Sandbox Presets
Every track has a sandbox definition attached to it. A sandbox is a self-contained environment using actual products to match real-world scenarios. Learn more about sandboxes.
Sandbox Presets are sandbox definitions that are created separately from a track. A preset can then be reused for multiple tracks.
There are two main use cases for Sandbox Presets:
- Standardize your sandbox definitionsMake it easier for content creators to build new tracks, without having to recreate the same sandbox definition over and over again. By using a Sandbox Preset, you only have to create the challenges and not worry about the sandbox definition.Additionally, this enables easier lifecycle management for sandbox definitions. Instead of having to update many tracks, just update a single preset.
- Create shared Hot Start poolsHot Start pools are a great way to make sure a sandbox is available instantaneously when your users need it. With Sandbox Presets, you can create hot start pools that are shared across multiple tracks. This will allow for enabling hot start for many more tracks at a lower cost. Learn more about Shared Hot Start pools.
Sandbox Presets can contain the same resources as a normal track can:
- containers,
- virtual machines,
- website services
- cloud accounts (AWS, Azure, GCP),
- secrets.
Unlike tracks though, a Sandbox Preset can not be started on its own, but first needs to be connected to one or more tracks. Presets can be seen as a building block for tracks.
Because Sandbox Presets can be used in many tracks, updating a preset might be a risky change. Therefore when editing a preset, it will result in a draft version. Draft versions are not automatically used by tracks, but first need to be explicitly published. Only when the version is published, new track starts will use the new definition.
When updating a preset, make sure to keep the preset backwards compatible, i.e. don't remove or change behavior of the preset, like removing a host or removing installed software/packages. Tracks may depend on hosts or specific software to be available.
When you have to make backwards incompatible changes, it's best to create a new preset, and update tracks to use the new preset. This way you prevent tracks from breaking.
Last modified 1mo ago