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Zuora Testing Environments

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Zuora Testing Environments

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Zuora environments represent private tenant access to the Zuora application, APIs, and supported integrations and payments gateways. This article describes the following information for Zuora Billing, Zuora Payments, Zuora CPQ, and Zuora Central Platform. For details about testing environments for Zuora Revenue, see Test Zuora Revenue in different environments.

Sandbox Comparisons

See the following contrasts between API Sandbox, Developer Sandbox, and Central Sandbox:

General Information

  API Sandbox Zuora Developer Sandbox Zuora Central Sandbox

Does this sound like you?

  • I just want to test soon-to-be released features.

  • I want to perform data migration functional testing for a small customer base.

  • I want to test soon-to-be released features against the settings and configuration I have in Production.

  • I want to perform unit testing/integration development and testing.

 

  • I want to test features in an isolated environment using my own data.

  • I want to perform small scale data migration functional testing to validate functionalities.

  • I want to perform bill runs timing load tests for an expected increase in volume.

  • I want to perform data migration timing tests.

Suitable for

Previewing and functional testing new Zuora features before they are released to Production.

Unit testing and Integration development and Testing

Functional testing with cloned configuration and data.

Heavy-load performance and stress testing ([with guidelines])

Not Suitable for

Performance and load testing

Performance and load testing

Testing beyond Zuora’s standard concurrent request limits and application limits.

Data Migration Testing

Yes

Suitable for less than 5,000 records

Yes

Suitable for less than 250,000 records

Yes

An example of 5,000 records would be 2500 accounts + 2500 subscriptions. 

 

 

Infrastructure Mimics Production

No

No

Yes, fully hosted on AWS.

Includes Environment Monitoring

Yes

Yes

Yes

Rollback Policy

Rollbacks are not supported on any environment. Zuora recommends that you revert changes yourself – if possible. Reverting changes are possible before posting transactions on a bill run. 

Hardware

AWS cloud

AWS cloud

AWS cloud

Location

https://apisandbox.zuora.com

https://sandbox.na.zuora.com

https://sandbox.eu.zuora.com

https://test.zuora.com

https://test.eu.zuora.com

https://test.ap.zuora.com

https://test.zuora.com

https://test.eu.zuora.com

https://test.ap.zuora.com

Supported API Authentication Schemes

OAuth 2.0 (recommended), username and password, authorization cookie, single-use tokens for CORS-enabled operations

OAuth 2.0 (recommended), username and password, authorization cookie, single-use tokens for CORS-enabled operations

OAuth 2.0 (recommended), username and password, authorization cookie, single-use tokens for CORS-enabled operations
Data Retention Invoice pdf files will be archived after three months for all sandboxes. For more information, see Zuora Data Retention Policy.

Refresh Policy

Zuora performs two types of refreshes: A refresh for a new Zuora version and a data snapshot refresh.

  API Sandbox Zuora Developer Sandbox Zuora Central Sandbox
Code base Refresh with Latest Zuora Version

Yes

Automatically refreshed approximately one week before the production release. Production releases are deployed on a weekly basis unless the scheduled date is close to the month-end.

API Sandbox is also automatically refreshed for maintenance releases.

Yes

Automatically refreshed.

Maintenance releases also occur in this environment, following the same production release schedule.

Note that release for Zuora Developer Sandbox may occur a few days prior to, or following the production release.

Yes

Automatically refreshed. Refreshes follow the API Sandbox release schedule.

Maintenance releases also occur in this environment, following the same production release schedule.

Note that release for Zuora Central Sandbox may occur a few days prior to, or following the production release.
Data Snapshot Refresh (Includes Scrubbed Data Copied from Production) No

You are responsible for loading your data, including creating user logins and global tenant settings.

On-demand. Refresh is limited to twice per month.

Scrubbed data includes user logins, emails, and global settings

On-demand. Refresh is limited to once per month.

Scrubbed data includes user logins, emails, and global settings.
Historical PDF-generated Invoices

No

You must generate PDF invoices from scratch.

No

You must generate PDF invoices from scratch.

No

You must generate PDF invoices from scratch.

