Is there a way to automatically reset a sandbox environment?

[adedapo]

Hello community,

Is there a way to schedule an automatic reset of sandbox environments?

We would like to have these environments reset on a monthly basis.

Thanks

[joe_hannes_col]

Hello @adedapo,

One way to automate Power Platform related tasks is through Power Automate. For example, you could use the Power Platform for Admins connector to manipulate environments. However, there is no built-in command to reset environments. Instead you could delete the old sandbox environments on a schedule and then create new ones.

Would that help?

[adedapo]

Thanks, @joe_hannes_col 
You have any ideas on our to manage users and pemissions whenever a sandbox is created?

[joe_hannes_col · Accepted solution]

Hello @adedapo,

Before answering your last question: there is a PowerShell command to reset sandbox environments.

However, if you want to keep your users and permissions, I would suggest another approach, because any business units, teams etc. you set up will be removed when you reset the environment.

Instead, I would suggest to:

• Create a new environment (e.g. adedapoDev) and configure security as required
• Next, you would have 2 options:
  1. Use adedapoDev as a template environment that you use to create new environments
  2. Use adedapoDev as your dev environment that you reset every week

In the case of option 1, you would:

• Create a manual backup of adedapoDev every time you want to create a new dev environment
• Use this backup to restore adedapoDev to a new environment, e.g. adedapoDev2
• If you want, you can then delete adedapoDev2 after one week and repeat the process to create adedapoDev3

In the case of option 2, you would:

• Create a manual backup of your environment at the beginning (or end) of each week. This backup will be retained for up to 7 days.
• Develop and test in adedapoDev
• Briefly before your backup is deleted, restore the backup into the same environment (adedapoDev), thereby resetting it to the state when the backup was created.

I think these two approaches would be better than actually resetting the environment. If you want to automate and schedule this process, you could use either PowerShell or DevOps.