--- sourceDocument: australia Combined Product Files sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/delta-zurich-australia Release : - australia ft:locale : - en-US ft:publication_title : - australia Combined Product Files ft:clusterId : - delta3az bundleId : - delta3az --- # Combined Developer Sandboxes release notes for upgrades from Zurich to Australia # Combined Developer Sandboxes release notes for upgrades from Zurich to Australia {#ariaid-title1} Release version: Australia Updated October 8, 2026 ![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 5 minutes to read Summarize ![AI sparkle icon](https://servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ai-sparkle-icon) Summarized using AI This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. ## Summary of Combined Developer Sandboxes Release Notes for Upgrades from Zurich to Australia This consolidated release notes document provides ServiceNow customers with essential information about Developer Sandboxes upgrades from the Zurich to Australia releases. It highlights new features, changes, deprecations, and important upgrade tasks to help customers manage Developer Sandboxes effectively during their upgrade process. Show full answer Show less ## Key Features * **Sandbox Management Dashboard (Zurich):** Enables viewing total, available, and allocated sandboxes with detailed information such as status, data utilization, owner, last access, and allocation time. * **Sandbox Templates and Data Generation (Zurich, deprecated in Australia):** Initially allowed reuse of data for testing and statistical sampling of instance data to populate sandboxes. This functionality is deprecated and removed in Australia; sandbox initialization now operates independently of data generation logic. * **Sandbox Allocation and Retirement (Zurich):** Allows allocation of sandboxes to development teams and retiring outdated sandboxes to optimize resource usage. * **Automatic Backup of Update Sets (Zurich and Australia):** Update sets are automatically backed up during instance upgrades, improving upgrade reliability. * **Granular Administrative Roles (Australia):** Introduction of new granular roles enables developers to perform administrative and configuration tasks without full admin privileges. * **AI Search Integration (Australia):** Maintains separate AI Search indices for each sandbox environment, supporting sandbox-specific development activities. This integration is supported only on non-production environments. * **Queuing for Sandbox Creation (Australia):** Implements queuing to enhance performance when creating multiple sandboxes successively. * **Single Sign-On (SSO) Support for Vanity URLs (Australia):** Enables instances with vanity URLs to support SSO, enhancing secure access management. * **Vibe Coding Documentation (Australia):** Provides documentation on vibe coding, a natural language approach to application development within ServiceNow's AI-powered tools. ## Changes * **Schema Isolation for Shared Tables (Australia):** When a schema change is made to a shared table, it becomes isolated on the sandbox that initiated the change, ensuring configuration consistency. * **Sandbox Recreation on Upgrade (Australia):** Developer Sandboxes automatically recreate sandboxes and back up update sets after upgrading the instance. * **Improved Error Visibility (Australia):** Sandbox initialization errors now display an error status message on the instance home page for easier troubleshooting. * **Developer Sandboxes Home Page Visibility (Australia):** The home page is hidden if Developer Sandboxes is inactive on the instance, avoiding confusion. ## Deprecations and Removals * **Data Generation Plugin and Metadata (Australia):** The data generation plugin is no longer discoverable, and all associated metadata and records are deleted. Sandbox templates no longer reference data generation, reflecting a shift to sandbox initialization without this logic. * **No other features or functionality were removed between Zurich and Australia releases.** ## Upgrade and Activation Guidance * **Pre- and Post-Upgrade Tasks:** Customers should review and complete relevant upgrade tasks to ensure smooth transition to Australia. * **Activation:** Developer Sandboxes must be installed via the ServiceNow Store. Customers should contact their ServiceNow account manager for installation assistance. ## Additional Information * **Support for Build Agent:** Continues in both Zurich and Australia to facilitate isolated, parallel development environments. * **No new browser, localization, or accessibility requirements were introduced between these releases.** ## What Customers Can Expect Upgrading to Australia enhances Developer Sandboxes with improved administrative control, better AI Search integration, enhanced upgrade reliability through automatic backups, and performance optimizations during sandbox creation. However, data generation functionality is deprecated, so customers should adapt sandbox initialization processes accordingly. The provided dashboards and error visibility improvements support efficient sandbox management and troubleshooting. Consolidated page of all release notes for Developer Sandboxes from Zurich to Australia. ## How to use this page To help you prepare for your upgrade, we have combined the cross-family Developer Sandboxes release notes onto one page. Read this summary of the new features, changes, and updated information for your product from Zurich to Australia. Tip: If there were no updates for a release notes section in a certain family release, we included a short note for your reference. For example, if a product did not have any updates in Tokyo, the row says "No updates for this release." ## Important information for upgrading Developer Sandboxes to Australia Before you upgrade to Australia, review these pre- and post-upgrade tasks and complete the tasks as needed. