692b8425b9
## Description Fix issues found by screaming frog - Use https:// for links - Add missing cookies page back - Add missing alt-text - Use dashes instead of underscores for better search engine indexing - Fix internal redirects ## Does this PR need a docs update or release note? - [x] ⛔ No ## Type of change - [x] 🐛 Bugfix
88 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
88 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
---
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slug: m365-sandbox-setup
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title: "Setting up your own Microsoft 365 sandbox"
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description: "Getting started with a Microsoft 365 sandbox in under 10 minutes for development and testing purposes"
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authors: nica
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tags: [corso, microsoft 365]
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date: 2022-12-09
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image: ./images/ar_sandbox.jpg
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---
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When trying to set up a Microsoft 365 sandbox domain myself I found some of the documentation out of date,
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so this is a quick guide to setting up a sandbox domain for Microsoft 365 development.
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## Why would you want to do this?
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I personally needed this for recording a screencast of the process to install Corso.
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While recording myself going through permission settings in M365,
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I didn’t want to unintentionally reveal PII for my team members or other sensitive data.
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Another reason to do this is if you’re looking to level up both your skills and
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want to experiment with being the admin in your own space
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rather than impacting other users on a production domain. It’s also a good step to experiment with [owning your own identity](https://corsobackup.io/blog/your-own-backups/).
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<!-- truncate -->
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Finally, this might also be useful if you are developing an M365 app. This way, programmatic
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updates to your domain can’t accidentally destroy anything important.
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## 1) Join the Microsoft 365 developer program
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To get access to the free hosting required for your sandbox domain,
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you’ll need to [join the M365 Developer Program](https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/dev-program).
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This process is quite straightforward and fairly foolproof.
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> Note that when you go to set this up the first time, you may find that your Microsoft Account isn’t fully set up.
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> For example on my account I didn’t have a full name set on my profile. You’ll be prompted to add this info if needed
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You’ll also be asked for the following info:
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- Contact Email
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- Country/Region
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- Company
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As far as I know, no answers to these questions will disqualify you, but let me know if any answers kick you out of the process!
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Notably, one piece of extant documentation implies you need a Visual Studio subscription to join the Developer Program,
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but, currently, it looks like anyone with a Microsoft account, even just a personal account, can get access.
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## 2) Create an instant sandbox
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After joining the developer program and signing in to the developer dashboard, you’ll be prompted to set up a sandbox
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While you can configure a custom sandbox domain to control the exact components installed,
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for the use cases mentioned above an instant sandbox will work just fine.
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The pre-made sandbox also comes pre-populated with data like user accounts. Of note,
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you can decide during setup if you want to set all the passwords for these accounts to be the same as the admin.
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*Your sandbox comes pre-populated with user accounts*
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## 3) Limitations of the sandbox
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Notably, by default, there won’t be the following data in your sandbox:
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- Emails
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- Teams chat history
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- Calendar events
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Your sandbox also includes a free Microsoft 365 E5 developer sandbox subscription with 25 user licenses, and that’s awesome,
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but it doesn’t work like a production instance.
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Remember that you want to set up your sandbox when you’re ready to use it.
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The data is persistent but it’s wiped after 90 days.
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Also, you can’t just do whatever you want with this instance, it’s for development and testing purposes only.
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Commercial transactions, including purchasing paid services, aren't supported.
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## 4) Next steps
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To learn more about populating your domain with dummy data, see
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[developer sandbox demo data](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/developer-program/install-sample-packs)
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to create users, email, calendar events, and other dummy data for testing.
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And if you want one more thing to try out with a sandbox domain, check out [Corso](https://corsobackup.io/),
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a free and open-source backup tool. The sandbox is a great place to try it out!
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