 

All the data in your central (or developer sandbox, depending on the page that is updated) will be deleted during the refresh process, and the data from your production environment will be brought over to the sandbox. For CSBX, it is the full configuration and transactional data, whereas for the Developer sandbox, it is only the metadata from production that is brought over.

Scrubbed Data

The following table provides a summary of the data that is scrubbed.

  API Sandbox Zuora Developer Sandbox Zuora Central Sandbox
Commerce    
Zuora for Salesforce - 360 Sync N/A Credentials are scrubbed on the first copy. Once credentials are updated in the Developer Sandbox, it is retained on subsequent refreshes.

Credentials are scrubbed on the first copy. Once credentials are updated in the Central Sandbox, it is retained on subsequent refreshes.
Commerce Portal N/A
  • Users are removed
  • User Emails
  • Users are removed
  • User Emails
Customer Catalog N/A No information needs to be scrubbed. No information needs to be scrubbed.
Promotion Codes N/A No information needs to be scrubbed. No information needs to be scrubbed.
Billing & Payments    
Customer Account N/A Bill To and Sold To Contact information:
  • First name, Last name, and Nickname fields 
  • Work and Personal Email
  • Work, Mobile, Home and Other phone numbers, and Address fields
  • Default Payment Method plus any Electronic Payment Methods
 Bill To and Sold To Contact information:
  • First name, Last name, and Nickname fields 
  • Work and Personal Email
  • Work, Mobile, Home and Other phone numbers, and Address fields
  • Default Payment Method plus any Electronic Payment Methods
Avalara Integration N/A

Credentials are scrubbed on the first copy. Once credentials are updated in the Developer Sandbox, it is retained on subsequent refreshes.

Credentials are scrubbed on the first copy. Once credentials are updated in the Central Sandbox, it is retained on subsequent refreshes.
Notifications and Callouts N/A N/A

Settings are scrubbed after the initial Central Sandbox refresh. You must configure the notifications and callouts settings once, and they will be retained in your Central Sandbox after every subsequent refresh.

The following settings will be impacted and must be reconfigured:

  • Callout definitions
  • Callout credentials
  • Callout base URLs
  • SMTP server configuration settings
Payment Method N/A After a Zuora Developer Sandbox is provisioned, the previous payment methods are no longer available in the Developer Sandbox environment. You have to create new payment methods. After a Zuora Central Sandbox is provisioned, the previous payment methods are no longer available in the Central Sandbox environment. You have to create new payment methods.
Payment Gateway Configurations N/A

Credentials are scrubbed on the first copy. Once credentials are updated in the Developer Sandbox, it is retained on subsequent refreshes.

Credentials are scrubbed on the first copy. Once credentials are updated in the Central Sandbox, it is retained on subsequent refreshes.
Finance    
NetSuite N/A

NetSuite integration credentials

NetSuite integration credentials
Additional Add Ons    
Workflow N/A
  • User Emails
  • Scheduled Workflows are disabled
  • Authentication tokens will be re-generated
  • Historical jobs are excluded
  • SMTP Settings
  • Global Constants are not copied over. Once configured in the Developer Sandbox, they persist through subsequent refreshes.
  • User Emails
  • Scheduled Workflows are disabled
  • Authentication tokens will be re-generated
  • Historical jobs are excluded
  • SMTP Settings
  • Global Constants are not copied over. Once configured in the Central Sandbox, they persist through subsequent refreshes.
Collections (All Apps) N/A
  • Account Name
  • API Tokens
  • Usernames, Emails and Company
  • Collections Manager schedules are excluded
  • Statement Generator schedules are excluded
  • SMTP Settings
  • Account Name
  • API Tokens
  • Usernames, Emails and Company
  • Collections Manager schedules are excluded
  • Statement Generator schedules are excluded
  • SMTP Settings
Appstore Connector N/A Account Name Account Name
Tax Connector N/A
  • Seller Company Name, Address, Tax Codes
  • Credentials
  • Historical Tax Requests excluded
  • Seller Company Name, Address, Tax Codes
  • Credentials
  • Historical Tax Requests excluded
OAuth NA OAuth credentials scrubbed OAuth credentials scrubbed

Support for Zuora Features, Add-ons, Integrations

Zuora features, add-ons, and integrations are generally supported except where noted in the following table:

