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Salesforce: Create and access a test sandbox

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Table of Contents

What is a sandbox?

What's the difference between a partial sandbox and a full sandbox?

Create a partial sandbox

Create a full sandbox

Accessing the sandbox environment

Refresh the sandbox

What is a sandbox?

In Salesforce, a sandbox is a testing environment your org can use to test things like data changes, new features, applications, etc. In a sandbox with Simpplr, you can test new Simpplr features, or changes to features, integrations or functionalities before implementing them in your production environment. This will ensure your intranet is functioning as intended!


What's the difference between a partial sandbox and a full sandbox?

A partial sandbox environment copies over a sample of your Production environment's data, while a full sandbox is a clone of your Production environment. This means all your data from your Prod environment gets carried over to the sandbox. The only Simpplr features that won't copy over are integrations. It's also worth noting that your users are all given 'dummy' accounts. The sandbox will add '.invalid' to the end of all users' email addresses.

One other difference to note is the data storage limitations. Partial sandboxes allow for a total storage of 5GB, while full sandboxes will copy over the same amount of storage your org has in its Prod environment. 

Finally, you can refresh a partial sandbox every 5 days. A full sandbox only allows for a refresh every 29 days. 

 

Create a partial sandbox

Note:

Simpplr Support does not have access to your sandbox environment by default. Take the necessary measures to have multiple access points for logging on, because we cannot help if you get locked out for any reason.

To get started:

  1. From your Salesforce dashboard, navigate to the Setup menu.
  2. From the Quick Find box, type sandboxes and search.
    sandbox_locate.gif
  3. If you haven't created a sandbox template yet, click the Sandbox Template tab, then New Sandbox Template.
    sandbox_template.png
      • Give your template a name.
      • Assign all Objects you wish to show in the sandbox environment. Type simpplr into the object search box and select all Simpplr objects except for objects that begin with Simpplr__Analytics, Simpplr__Simpplr_social_analytics, and Simpplr Log.
      • Click Save.
        sandbox_2.png
  4. Once your template is created, click New Sandbox. Name your sandbox environment and choose Partial Copy and click Next. Note, do not choose Developer or Developer Pro when choosing your sandbox type. For Simpplr purposes, you will only ever need to be concerned with either Full or Partial Copy.
  5. Assign the template to your new environment, ensure the appropriate Objects are selected, and click Create. Your partial sandbox is now created! You can now test any Simpplr functionality in your Sandbox environment before going live.

    Note:

    It may take up to several hours before your sandbox is fully created and ready to use. You will receive an email once it's ready.

 

Create a full sandbox

Note:

There may be an additional fee for obtaining a full sandbox. Contact your CSM for more info.

Again, a full sandbox will copy all your data over from the existing production environment. We recommend contacting your Simpplr representative before creating a full sandbox.

When you create a full copy Sandbox, make sure the "Include Chatter Data" checkbox is checked. To do so:

  1. From your Salesforce instance, go to Setup and type Sandbox into the Quick Find box. Click New Sandbox.
    blobid0.png
  2. Enter the sandbox name and click next in the Full column.
    blobid5.png
  3. Select All and check the Include Chatter Data checkbox. Click Create.


blobid6.png

Once the sandbox is created, you will get email with instructions on how to access it.

Accessing the sandbox environment

To log in to the sandbox, click the Login button from the sandbox settings you just set. Please note you can click this button ONLY ONCE. Ensure you follow the steps in the section below about removing ".invalid" from user email addresses when providing user access. Once you've removed ".invalid", you can log in to https://test.salesforce.com/.

Your username is your Production account's username + .sandboxname. For example, if your username for production is joe@yourdomain.com, and your sandbox environment is called 'YourDomainSB', the sandbox username will be joe@yourdomain.com.yourdomainsb.

The password to log in to the sandbox is the same as your Production account.

Note:

You may have to clear your web browser's cache before logging into the sandbox environment.

 

Allow Users Access to the Sandbox Environment

  1. All users’ email addresses in your sandbox environment are invalid by default, so no email will be sent out by accident. To grant client access to the sandbox, from Setup in your sandbox, type Users into the Quick Find box. Locate the user(s) you want to allow access to and click Edit next to their name.

  2. You MUST remove the “.invalid” next to their email address, then scroll down and check the box next to Generate new password and notify user immediately and click Save. Users will receive an email from Salesforce to create their password.
    remove_.invalid.gif

 

Note:

For further guidance on accessing your Simpplr sandbox environment after creating a partial sandbox in Salesforce, check out this article! Simpplr Support does not have access to you sandbox environment. Take the necessary measures to have multiple access points for logging on, because we cannot help if you get locked out.

 

 

To make sure Simpplr is working properly, you will need to change the Rest_API_URL under Remote Site Settings. To do so:

  1. Go to Salesforce Setup and search for Remote Site Settings. Click on Edit next to Rest_API_URL, and change the instance to match the one of your sandbox.
    blobid7.png
  2. If you are not sure what to enter, go to Salesforce Setup > Company Information. You will see an "Instance" field:
    blobid8.png

  3. In this example, cs97 is the number for sandbox. The Rest_API_URL should be https://cs97.salesforce.com . "CS" should be in lower case.

Refresh the sandbox

As stated above, with a partial copy sandbox, you're able to refresh the environment every 5 days (full copy, 29 days). Refreshing a sandbox updates its metadata from the source org. If the sandbox is a clone or if it uses a sandbox template, the refresh process updates the org’s data and its metadata.

To get started:

  1. From the Sandboxes menu in Salesforce, find the environment you want to refresh and select Refresh next to it.
    SB_refresh_1.gif
  2. Select the sandbox copy you want and click Next.
  3. Ensure the Salesforce objects you want are being carried over, then scroll down and click Create. To activate your sandbox immediately after you refresh it, select Auto Activate. In this case, you won't receive an activation email. Otherwise, you'll receive an email when the refresh has completed. SB_Refresh_2.gif

Refreshing your sandbox can move it to a different Salesforce instance. For example, the sandbox can move from CS40 to CS50. If you’re subscribed to Trust Notifications, check your subscription settings to ensure that you continue to receive updates about unforeseen incidents and planned maintenance that affects your sandbox.

For more information on updating Simpplr after a partial sandbox refresh, check out this article!

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