Understand Production Data Copy Better with Salesforce Partial Data Sandbox Pricing
Salesforce offers different kinds of Sandboxes to meet the requirements of web developers and business development teams. When it comes to partial sandboxes, they might include business metadata and a sample of the production data of the org defined by the template of the sandbox. If you wish to create a Partial Data Sandbox for your business, you should, at the time of creating it, apply a standard sandbox template.
Understand the Partial Data Sandbox better for production data
Note that the Partial Data Sandbox is a copy of the metadata of the production org like the other features in Developer Sandbox and Developer Pro Sandbox. Besides this, the copy creation might also sample the data from the production org based on any element that has been defined in the template of the sandbox. Note that for every selected object in the templates of the sandbox, this sampling can go to 10,000 records for every sandbox. Given below is an example of the above-
If you use a Sandbox template that has accounts to create a Partial Data Sandbox, you can copy about 10,000 account records into the sandbox that has been created without the need to copy any other record for the task.
An insight into the strategy deployed for creating the Partial Data Sandbox
The copy engine of the sandbox contains a particular strategy to manage the formation of the Partial Data Sandbox. This strategy used for copy clearly understands the relationship of data that has been custom-defined in the standard of the production org along with schemas for the custom object. The copy strategy ensures that these sample records might keep some valid relationships that have been defined in the standard scheme and custom objection of the production org. For instance, if you create a sandbox template that has two custom objects that are not the same, they can be divided into two categories, like Master and Detail. These objects are the relationship of Master-Detail; however, the copy engine ensures that each of these sampled record points in Detail is connected to a corresponding Master. The copy engine might need to understand the relationship between objects like determining the Master and Detail relationship. The copy engine again will sample the master records and use the corresponding ID of them to sample the records of Details accordingly.
Not well-suited for full performance load testing
Note that when you use the Sandbox templates for creating valid subsets of data in the organization, one should use the Partial copy sandboxes for application testing, development, or for the tasks of training. However, the use of partial copy sandboxes is not recommended for load testing or testing of the full performance as they are not suited for the task.
The Salesforce partial data sandbox pricing differs as per nature and the volumes of the tasks involved. The costs depend upon the Editions that have been listed on the official website of Salesforce.com. The price depends upon the features you get in these Editions, and the costs entailed in the set-up of the licenses involved, experts say.
Salesforce Sandboxes and additional uses
If you want to explore Salesforce with innovative and fresh ideas but do not wish to tamper with your present database, using Sandboxes as spaces for testing is a smart move. With Sandboxes, you can test the development of new fields and objects or even try out changes to page layouts and workflows without the requirement to change the present configuration that you already use. However, while doing so, ensure you have a good understanding of the different sandboxes as all of them are not similar, and primarily each sandbox is a simple copy of the present database you use. They can be resorted to testing without affecting business operations.
Take the help of a Salesforce consultant if you need assistance
Generally, when an individual or business owner works with Salesforce Sandboxes, they take the guidance of consultants skilled in the field for adding new functionality to their existing database. This change is first tested in the sandbox before it is incorporated in the present live database of the business. There are different types of Sandboxes, and they differ in use and function. Besides the partial data Sandbox, you can use the following-
- Developer Sandbox- This Sandbox does not copy the records; however, it can store up to 200 MB of test records.
- Developer Pro Sandbox- This Sandbox does not copy records; however, it is capable of storing about 1 GB of data for test records.
- The Partial Sandbox- As mentioned above, you can use this sandbox for getting a sample of the present database for testing and development tasks.
- Full Sandbox- This Sandbox includes the extensive set of actual data.
Note that when you approach consultants in Salesforce Sandboxes, you will notice that the pricing for the partial data sandbox for a complete sandbox is higher than the others.
Deciding on the right sandbox to use for your needs
As stated above, the developer Sandbox is an actual copy of your production database with a similar configuration without the records. It includes user accounts, objects, field, processes for workflow and layouts for pages, etc. However, all of the above have no data. You can use them for testing innovative ideas to see their impact on the current database.
The developer sandbox is actually a configured environment that can be set up as the real database. In case you wish to test new configuration or features and have real data in hand, you need to add it manually, or you can buy a Partial or Full premium Sandbox. Here, you need to decide whether you require a few records for the task or do you need all the records available in the current live database. Experts in the field suggest that unless you have a particular need for actual data in a Sandbox, you should use the Developer sandbox for the purpose of testing.
