Business Central: How to Copy Environments

Creating a Copy of an Existing Environment in Business Central

You can create an environment that mirrors an existing one, such as a sandbox based on a production environment for troubleshooting, or vice versa. When you replicate an environment, the new one is created with the same application version as the original. All per-tenant and AppSource extensions installed in the original environment will be included in the new one. However, any linked Power Platform environments will not be copied, and the new environment will not be linked to any Power Platform environment.

Steps to Copy an Environment

1. Access the Business Central administration center
2. Select Environments, then choose the environment you want to copy.
3. On the Environment Details page, click on the Copy action.
4. In the Copy environment pane, specify the type of environment you want to create.
5. Name the new environment.
6. Click on the Create action.

Once the process begins, you can monitor the status of the new environment in the list of your environments. Initially, it will show as "Preparing" and will change to "Active" when fully set up. Detailed status updates can be found on the Operations page. The original environment remains active during this process.

Important Considerations

• Sandbox environments with Preview versions of AppSource apps cannot be copied to a Production environment. Ensure that Preview apps are updated to Public versions or uninstalled before copying.

Automatic Changes and Settings in the New Environment

• Tasks in the job queue are stopped: Check the Scheduled Tasks page to decide which jobs to restart.
• Base application integration settings are cleared
• Irreversible features enabled in the original environment will also be active in the copy.
• Development extensions from AL-Go for GitHub or Azure DevOps are uninstalled if the source is a sandbox: Data created by these extensions will not be deleted.
• Outbound HTTP calls from extensions are blocked by default: Enable these on the Extension Management page if needed.
• Privacy laws and regulations compliance actions must be repeated for the new environment
• Internal administrator responsibilities remain the same for the copy
• The following setups are disabled:
•   Document Exchange Service Setup
•   Currency Exchange Rate Update Setup
•   VAT Registration No. Service Configuration
•   Graph Mail Setup
•   CRM Connection Setup
•   CDS Connection Setup
•   All webhooks
•   All records in the Service Connection table
•   All records in the Exchange Sync table
  
   Cleared data includes
•   Passwords in the OCR Service Setup table
•   SMTP Server in SMTP Mail Setup
•   Exchange Service URL in the Marketing Setup table

Changes for First-Party Extensions and Localisations

• AMC Banking 365 Fundamentals: Service URL is reset to default for Sandbox environments.
• Email - Outlook REST API: All Microsoft 365 and Current User email accounts are deleted.
• Email - SMTP Connector: SMTP Server details are deleted.

For specific localisations:

• United Kingdom: Passwords in the GovTalk Setup table are deleted.
• Spain: SII Setup is disabled.
• Netherlands: All Digipoort related fields in the Electronic Tax Declaration Setup table are cleared.

Environment Settings

Environment settings from the admin center, including the Application Insights connection string and update window, are copied over. If you don't want the target environment to emit telemetry to the same Application Insights resource as the source, you can remove or change the connection string post-copy, or use Data Collection Rules to filter out telemetry.

By following these guidelines, you can effectively create and manage environment copies in Business Central, ensuring they meet your operational needs and compliance requirements.