Creating a CRM 4.0 test/training organization from your production organization and or Recovering a CRM organization database

This article will also help with the following scenarios:

• You want to move the Microsoft Dynamics CRM databases to another Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services server in the same domain. Additionally, you want to leave the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server on the existing server.
• You want to redeploy the Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployment that includes the Microsoft Dynamics CRM server within the same domain or to another domain.
• You want to move the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server or one of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM server roles. However, you want to leave the SQL Server and SQL Server Reporting Services server intact.

  Requirements

• SQL Server Management Studio
• CRM 4.0 Deployment Manager
• CRM Enterprise Server License
• CRM Deployment Administrator Permissions
• SQL Server Administrator Permissions
• An existing backup of your CRM database

Procedure

Restore SQL Database

1. On the CRM SQL Server navigate to: Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Dynamics CRM -> Deployment Manager
2. Click “Connect” to open a connection to the SQL server

    

3. Right click the “Database” folder and select “Restore Database”

    

4.  In the “To database” field enter your database name (Note: It is a best practice to name your database with a “_MSCRM” to help distinguish this database from others on that server)

    

5. Select “From Device” and click the browse button
6. Click the “Add” button and select the backup of the CRM database that you wish to restore. Click “OK” to select the backup file.

    

7. Click “OK” to accept your selections.
8. Check the “Restore” checkbox next to the Database that you wish to restore, and click the Options link in the left hand column. 
9. Check “Overwrite the existing database” and click the “OK” button to restore the backup file

    

10. Once complete you will be notified via the following screen.

Import the CRM Organization

1. On the CRM Server navigate to: Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Dynamics CRM -> Deployment Manager

     

2. With Deployment Manager open, navigate to Organizations to get a listing of the current Organizations available in CRM. 

    

3. Click the “Import Organization” link in the right hand column to start the process of importing a CRM Organization. 

    

4. On the “Import Organization Wizard” enter in the name of the SQL server, select the newly restored database and click “Next” 

    

5. Enter the name of the Organization as you want it to appear in CRM and click “Next” 

    

6. Enter the name of the SQL Reporting Server and click “Next”

    

7. Select Auto-map users and click “Next”

    

8. Make any adjustments as necessary and click “Next”

    

9. Review the requirements screen and click “Next”

    

10. Click the “Import” button to begin the import of the Organization
11. After complete click the “Finish” button to close the wizard

Additional Notes:

The import process will automatically attempt to add all the necessary Active Directory group membership for each user that listed in the CRM SystemUserBase table. This step of the process can be lengthy depending on the total number of users in your production CRM organization, and often times it may seem as if the process has hung. A simple yet manual way to monitor the status during this operation is to compare the deployment manager logs with the listing of users in the SystemUserBase table. The import process will process each user, as they are entered in the table, and will write out a log entry for each user that it has processed. The log for the deployment manager is located in:

%USERPROFILE%Application DataMicrosoftMSCRMLogscrm40dmsnapin.log

Although this process will create a separate CRM organization with a point in time snapshot of your company’s customizations as well as its data, it will not allow you to test the deployment of Rollups or other hot fixes. If you are looking to obtain this capability, you will need to setup a separate environment in which you can install a separate copy of CRM. With such a scenario, it is always important to take into consideration, the licensing ramifications of all the software involved (CRM, SQL, Windows, etc). However, if you are simply attempting to setup a duplicate environment where you can train new users or test out new customizations before introducing them into production, this procedure should fully meet your needs.

Routinely companies need the ability to utilize a training or test Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 environment that operates on a similar set of data as their Production deployment. With CRM 4.0 we can achieve this goal by making use of its multi-tenancy capabilities, or the ability to have multiple CRM Organizations. 

Additional help 

How to move the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 deployment 

Deployment Manager: Import Organization vs. Edit Organization … 

Configure a Microsoft Dynamics CRM organization for database mirroring …