FAQ for Data Cloud Sandbox (GA)
A sandbox is a copy of your Salesforce org that you can use for development, testing, and training, without compromising the data and applications in your production org. Data Cloud can soon be provisioned in your core sandbox to build and test your instance before deployment.
To help you prepare, here’s a list of frequently asked questions.
All Data Cloud metadata and configurations from the production org are replicated in the sandbox org.
Changes to Data Cloud configurations or new implementations can be made within the sandbox.
Data and authentication information aren’t replicated; connections must be reconfigured.
Purchase the new Data Cloud Sandbox SKUs.
Create a new sandbox or refresh an existing one, then enable Data Cloud in the sandbox and reauthenticate the connections.
No, Data Cloud must first be enabled in production.
No, a full Data Cloud metadata instance is provisioned in existing sandbox types as part of the Salesforce Platform sandbox functionality. A sandbox is an independent instance from the production environment. Previously, Data Cloud wasn’t supported and was hidden in sandboxes. Now that Data Cloud in Sandbox is generally available, Data Cloud works as part of the sandboxes you can create today.
Data Cloud is supported in all sandbox types: Developer, Developer Pro, Partial Copy, and Full Copy.
No, you must refresh existing sandboxes to get Data Cloud working in Sandbox. Newly created sandboxes after purchasing DC Sandbox SKUs will get Data Cloud in Sandbox automatically.
After you create a new sandbox, navigate to Data Cloud Setup and click Get Started to provision Data Cloud in the sandbox. Your configurations from the production org are automatically replicated to the sandbox org. After you provision Data Cloud in the sandbox, navigate to Data Cloud Setup and click Connectors to re-authenticate the connections and bring data in.
Data Cloud customers have the ability to deploy changes from sandbox to production now through Data Kit and Change Sets, CLI, or DevOps Center.
Data Cloud in sandbox works the same as Data Cloud in production. The sandbox org may have its own limits based on the type, but Data Cloud will be functional with the same limits as in production.
Yes. Data Cloud usage in sandboxes will consume sandbox-level credits and multipliers which will match your production-level SKUs. These will cover the same categories: Data Service, Storage, and Segmentation and Activation. For clarity, Data Cloud will be accessible in platform sandboxes, so customers can also buy additional sandboxes (full, partial, dev pro) for dedicated Data Cloud testing.
Yes, beta customers can continue to use Data Cloud in sandboxes, but they won’t be able to create new ones until they acquire Data Cloud in sandbox.
Beta instances will remain on for 8 weeks. Starting January 1st, we will begin de-provisioning Data Cloud in those sandboxes if the customer doesn’t purchase the Data Cloud Sandbox SKUs.
Yes, the same number of data spaces will be replicated. if a customer has 3 data spaces in production, they will get 3 in sandboxes.
Yes, each sandbox gets a new Data Cloud datalake/instance, and they are always 1 to 1 and independent from others.
No, once we go GA, you cannot create new sandboxes with Data Cloud. Customers must purchase the DC Sandbox SKUs to enable Data Cloud provisioning in sandboxes post-GA.
You can find the supported feature table in the Data Cloud Sandbox help documentation.
Data Mask will not work on Data Cloud data as of now, but will continue to mask core data. However, the masked data from core will continue to be masked in Data Cloud if ingested. As a reminder, Data Cloud will not copy any actual data from Production to Sandbox, customers will need to re-authenticate those connections to ingest data into Data Cloud.
Yes, the new DC Sandbox Cards will show up in the Digital Wallet.
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Written by
William Yeh
William Yeh is a Senior Director of Product Management at Salesforce on the Data Cloud team, where he leads platform integration and extensibility initiatives. He is passionate about building SaaS and data platforms, and empowering admins and developers.