  API Sandbox  Zuora Developer Sandbox Zuora Central Sandbox
Notifications Yes Yes Yes
Callouts Yes Yes Yes
Single Sign-on Yes Yes Yes
Two-factor Authentication Yes Yes Yes
Reporting Yes Yes Yes
New Invoice File Generation Service Yes Yes Yes
New Quote File Generation Service Yes Yes Yes
Orders UI, including creating Orders through the UI Yes Yes Yes
Settings API Yes Yes Yes
Data Query Yes Yes Yes
Analytics Yes Yes Yes
Custom Objects Yes Yes Yes
Events and Triggers Yes Yes Yes
Add-ons and Integrations    

Zuora for Salesforce

 Yes Yes Yes
Zuora requires a 1-to-1 relationship with Salesforce for each Zuora environment.
Zuora 360 Manual, on-demand and scheduled Yes Yes
Zuora 360+ Real-Time Sync Yes Yes
Z-Suite Yes Yes Yes
Avalara Connector Yes Yes Yes
Payment Gateways Yes
Includes any gateway that is supported in production		 Yes Yes
Insights No No No
Collections Yes Yes Yes

Performance guidelines

Zuora provides the following guidelines and recommends you to contact Zuora Global Support if you plan to test over the guideline volumes within a 24 hour period.  Note that these guidelines are not the System's limits. Zuora draws up these guidelines to anticipate the increased load of the testing environments.

 

 

API Sandbox

Zuora Developer Sandbox

Zuora Central Sandbox **

API Testing

Yes

Yes

Yes
 

> 10,000 API calls

> 50,000 API calls

> 500,000 API calls

Total Data Store

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

5,000 records (upto 2,500 accounts + 2,500 subscriptions)

250,000 records (Total accounts and subscriptions)

Similar to Production (Production copy)

Data Load Testing

Yes

  

Yes
 

>5,000 records

  

> 500,000 records**

**The guidelines for Zuora Central Sandbox should be followed for your Production environment.

Mediation meter volume limits

  API Sandbox Zuora Developer Sandbox Zuora Central Sandbox**
Data File Upload
  • 10MB
  • 10K rows
  • Per file Size is not configurable.
  • Rows are configurable. 
  • Format: CSV with header, ndjson, JSON, Parquet
  • 10MB
  • 10K rows
  • Per file Size is not configurable.
  • Rows are configurable. 
  • Format: CSV with header, ndjson, JSON, Parquet
  • 20MB
  • 20K rows
  • Per file Size is not configurable.
  • Rows are configurable. 
  • Format: CSV with header, ndjson, JSON, Parquet
Streaming API
  • 1MB payload size
  • 1K rows/ each API call
  • 600 API calls/ min 
  • Format: MULTISON, Single JSON
  • 2M payload size
  • 5K rows/ each API call
  • 5,000 API calls/ min 
  • Format: MULTISON, Single Json
  • 4M payload size
  • 10K rows/ each API call 
  • 50,000 API calls/ min 
  • Format: MULTISON, Single JSON
S3 Source
  • Total Storage: Up to 5G 
  • Retention Policy: 7 days
  • Format: CSV with header, ndjson, Parquet
  • Total Storage: Up to 10G 
  • Retention Policy: 7 days
  • Format: CSV with header, ndjson, Parquet
  • Total Storage: Same as required for production
  • Retention Policy: 1 month
  • Format: CSV with header, ndjson, Parquet
S3 Target
  • Total Storage: Up to 5G 
  • Retention Policy: 7 days
  • Format: ndjson
  • Total Storage: Up to 10G 
  • Retention Policy: 7 days
  • Format: ndjson
  • Total Storage: Same as required for production
  • Retention Policy: 1 month
  • Format: ndjson
Kafka
  • 4KB single message size
  • 10K messages/ min
  • 4KB single message size
  • 20K messages/ min
  • Same as required for production
Event Store
  • Up to 5G total storage
  • 20 event stores
  • Retention Policy: 7 days
  • Up to 10G total storage
  • 20 event stores
  • Retention Policy: 7 days
  • Same as required for production
  • Retention Policy: 1 month
Deduper
  • Retention Policy: 7 days
  • Unique Key: 100K
  • Retention Policy: 7 days
  • Unique Key: 100K
  • Same as required for production
Meter creation number
  • 20 meters
  • 40 meters
  • Same as required for production
Meter run number
  • 2 runs simultaneously
  • 3 runs simultaneously
  • 5 runs simultaneously
Prefetch
  • 5 different custom object tables simultaneously prefetch
  • 5 different custom object tables simultaneously prefetch
  • Same as required for production
Audit Trail Download Size
  • 100K records
  • 100K records
  • Same as required for production
Audit Trail Sample Retention Policy
  • 7 days
  • 7 days
  • Default: 1 month
  • Configurable
**The guidelines for Zuora Central Sandbox should be followed for your Production environment.

