SANDBOX OVERVIEW

Sandbox:

Salesforce gives you the ability to create multiple copies of your organization in separate environments for a variety of purposes, such as testing and training, without compromising the data and applications in your Salesforce production organization. These copies are called sandboxes and are nearly identical to your Salesforce production organization.

Sandboxes are completely isolated from your Salesforce production organization, so operations you perform in your sandboxes do not affect your Salesforce production organization, and vice versa.

The sandbox types are:

Configuration Only Sandbox

Configuration-only sandboxes copy all of your production organization's reports, dashboards, price books, products, apps, and customizations under Your Name | Setup, but exclude all of your organization's standard and custom object records, documents, and attachments. Creating a configuration-only sandbox can decrease the time it takes to create or refresh a sandbox from several hours to just a few minutes, but it can only include up to 500 MB of data. You can refresh a configuration-only sandbox once per day.

Developer Sandbox

Developer sandboxes are special configuration-only sandboxes intended for coding and testing by a single developer. Multiple users can log into a single developer sandbox, but their primary purpose is to provide an environment in which changes under active development can be isolated until they’re ready to be shared. Just like configuration-only sandboxes, developer sandboxes copy all application and configuration information to the sandbox. Developer sandboxes are limited to 10 MB of test or sample data, which is enough for many development and testing tasks. You can refresh a developer sandbox once per day.

Full Sandbox

Full sandboxes copy your entire production organization and all its data, including standard and custom object records, documents, and attachments. You can refresh a full-copy sandbox every 29 days.

Sandbox Limits:

The following limits apply to sandboxes:

• You can refresh a full sandbox 29 days after you created or last refreshed it. If you delete a full sandbox, you must wait 29 days to replace it.
• You can refresh a configuration-only sandbox (including a developer sandbox) once per day.
• You can order up to a maximum of three full sandboxes.
• You can order up to a maximum of six configuration-only sandboxes.
• Enterprise Edition includes one developer sandbox.
• Unlimited Edition includes one full sandbox with the option to purchase up to three more full sandboxes.

Sandbox Retention Policy:

Unactivated Sandboxes

New sandboxes that aren’t activated within 30 days will be deleted. Users who have created or most recently refreshed anysandbox for your organization will get at least two email notifications before we schedule the sandbox for deletion.

Locked Sandboxes

Sandboxes that have been locked for 60 days will be deleted. Users who have created or most recently refreshed any sandboxfor your organization will be notified prior to scheduling the sandbox for deletion. They will get at least three email notifications over 30 days. Sandboxes become locked when all the licenses for that type of sandbox expire.

Unused Sandboxes

Sandboxes that no one has logged into for 180 days will be deleted. Users who have created or most recently refreshed anysandbox for your organization will be notified prior to scheduling the sandbox for deletion. They will get at least three email notifications over 30 days. To keep a sandbox active and avoid email notifications, log in periodically.

Managing Sandbox:

To manage your sandboxes, click Your Name | Setup | Data Management | Sandbox. A list of your existing sandboxes displays.

• Click New Sandbox. For information on different kinds of sandboxes
  Salesforce deactivates the New Sandbox button when an organization reaches its sandbox limit. If necessary, contactsalesforce.com to order more sandboxes for your organization.
  Note that Salesforce deactivates all refresh links if you have exceeded your sandbox limit.
• Click Show Sandbox Refreshes to see a log of your sandbox refresh history, including when sandboxes were created and who created them.
• Click Refresh to replace an existing sandbox with a new copy. Salesforce only displays the Refresh link for sandboxes that are eligible for refreshing. For full-copy sandboxes, this is any time after 29 days from the previous creation or refresh of that sandbox. For configuration-only sandboxes (including developer sandboxes), you can refresh once per day. Your existing copy of this sandbox remains available while you wait for the refresh to complete. The refreshed copy is inactive until you activate it.
• Click Activate to activate a refreshed sandbox. You must activate your refreshed sandbox before you can access it. Salesforceonly displays this option for sandboxes that are not activated.
• Click Del to delete a sandbox. If you delete a sandbox, you must wait 29 days before replacing it with a new full-copy sandbox, or one day before you can replace it with another configuration-only sandbox.
• Click Login to log in to a sandbox. Salesforce only displays this option for active sandboxes.
  Note that the Login button is for administrators and may not always be available; however, you can log into an active sandbox at https://test.salesforce.com by entering your modified username and password. 
• Click on a sandbox name to view details about the sandbox, including the sandbox type and when it was created.