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

As some of you have already noticed, with Dynamics CRM Online2013, we offer a free non-production instance and free storage.  Exciting, isn’t it? If you are not aware of this offering, please read on to learn more about this and how the non-production instance and free storage tie up with your CRM application.

What are non-production instances?

Ok, let’s first begin with what non-production instances are. As the name suggests, non-production instances are add-on instances that are separate from your production instance. They are not the trial instances so they do not expire. All users in your production instances are also users in all your non-production instances, unless you want to restrict the access using a security group.

What are the pricing differences between production and non-production instances?

The pricing model is different for production and non-production instances. Non-productions are cheaper than production instances. At the moment, production instance costs $549 and non-production instance costs $150. This pricing information is subject to change.

How do I restrict access to a CRM instance with security groups?

By default, all of your users in your subscription have access to all your organizations. If you want to restrict which users can access which of your instances, you can do so using the concept of security groups.

How can I buy additional instances in CRM online?

If you are a Microsoft Office 365 Global administrator or the Microsoft Office 365 Service administrator, at any time, you can purchase additional CRM Online instance and storage on the Microsoft online services portal Purchase subscriptions page. You must have a Microsoft Office 365 account and a paid Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Professional user license subscription.

When do I get a free non-production instance?

If your CRM subscription includes 25 or more professional USLs (User Subscription Licenses), you will be granted a free non-production instance. Please not that all instances under your subscription, including the free test instance will consume the existing storage that is available to the account.

How do I know I have been granted a free non-production instance?

After you have been granted a free non-production instance, when the Administrator logs into any of instances tied to the subscription, the below message will appear in the application message bar.

Clicking Configure, will take you to the following page where you can configure your newly provisioned non-production instance.

When do I get free storage?

For every increment of 20 professional USLs (User Subscription Licenses), you will be granted 2.5 GB of free storage until your storage capacity reaches 50 GB.

How do I know I have been granted free storage?

If you are granted free storage, when the Administrator logs into any of instances tied to the subscription, the below message will appear in the application message bar.

Clicking “Show Resources”, will take you to the “Resources In Use” page as shown below.

Where can I find how many user licenses I have?

At any time you can find how many user licenses you have from the Microsoft Online Portal.

When I drop my USLs, do I lose the free storage I was granted?

Yes, when your professional USLs (User Subscription Licenses) count drops, you will be losing that piece of extra storage that you do not qualify for anymore.

I am on CRM 2011 online and I have more than 20 or 25 USLs, how can leverage these new offerings?

The simple answer is to Upgrade to CRM 2013 online! Once you upgrade, you will be granted the free additional instance and the free storage if you qualify (depending on your USL count).