined by a sandbox template. This allows developers to test features and functionalities using real-world data while avoiding the complexity of an entire dataset.
  • Data Limitations: The sandbox can store up to 5 GB of data, sufficient for most development and testing needs. It can copy up to 10,000 records for each object selected in the sandbox template.
  • Refresh Rate: The Partial Copy Sandbox can be refreshed every 5 days, allowing for relatively frequent updates to the testing environment without significant downtime.
  • Sandbox Templates: Users can apply sandbox templates when creating or refreshing a Full Copy Sandbox. These templates enable selective data copying, allowing developers to exclude sensitive information or irrelevant records from the sandbox environment. It is important to understand that a sandbox template uses data sampling to filter what data is copied from production. A partial copy sandbox may not capture all relevant data relationships, especially for complex data structures. You may want to anonymize this data for security reasons.

Use cases

  • Provides a mostly realistic subset of production data for testing new features or updates with actual business data without copying the entire production environment.
  • Supports QA teams in testing with real-world data, helping ensure that features work under conditions similar to production.
  • Allows integration testing using real data without the overhead of a full copy of the entire production system.
  • Best for testing system performance with a representative subset of data that simulates production loads.

4. Full Copy Sandbox

A Full Copy Sandbox in Salesforce is a detailed replica of your production environment, encompassing all metadata, data, and files. This sandbox type is useful for extensive testing, user training, and significant development projects.

Key Features

  • Complete Replica: A Full Copy Sandbox is an exact duplicate of your production environment, including all metadata, standard and custom object records, documents, attachments, and any other data present in the live system. This makes it ideal for extensive testing scenarios such as performance testing, load testing, and user acceptance testing (UAT).
  • High Storage Capacity: It retains the same data limits as your production organization, allowing for substantial storage of both data and files. This capacity is crucial for organizations that require a full-scale model of their operational data for accurate testing.
  • Refresh Interval: The Full Copy Sandbox can be refreshed every 29 days. This refresh cycle allows organizations to maintain a relatively up-to-date environment while managing the load on their production systems.

Use cases

  • Used as a final staging environment before deploying changes to production, ensuring everything functions as expected under realistic conditions.
  • Useful for testing backup and recovery processes in a fully functional environment identical to production.
  • Enables thorough user acceptance testing using a complete set of real-world data and system configurations.
  • It is ideal for testing data migrations, system integrations, or other complex workflows that require a full replica of production data to validate correctness.

How to Create a Sandbox in Salesforce

One of the most important features of Salesforce is the ability to create "sandboxes" – isolated environments where you can test, develop, and experiment without impacting your live production environment. Let us walk you through the process of creating a sandbox in Salesforce.

Step 1: Log in with your administrator credentials to the Salesforce login page.

Step 2: Once logged in, click the gear icon in the top-right corner and select “Setup.”

Step 3:  In the “Quick Find” box on the left side, type "Sandboxes" and select Sandboxes under the “Environment” section.

Step 4: Click the “New Sandbox” button on the Sandboxes page.

Step 5: Choose either Developer SandboX, Developer Pro Sandbox, Partial Copy Sandbox or Full Sandbox.

Step 6: Name your sandbox, for example, "Dev_Sandbox_01.”

Step 7:  Depending on the sandbox type, you may have the option to choose which data to include, for instance, Partial Copy or Full Sandboxes. You can also use a “Sandbox” “Template” to control which objects are copied.

Step 8:  Once you’ve selected the appropriate settings, click the “Create” button to begin the process. Depending on the size of your production data and the type of sandbox, creating the sandbox may take several minutes to several hours.

Step 9: After you initiate the creation, Salesforce will start the process. You can track its progress in the “Sandboxes” section. When the sandbox is ready, it will be listed as "Completed" and have an option to log in.

Step 10: Once the sandbox is created, you can log in by clicking the “Login” button next to the sandbox name.

How Flosum Simplifies Sandbox Management

Flosum is a comprehensive DevOps solution designed specifically for Salesforce. It provides several advantages that can significantly enhance sandbox management and development workflows.

Here is how Flosum helps: 

  • Synchronization of Sandboxes: Instead of constantly mocking up data or moving and anonymizing data from production, quickly deploy the code and configuration between sandboxes and production. Move changes through the development lifecycle and back-deploy to your sandboxes with just a few clicks. 
  • Easy to Learn and Use: Flosum is designed to empower both developers and citizen developers by providing an intuitive and easy-to-navigate platform requiring minimal training or technical expertise. Its user-friendly interface and built-in safety nets reduce reliance on technical experts. Streamlined Git management simplifies processes for non-technical team members, while automated workflows replace complex manual steps.
  • Merge and Deployment Insurance: It provides comprehensive merge and deployment insurance, making it easy to reverse changes with a single click. This ensures that critical updates made directly in Salesforce are never overwritten, protecting business continuity.
  • Enterprise Compliance and Security: Flosum delivers robust compliance and security measures tailored for high-compliance environments, including government agencies. Its native Salesforce integration ensures enhanced governance and security controls within the development process.
  • Reducing Parallel Development Pain: The solution simplifies parallel development by allowing multiple teams to deliver simultaneously without the challenges of overly complex branch management. This approach makes it practical to efficiently move features through the development pipeline, addressing common obstacles.

Conclusion

Salesforce Sandboxes are invaluable tools that provide isolated environments to test, develop, and innovate without affecting the production environment. Organizations can maintain system integrity, ensure seamless deployment processes, and streamline development workflows.

If you're looking to streamline your Salesforce development process and improve sandbox management, Flosum is here to help. 

Book a meeting today to discover how our solution can transform your Salesforce experience with Flosum.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is a Salesforce sandbox?

A Salesforce sandbox is an isolated copy of your organization's production environment, primarily used for development and testing. It allows developers to experiment with new features, configurations, and customizations without affecting the live production data and settings. 

Sandboxes include a copy of the metadata (like objects and fields) from the production environment but may or may not contain actual data, depending on the type of sandbox used.

2. What are the different types of sandboxes?

There are four main types of Salesforce sandboxes:

  • Developer Sandbox: Limited to 200 MB of data, ideal for individual developers.
  • Developer Pro Sandbox: Similar to Developer but with 1 GB of storage, suitable for larger development tasks.
  • Partial Copy Sandbox: Contains a subset of production data used for functional testing.
  • Full Sandbox: A complete replica of the production environment, including all data and metadata, used for comprehensive testing.

3. What is the use of a sandbox?

Sandboxes are used for various purposes, including development, testing, and training. They provide a safe environment to implement changes without risking disruption to the live production environment.

Developers can test new features, validate code changes, and conduct user acceptance testing (UAT) in a controlled setting. This ensures that potential issues are identified and resolved before deployment to production.

4. What is the difference between sandbox and production in Salesforce?

The primary difference between a sandbox and production in Salesforce is their purpose and data integrity. In the production environment, live data resides, and active users operate, while a sandbox serves as a testing ground that mimics the production setup without impacting real-time operations.

Changes made in a sandbox do not affect the production environment until they are explicitly deployed. Additionally, sandboxes can be refreshed periodically to stay updated with the latest configuration from production.

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