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__2} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | No updates for this release. | | Australia | No updates for this release. | [ ] ## New features Between your current release family and Australia, new features were introduced for Developer Sandboxes. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__8} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | [Explore](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=exploring-sandboxes&family=zurich&ft:locale=en-US) : View the total, available, and allocated sandboxes in your instance by using the Sandbox Management home dashboard. The dashboard also displays information about each sandbox, including the status, data utilization, owner, when the sandbox was last accessed, and when the sandbox was allocated. [Using sandbox templates](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=create-sandbox-template&family=zurich&ft:locale=en-US) : Enable your delegated developers to reuse the data so that they can test their changes without manually inputting the data every time. [Create a Data Generation Profile](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=create-data-generation-profile&family=zurich&ft:locale=en-US) : Enable your customers to generate the data for testing within the context of developer sandboxes, but also independently of sandboxes. Note: Developer Sandboxes can't copy all the instance data. Data generation profiles enable a statistical sampling of data from selected tables with curated mappings to populate the sandbox with the data needed for building an application. [Allocate a sandbox](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=allocating-sandboxes&family=zurich&ft:locale=en-US) : Allocate the sandboxes that were created to your development teams. [Retire sandboxes](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=retire-sandboxes&family=zurich&ft:locale=en-US) : Retire outdated sandboxes to make room for the new sandboxes in your instance. [Automatically backed up update sets](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=dev-sbx-clone-upgrade-info&family=zurich&ft:locale=en-US) : If you install Developer Sandboxes on an instance after Zurich Patch 5, update sets are automatically backed up when the instance is upgraded. | | Australia | [New granular roles for administration](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=dsb-installed-with&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) : Several new granular roles enable developers to complete administrative and configuration tasks without requiring the full admin role. [Support for separate indices for AI Search](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=exploring-sandboxes&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) : AI Search (AIS) now maintains separate indices for each sandbox environment, ensuring development activities that rely on AIS are correctly supported. Note: The AIS integration with Developer Sandboxes is supported only on non-production environments. | [ ] ## Changes Between your current release family and Australia, some changes were made to existing Developer Sandboxes features. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__14} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | [Upgrade enhancements](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=dev-sbx-clone-upgrade-info&family=zurich&ft:locale=en-US) : Automatic backups for upgrades are now working correctly. This issue is related to PRB2017438. | | Australia | [Upgrade enhancements](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=dev-sbx-clone-upgrade-info&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) : Automatic backups for upgrades are now working correctly. This issue is related to PRB2017438. [Schema change for shared tables isolates the table](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=dsb-installed-with&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) : To ensure configuration consistency, if you make a schema change, such as adding a column, to a shared table, the table now becomes an isolated table on the sandbox that initiated the schema change. [Upgrade enhancements](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=dev-sbx-clone-upgrade-info&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) : After an upgrade, Developer Sandboxes now recreates the sandboxes on an instance and automatically backs up update sets to the base instance. [Queuing for successive sandbox creation](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=allocating-sandboxes&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) : To improve performance, Developer Sandboxes has implemented queuing when multiple sandboxes are created in succession. [SSO support for vanity URLs](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=dev-sbx-general-guidelines&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) : