Introduction to Sandbox Programs

Learn what sandbox programs are how they differ from production programs.

Introduction

A sandbox program is typically created to serve the purposes of training, running demos, enablement, or proof of concepts (POCs) and thus are not meant to carry live traffic.

A sandbox program is one of the two types of programs available in AEM Cloud Service, the other being a production program. Please refer to the document Understanding Programs and Program Types to learn more about program types.

Auto-Creation

Sandbox programs feature auto-creation. Whenever you create a new sandbox program Cloud Manager automatically:

  • Adds AEM Sites and AEM Assets as solutions in your program.
  • Sets up a project git repository with a sample project based on the AEM Project Archetype.
  • Creates a development environment.
  • Creates a non-production pipeline that deploys to the development environment.

A sandbox program will have only one development environment.

Limitations and Conditions

Because they are not meant for live traffic, sandbox programs have certain limitations and conditions on their usage, which differentiate them from production programs.

No Live Traffic

Sandbox programs are not meant to carry live traffic and are therefore not subject to AEM as a Cloud Service Commitments.

No Auto-Scaling

Environments created in a sandbox program are not configured for auto-scaling. Therefore, these environments are not suitable for performance or load testing.

No Custom Domains or IP Allow Lists

Custom domains and IP allow lists are not available in sandbox programs.

No Advanced Networking

Advanced networking features (for example, self-serve provisioning of VPN, non-standard ports, dedicated egress IP addresses, etc.) are not available in sandbox programs.

Manual AEM Updates

AEM updates are not automatically pushed to sandbox programs, but can be applied manually to the environments in your sandbox program.

  • A manual update can only be run when the targeted environment has a properly configured pipeline.
  • A manual update to either a production or staging environment will automatically update the other. The Production+Stage environment set must be on the same AEM release.

Please refer to the document AEM version updates for more details.

Please refer to the document Updating Environment to learn how to update an environment.

Hibernation and Deletion

Environments in a sandbox program are automatically hibernated after eight hours of inactivity. Sandbox environments are deleted after six continuous months of hibernation.

Please refer to Hibernating and De-hibernating Sandbox Environments for more details about how to de-hibernate environments and automatic sandbox deletion.

No Technical Support

Because a sandbox program is typically created to serve the purposes of training, running demos, enablement, or proof of concepts (POCs), technical support is not available for issues experienced in a sandbox program.

If you experience issues creating and managing your sandbox programs, this is still within the scope of technical support.

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