Add an instance to your subscription

  • Article

Applies To: CRM Online

[This topic is pre-release documentation and is subject to change in future releases.]

You can add production and non-production (Sandbox) instances to a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online subscription. Each new instance creates a separate organization that can be used by different departments, locations, or for non-production purposes such as development. For more information on the instance types available to you, see Microsoft Dynamics CRM pricing and licensing.

Purchase the CRM Online instance on the Microsoft online services portal Purchase subscriptions page. Additional storage and instances can be purchased by customers who have a paid Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Professional user license subscription.

You must have the Microsoft Office 365 Global administrator to do these tasks. For more information, see Assigning administrator roles.

In This Topic

What information do I need to create an instance?

Add an additional instance

What is the effect of an additional instance on storage?

Control user access to instances: security groups and licenses

What information do I need to create an instance?

When you add an instance, you can accept the default values, or enter different values to create a CRM Online instance.

  • Name. This is typically the name of your organization and is displayed in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application.

  • URL. The URL is used to construct the URL for users to sign-in to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application. Therefore, we recommend that you limit the length of URL name to reduce the overall length of the URL.

  • Purpose. This value is used to associate the instance with a specific intent and is only displayed in the instance picker, which is accessed through the CRM Online Administration Center. For example, if this instance is for exclusive use by your sales and marketing departments you can enter Contoso Sales and Marketing or if the instance is for development and for testing purposes enter a relevant name such as Contoso Development.

  • Security Group. This value is used to determine the Microsoft Online Services security group that includes the users who will have access to this instance of CRM Online. For more information, see Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online user licenses and security groups.

    Important

    If you do not specify a security group, all users associated with the subscription who have a CRM Online license will be added to the new instance.

  • Country/Region. You can specify a region for the instance.

    Note

    To request the ability to create Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instances (production and non-production) in more than one geographical region, please contact your account manager or Help & Training: Technical Support.

  • Currency. When you add an instance, you must select a base currency before the instance is provisioned. Although you can add currencies in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application, only the base currency will be used for reporting.

    Warning

    Once set, the base currency cannot be changed.

Add an additional instance

The following steps apply to customers who do not purchase using volume licensing. Volume license customers should see: Volume Licensing: Online Services.

Step 1: Purchase the additional instance

  1. Sign in to the Office 365 admin center as an Office 365 Global administrator. In the navigation pane, choose Purchase Services.

  2. Hover over your Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online subscription, and then choose Change license quantity.

  3. Under optional add-ons, enter the number of instances that you want, and then proceed through the order process.

    You can choose to add production or non-production (Sandbox) instances. For more information, see Microsoft Dynamics CRM pricing and licensing.

Tip

Close your CRM Online browser session and open a new session to force an update to the Manage all CRM Online instances page.

Step 2: Configure the additional instance

  1. Browse to the Office 365 admin center and sign in using Office 365 Global administrator credentials.

  2. Click Admin > CRM.

  3. Choose the Instances tab.

  4. Select the instance that you want to configure, and then choose Configure.

    Tip

    If the instance does not appear in the list or is in a state other than ready to configure, wait a few minutes and then try again. Or, close your CRM Online browser session and open a new session to force an update to the Manage all CRM Online instances page.

    You cannot start a new CRM Online instance until you click or tap Configure and complete the configuration process.

    CRM Online instances will not come prepared with sample data when configured by an Office 365 Global administrator who does not have a CRM Online license. Sample data may be added later, after the instance is configured and ready to use, by a CRM Online licensed user who has the Microsoft Dynamics CRM System administrator security role. For more information, see Help & Training: Add or remove sample data.

  5. On the configure new instance page, enter your settings, and then choose Next.

  6. On the Confirm some details page, verify that the country/region and currency displayed are correct. Although you can add currencies in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application, only the base currency will be used for reporting.

    Warning

    After a base currency is selected it cannot be changed.

    After you have verified that the base currency is correct, choose Finish.

  7. Once your instance is set up, make note of the URL and click or tap it to launch CRM Online. Prepare the instance for users by assigning security roles, creating teams, customizing, and importing data. More information: Get started administering Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Administering CRM 2015 for online and on-premises.

What is the effect of an additional instance on storage?

When you add a new CRM Online instance, the new instance and any existing instances will consume the existing storage that is available to the account. Be aware that, when you reach the storage limit all CRM Online instances associated with the account will go into a read-only state. Warnings will be communicated when storage is near capacity.

Control user access to instances: security groups and licenses

If your company has multiple CRM Online instances, you can use security groups to control which licensed users can be a member of a particular instance.

Consider the following example scenario:

Instance Security Group Purpose

Coho Winery Sales

Sales_SG

Provide access to the organization that creates sales opportunities, handles quotes, and closes deals.

Coho Winery Marketing

Marketing_SG

Provide access to the organization that drives marketing efforts through marketing campaigns and advertising.

Coho Winery Service

Marketing_SG

Provide access to the organization that processes customer cases.

Coho Winery Dev

Developer_SG

Provide access to the Sandbox instance used for development and testing.

In this example, four security groups provide controlled access to a specific organization.

Note the following about security groups:

  • When users are added to the security group, they are added to the CRM instance.

  • When users are removed from the group, they are disabled in the CRM instance.

  • When a security group is associated with an existing instance with users, all users in the instance that are not members of the group will be disabled.

  • If a CRM instance does not have an associated security group, all users with a CRM license will be created as users and enabled in the instance.

  • If a security group is associated with an instance, only users with CRM licenses that are members of the instance security group will be created as users in the CRM instance.

  • When you remove a security group that is associated with a CRM Online instance, either by editing the instance and removing the security group or by deleting the security group, CRM Online licensed users who were members of the security group will have the same access to CRM Online.

Note

All licensed users, whether or not they are members of the security groups, must be assigned Microsoft Dynamics CRM security roles to access CRM Online. You assign the Microsoft Dynamics CRM security roles in the CRM Online web application. Users can’t access instances of CRM Online until they are assigned at least one security role for that instance. More information: Grant users access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online as a Microsoft Online service.

Create a security group and add members to the security group

  1. Sign in to the Office 365 admin center.

  2. Choose Groups.

  3. Choose Add (+).

  4. In Create security group, add the Group name and Description. Choose Create.

  5. Choose Edit members > Add member, type in the name of users to add to the group, and then choose Add > Close.

  6. To remove a user from the security group, select the security group, choose edit members, select a user, choose Remove from group > Yes.

Note

If the users you want to add to the security group are not created, create the users and assign to them the CRM Online licenses.

To add multiple users, see: bulk add users to Office365 groups.

Create a user and assign license

  1. In the Office 365 admin center, choose Users > Active users > Add (+). Enter the user information, select licenses, and then choose Create.

    More information: Add users individually to Office 365 - Admin Help

Associate a security group with a Microsoft Dynamics CRM instance

  1. In the Office 365 admin center, choose Admin > CRM.

  2. Choose the Instances tab, select an instance, and then choose Edit.

  3. In security settings, search for a specific security group, and then choose Save > Save.

Tip

To force an immediate synchronization between the Office 365 admin portal and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, do the following:

  • Sign out of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and the Office 365 admin portal.

  • Close all open browsers used for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and the Office 365 admin portal.

  • Sign back in to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and the Office 365 admin portal.

See Also

Concepts

Edit properties of an instance
Manage CRM Online Sandbox instances
Grant users access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online as a Microsoft Online service
Manage subscriptions, licenses, and user accounts

Other Resources

Free non-production instances and free storage in Dynamics CRM Online 2013

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