Creating or Refreshing a Sandbox from Production in Salesforce

To create, refresh, activate, and delete sandbox user should have  “Modify All Data”   permission.

                  we can create sandbox only from Production.sandbox option available under DataManagement in Production.The number of sandbox's we can create depends on the license which we have.There are 3 types of Sandbox we can create.


1.Developer.
2.Configuration only.(Developer Pro Sandbox)
3.Full sandbox.(which is exact copy of Production including data).


Developer :

    Developer sandbox  is copy of production with out data.Developer sandboxs are inteded for developing code and testing. Multiple users can log into a single Developer sandbox.

 **  You can refresh a Developer sandbox once per day
.
Configuration only(Developer Pro Sandbox):

                 In Configuration sandbox only standard objects and custom settings provided by salesforce are available.  Developer Pro sandboxes copy all of your production organization's reports, dashboards, price books,  products, apps, and customizations under Setup, but exclude all of your organization's standard and custom  object records, documents, and attachments.Creating a Developer Pro sandbox can decrease the time it takes to create or refresh a sandbox from several hours to just a few minutes.
 
  **  You can refresh a Developer Pro sandbox once per day.
 
Full sandbox:
 
                 where Full sandbox is copy of production with data.While creating sandbox with data user have a choice of   limitind data with Sandbox Template,those sandbox's are called  Partial data Sandbox's.A Partial Data sandbox is  smaller than a Full sandbox and has a shorter refresh interval.
 
  **  You can refresh a Partial Data sandbox every 5 days.
  **  You can refresh a Full sandbox every 29 days.
 
 Creating SandBox:
 
  step1. Setup-------->Datamanagement---------->sandbox------> New SandBox.

  step2. Enter a name and description for the sandbox.we can only change the
             name when we create or refresh a sandbox.Sandbox name should Reflect
            the purpose of this sandbox, such as “QA.”(its best Practise).

  step3. Choose type of sandbox to create.
              if it is Partial data Sandbox you need to select Sandbox Template.
  step4. Create.
 
  The process may take several minutes, hours, or even days, depending on the size and type of your organization.The first time you create a sandbox, Salesforce activates the sandbox for you.
 
  Refresing Sandbox :
  
Setup-------->Datamanagement---------->sandbox

  You’ll see a list of your sandboxes. Sandboxes that you can refresh have a Refresh link next to the sandbox name.
      Edit | Del | Refresh | Login  Sandboxname    Status(inUse)  

                      On clicking refresh button Salesforce starts copying data to the sandbox(If it is Full sand box)  status turns to Copying.After Salesforce finishes copying data to the sandbox,inProgress turns into Activate button.
                                           
    Action                                 Sandboxname          Status

   Edit                                        test                            Copying


   Edit |  Activate |Discard         test                       Replacement ready

              you  need to activate the sandbox before you can use the refreshed data. Salesforce sends you an email when your sandbox is ready to activate. Activating a replacement sandbox that was created using the Refresh link  completely deletes the sandbox it is refreshing. All configuration and data in the prior sandbox copy will be lost, including any application or data changes you have made and there is no way to recover them back.Once Your production organization and its data will not be affected.

 **     Refresh button will be enabled depends the sandbox you refreshed and their limits as mentioned above.
   ex: for full sand box it takes 29 days to enable refresh button.

 **   you can also see the created or refreshed history of sandbox by clicking  history tab on 
     sandbox page.

  After Activation of sandbox :
 
** You will receive a notification email when your newly created or refreshed sandbox has completed copying. 

** login URL for Sandbox is https://test.salesforce.com by appending .sandbox_name to their Salesforce usernames.

     Example: username for a production organization is  test@companyname.com, 
                      the sandbox is named “test”,
                      new sandbox  user name is test@companyname.com.test.

**   Salesforce automatically changes sandbox usernames, but not passwords.
      you need to use Production password to login sandbox.

**  Newly created sandboxes have the default email deliverability setting System email only.
     The System email only setting is especially useful for controlling email sent from sandboxes
     so that testing and development work doesn’t send test emails to your users

Sandbox Storage Limits

• Partial Data sandboxes have a 5 GB storage limit.
• Developer Pro sandboxes have a 1 GB storage limit.
• Developer sandboxes have a 200 MB storage limit.
• Full sandboxes have the same storage limit as your production organization.
• Sandboxes don’t send email notifications when storage limits are reached, if you reach the storage limit of yoursandbox, you cannot save new data in your sandbox.
• To check storage limits, from Setup, click Data Management | Storage Usage in your sandbox.