Create and edit multiregional instances

  • Article

Applies To: CRM Online

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

For multinational companies with employees and customers distributed around the world, you can create and manage Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instances specific to your global regions. You can create an instance in a different region than where your CRM Online tenant resides. Local instances can provide quicker data access for users in that region. Be sure to read A multi-instance deployment to understand the features of multiple instances.

Purchase the CRM Online instance on the Microsoft online services portal Purchase subscriptions page. You must have an active Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online account to complete the purchase. Additional storage and instances can be purchased by customers who have a paid Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Professional or Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Enterprise subscription.

You must have an Office 365 Global administrator or CRM Online System administrator role to do these tasks. For more information, see Assigning admin roles.

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.

In This Topic

What information do I need to create an instance?

Create a regional instance

Configure and manage a regional instance

What information do I need to create an instance?

During the initial configuration an instance, you can accept the default values, or enter different values to create a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instance.

  • Region. Choose from the following: Asia Pacific (APAC); Europe, Middle-East, Africa (EMEA); Japan (JPN); North America (NA); Oceania (OCE); South America (LATAM).

    Tip

    To view the current data centers for your region, see Where is my data?

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

  • URL. The URL name 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. 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.

  • Instance 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 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. For more information, see Control user access to instances: security groups and licenses.

    Important

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

  • Organizational language. This language will be used for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online application.

  • Base 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.

Create a regional instance

The following steps apply to customers who do not purchase using volume licensing. Volume license customers should see: Purchase Microsoft Dynamics CRM Through Volume Licensing.

Step 1: Purchase the additional instance

  1. Global administrators sign in to the Office 365 admin center, and then, in the navigation pane, choose purchase services.

  2. Under your Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online subscription, choose Add more.

  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.

Step 2: Configure the additional instance for a region

  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.

    Important

    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.

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

    Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instances will not come prepared with sample data when configured by a 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 Add or remove sample data.

  5. On the configure new instance page, select a region for the instance.

  6. Enter the rest of your settings, including choosing a currency, and then choose Next.

    Important

    After a base currency is selected it cannot be changed.

    Although you can add currencies in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application, only the base currency will be used for reporting. To select a different currency, choose Change currency and select a different one or specify a custom currency.

  7. On the confirmation page, verify that the settings are correct and then choose Configure.

  8. On the Your Microsoft Dynamics CRM organization is ready page, choose Launch CRM Online to start Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to prepare the instance for users such as assign security roles, create teams, customize, and import data. More information: Get started administering Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Administration Guide for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

    Tip

    Note the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instance URL that is displayed on the page. You can use this URL to directly access the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instance.

Configure and manage a regional instance

To configure and manage a regional instance, you must first select your active region to be the same as the regional instance.

Select a regional instance to configure and manage

  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. From the drop-down list, select the region of the regional instance to configure. For example, to edit an instance in Japan, select the APAC region.

    Note

    If you don’t see the Your current region is: drop-down list, you don’t have any instances outside of your current region.

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

    The Edit, Copy, and Reset buttons appear when you’ve selected a regional instance matching your active region.

    Note

    • Copied instances are copied to the same region as the source instance.

    • Instances that are reset are reset to the current region.

See Also

Concepts

Edit properties of an instance
Manage CRM Online Sandbox instances
Manage Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online instances
Manage subscriptions, licenses, and user accounts

Other Resources

Free non-production instances and free storage in Dynamics CRM Online 2013
Differences between Office 365 Administrative Roles and Dynamics CRM Online Security Roles
Grant Users Access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online as a Microsoft Online Service

Send comments about this topic to Microsoft.
© 2015 Microsoft. All rights reserved.