Provisioning the IBM Cloud Sandbox

The solution uses the IBM Cloud Catalog service to ensure a unified and consistent approach.

Pre-requisite

Ensure that you add access policies and grant administrator-level access to the following services:

  • All Identity and Access–enabled services
  • All Account Management services
  • Cloud Sandbox

Creating a Sandbox instance

Only one sandbox is allowed per allowlisted customer account.

  1. Navigate to the IBM Cloud catalog and search for the Sandbox offering.

    Sandbox - Catalog page
    Sandbox - Catalog page

  2. In the Create tab, provide the following information under Details:

    • Sandbox name - Name of the sandbox instance.

    • Region - Region where the instance is provisioned.

    You will not be able to change the region once selected during the provisioning.

    • Resource group - Name from your IBM Cloud account where the Sandbox resource will be deployed.

    • Tags (optional) - Use the tags to organize your resources.

    Sandbox - Create
    Sandbox - Create

  3. In the Users section, you can select users from your account. For more information, see Creating a user.

  4. Accept the terms and conditions, click Create Sandbox.

Sandbox account is provisioned now. This includes a 14-day trial period with a 2 days (48 hours) extension. User access is limited to the region selected during provisioning.

Accessing Sandbox

The Sandbox instance is displayed in the Resource list. To access the Sandbox environment:

  1. Click on the Sandbox instance name in the Resource list.

  2. Select the trusted profile in the account switcher.

  3. Click on the link in the welcome email.

    Sandbox - Resource list
    Sandbox - Resource list

Creating resources in the Sandbox environment

You can create virtual servers or bare metal servers along with other VPC services.

  1. On the Sandbox Overview page, click Create resources.

  2. To select from all the available images, click Change image. To select from all the available profiles, click Change profile.

  3. Under Additional services, you can enable and customize the services.

    • IBM Cloud Object Storage
    • Load Balancer
    • VPN for VPC
    • Transit Gateway

  4. Accept the terms and conditions, click Create resources.

Once resources hss been created, you can view them from the Resource list.

Additional offerings

IBM Cloud Object Storage

A highly scalable and durable storage solution designed for unstructured data. You can use this service to:

  • Store and retrieve large amounts of data such as images, videos, documents, and backups.
  • Archive data for long-term retention with cost-effective storage tiers.

You can create a IBM Cloud Object Storage (COS) instance either from the IBM Cloud UI or through the Sandbox Overview page.

  1. IBM Cloud UI - Refer Creating a service instance topic.

  2. Sandbox Overview page: All steps remain the same mentioned in Creating a service instance topic, but when selecting a resource group, you can either choose Default or any available resource group.

The supported capacity for IBM Cloud Object Storage for Sandbox is 1 instance.

Learn more

Load Balancer

An intelligent traffic distribution service that improves application availability and performance. You can use this service to:

  • Distribute incoming traffic across multiple servers to avoid overloading any single one.

  • Improve response times by directing users to the nearest or least-loaded server.

You can create a load balancer either from the IBM Cloud UI or through the Sandbox Overview page.

  1. IBM Cloud UI - Refer Creating a load balancer topic.

  2. Sandbox Overview page: All steps remain the same mentioned in Creating a load balancer topic, but when selecting a resource group, you can either choose Default or any available resource group.

The supported capacity for Load Balancer for Sandbox is 1.

Learn more

VPN for VPC

A secure Virtual Private Network solution that provides encrypted connectivity to your Virtual Private Cloud environment. You can use this service to:

  • Establish secure, encrypted connections from your on-premises network or remote locations to your VPC resources.

  • Access private resources in your Sandbox environment without exposing them to the public.

  • Enable remote team members to access sandbox resources safely.

You can create a load balancer either from the IBM Cloud UI or through the Sandbox Overview page.

  1. IBM Cloud UI - Refer Setting up VPC VPN connectivity topic.

  2. Sandbox Overview page: All steps remain the same mentioned in Setting up VPC VPN connectivity topic, but when selecting a resource group, you can either choose Default or any available resource group.

The supported capacity for VPN for VPC for Sandbox is 1 instance.

By default, the VPN mode selected is Split-tunnel. For more information, see Split tunnel.

Learn more

Transit Gateway

A centralized network hub that simplifies connectivity between different network environments. You can use this service to:

  • Seamlessly connect Classic Infrastructure and VPC resources within your Sandbox.

  • Scale your network connections as your Sandbox environment grows.

You can create a load balancer either from the IBM Cloud UI or through the Sandbox Overview page.

  1. IBM Cloud UI - Refer Creating a transit gateway topic.

  2. Sandbox Overview page: All steps remain the same mentioned in Creating a transit gateway topic, but when selecting a resource group, you can either choose Default or any available resource group.

The supported capacity for Transit Gateway for Sandbox is 1.

Learn more

For more information on Sandbox quota limits see Sandbox quota limits.

Supported actions

Following are the supported actions available on the Sandbox Oveview page:

  • Extend the Sandbox trial
  • End the Sandbox early
  • Save the configuration

Extending Sandbox

You can optionally extend the Sandbox trial for 2 days (48 hours) by clicking on Extend Sandbox. You will get an email confirming extension was granted and the countdown banner will increase by 2 days.

End Sandbox

You can optionally end the Sandbox trial any time by clicking End Sandbox. If you do so, the account will be suspended and you will not be able to access the resources you have created.

It is recommended to save the configuration, so that you can easily replicate your setup in your own account.

Save configuration

The Sandbox environment configuration can be downloaded as a Terraform packaging by clicking on Save configuration. For more information, see Save configuration topic.