Sandbox Management

sbx1 sbx2

Sandbox Clone

QuestionAnswer
How Sandbox Clone is different from regular SandboxWith Sandbox Clone, you can create a copy of an existing sandbox. That copy will contain all data that existed in the Source Sandbox at the time of the copy. A regular sandbox is a copy of production org. In Setup > Sandboxes page it will be have Copied From field
How to create or refresh cloned sandboxYou can create or refresh a cloned sandbox the same way you use a regular sandbox, you have to choose your source sandbox rather than production on the Create From drop-down field.You can clone a sandbox that’s on a different major Salesforce release version than your production organization.
Things to knowA sandbox clone can only be of the same type sandbox as the source. For example, a 'Full Copy Sandbox' can only be cloned as another 'Full Copy Sandbox.'

Sandbox Refresh

1. Create a Pre-refresh Checklist

2. Minimize Downtime using right refresh window (taking care of developers developing new features, UAT and Training users)

  • Makes sure that refresh window aligns with Salesforce release window

  • For each sandbox

    • Salesforce sandbox refreshes take time - It is a function of amount of configuration and metadata it contains

    • Determine a window for running sandbox refresh - this could take around 2 days

    • During this window the sandbox won’t be available

    • Type of sandbox determines how often it can be refreshed:

      • Developer, Developer Pro - 1 day
      • Partial Copy - 5 days
      • Full Copy - 29 days

    • Refreshing the sandbox will delete all that metadata (that is not yet committed in to Production)

3. Sandbox Refresh Communication

- Communicate early and often about the Sandbox Refresh
  • Use custom metadata types (mdt) in production, so they’re easily modified
    • Use custom settings and/or custom metadata types to specify email addresses, integration endpoints, etc.
      • modify these values post-refresh
      • Have 2 records per metadata type—one for production and one for sandboxes
        • Apex classes can then use the IsSandbox property to dynamically choose which metadata type to use at runtime. 
        SELECT IsSandbox FROM Organization LIMIT 1
        isSandbox

4. Create a Post-refresh Checklist

  • After refreshing a sandbox take care of removing production endpoints
  • SandboxPostCopy to extend this interface and add methods to perform post-copy tasks, then specify the class during sandbox creation.
    global class PrepareMySandbox implements SandboxPostCopy {
 
    global PrepareMySandbox() {
        //Implementations of SandboxPostCopy must have a no-arg constructor.
        //This constructor is used during the sandbox copy process.
        //You can also implement constructors with arguments, but be aware that
        //they won’t be used by the sandbox copy process (unless as part of the
        //no-arg constructor).
        this(some_args);
    }
 
    global PrepareMySandbox(String some_args) {
        //Logic for constructor.
    }
    
    global void runApexClass(SandboxContext context) {
        System.debug('Org ID: ' + context.organizationId());
        System.debug('Sandbox ID: ' + context.sandboxId());
        System.debug('Sandbox Name: ' + context.sandboxName());
 
        // Insert logic here to prepare the sandbox for use.
    }
}

5. Take care of configuration data (not metadata)

- Import it using the Data Loader or Import Wizard.
- Some AppExchange apps use custom object for the configuration. When we create a new sandbox that does not include data, these apps will not work after the sandbox refresh. 
- For master-detail relationships - insert the parent records before any child records

References