Limits Policy

  API Sandbox Zuora Developer Sandbox Zuora Central Sandbox
Concurrent Request Limits Bounded by Policy Bounded by Policy Bounded by Policy

For additional limits on API Sandbox and Developer Sandbox environments, see Limits policy for API Sandbox and Developer Sandbox environments.

When the storage limits for records are reached, you will be prevented from creating additional records that exceed the specified limits. If API calls exceed the set limits, any subsequent API calls made within the 24-hour window will be unsuccessful. The limits for API usage in API Sandbox and Developer Sandbox environments cannot be increased. However, you can purchase a Central Sandbox environment with higher data storage limits.

If Customer’s use of the Service exceeds the usage limits in the applicable contracts or as described in this Knowledge Center article for any products provided, Customer must either purchase additional usage, if applicable, or move to the next edition of the Service. If Customer does not choose either of the options, Customer shall be considered out of compliance with such Service.

Security

  API Sandbox Zuora Developer Sandbox Zuora Central Sandbox
PCI-compliant Yes No No
SOC 1 and SOC 2-compliant Yes Yes Yes
HIPAA-compliant Yes Yes Yes
IP Whitelist Yes Yes Yes
Two-factor Authentication Yes Yes Yes

Zuora is committed to safeguarding the security, confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all physical and electronic information assets of the Company to ensure that regulatory, operational, and contractual requirements are fulfilled. Zuora's internal controls are benchmarked against industry standards such as ISO27001, ISO27018, PCI DSS Level 1, SOC 1, SOC 2 and HIPAA. Zuora Central Sandbox will be included in future ISO27001, ISO27018, PCI DSS Level 1, SOC 1, SOC 2 and HIPAA assessments starting in the fall of 2020. 

Provisioning and Refreshing Your Data

Zuora provides the following guidelines for provisioning and data refresh turnaround times for Test Environments.  We continuously strive to optimize performance and provide the best possible turnaround times for you.

When a Zuora Central Sandbox is provisioned, it will execute a data copy process that brings over a snapshot of your production data, with sensitive and PII data scrubbed. Subsequently, every data refresh request will take a new snapshot of your scrubbed production data.  In both cases, the complete snapshot of your production data are as of the date and time when the request is submitted, as the data copy process will be triggered at a time after your request is made. Note that the scheduled runs, including Bill Run and Payment Run, are not copied from your production environment to Zuora Central Sandbox during the provisioning or refreshing process.

While the data copy for most tenants can be completed within less than 3 business days, it can take longer time to complete the data copy for large tenants. In addition, the process may also take longer during the first week of a month, a peak time of data refresh requests to get a full data snapshot of the previous month.

  API Sandbox Zuora Developer Sandbox Zuora Central Sandbox
Provisioning Turnaround

Immediate with logins

2-3 business days

Includes a copy of production configuration data.

2-3 business days

Includes a copy of production data. Turn around is the best effort, and it may be longer for large size tenants.
Snapshot of Production Configuration Data None Included Included
Snapshot of Production Transactional Data None Not included Included
Snapshot Refresh Frequency None Once every 14 Days Once every 28 Days
Refresh Snapshot Requests

None

Refresh Developer Sandbox in Production

Refresh turn around time can approximately take 1-3 days, managed as best effort with larger tenants taking longer.

Refresh Central Sandbox in Production

Refresh turn around time can approximately take 1-3 days, managed as best effort with larger tenants taking longer.