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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived) / Managing CRM Online In...
Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Archived)

Managing CRM Online Instances - Copying Production to Sandbox

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Posted on by tarun godhwani 205

Hi Everyone,

We have the following instances within our environment.

  • Production  - 8.0 CRM 2016 Update
  • Sandbox - 8.1 (CRM Update 1)
  • Development - 8.2 (Dynamics 365)

We will have to update our Production instance (mandatory) and we will be moving to Dynamics 365 (8.2).

We were thinking of the following approach.

  1. Do a full copy of Production over to Sandbox - this ensures both the instances have the same customisations as well as our users testing with current / relevant data
  2. Update Sandbox to Dynamics 365 (8.2)
  3. Test and ensure everything works well in Sandbox
  4. Update Production to Dynamics 365 (8.2).

The question I have is, what is the best practice for step 1 i.e. should we do a full copy or should we export the solution from Production and import into Sandbox? I'm skeptical of the latter option as we may run into issues when importing the solution into Sandbox. Also, what happens in the event we have different fields / customisations in Sandbox (compared to Production)? Would the second option overwrite the custom fields or would the customisations be merged?

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Tarun

*This post is locked for comments

  • Community Member Profile Picture
    Community Member on at
    RE: Managing CRM Online Instances - Copying Production to Sandbox

    I recently performed a full copy of Production to the Sandbox.  The result was not good.  We are limited to 2 instances, Dev and Prod.  

    After performing a full copy from Prod to Dev, I discovered that all of the customized stuff (e.g., form, fields, work flows, etc.), all were in a managed state.   The versioned solution, that was being used previously was gone.  That was not acceptable.  I restored the Dev instance to recover the customized stuff and the versioned solution.

    If someone knows of a way to perform a full copy without losing those items I would love to hear about it.  Now, I am seeking a "best way" to export all data from Prod to Dev and be assured of completeness.

  • Suggested answer
    M I Mostafa Profile Picture
    M I Mostafa 4,257 on at
    RE: Managing CRM Online Instances - Copying Production to Sandbox

    Hi Tarun,

    My first comment is that I agree with your 4 step approach. It seems sensible and efficient.

    To answer each one of your questions:

    1) should we do a full copy or should we export the solution from Production and import into Sandbox?

    MM: I would recommend a full copy instead of a solution only.

    2) what happens in the event we have different fields / customisations in Sandbox (compared to Production)? Would the second option overwrite the custom fields or would the customisations be merged?

    MM: You will be exporting an unmanaged solution from Production so upon importing this to your Sandbox, the fields will merge and no fields will be deleted. However, if there are dependencies that don't exist etc., you may need to remove them or make sure you bring in a complete solution with all dependencies from production to Sandbox.

    Hope this helps! Please mark as verified answer if this response has helped you.

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