Make A Duplicate of Dynamics365 Environment
There are occasions where you want to create a duplicate of your Dynamics365 environment. Perhaps to create a training environment or a development sandbox.
Creating a duplicate of the Dynamics environment is a two step process
create an environment
restore a back up of the main environment into the new environment created in step 1
Applies to:
Dynamics365 Online
Prerequisites:
Environment to restore the duplicate to.
Admin Role in M365
Create An Environment
We need to create an environment to hold the new duplicate. It may be that you already have this available, if not, then create a new environment.
Navigate to https://admin.powerplatform.com
Select Environments and Press NEW
3. In the pop-out entry form, provide a name for the new environment and select the type as SandBox.
Also check the option to Create Database
4. Select your Dynamics 365 Apps to deploy to this environment and press Save
5. The Environment will be deployed (provided that you have enough capacity/storage space). You can check the progress back on the main environments list.
Restore A Backup
To restore a backup, head to the admin.powerplatform.com webpage and select environments. Next to the environment you would like to duplicate, select the context menu and select Backup > Restore or Manage.
Next select the Date and Time you would like to restore. Dynamics 365 creates auto backups every 30 minutes, so select the backup closest to your desired duplication time. Then press Continue
After a few moments, you will be presented with the Restore Backup pop-up pane.
NOTE: THIS ACTION WILL OVERWRITE THE TARGET/SELECTED ENVIRONMENT - ALL DATA WILL BE LOST
Select the environment that you had previously created for this sandbox and press restore.
After a few moments the environment will be restored to the new environment and available to the users.
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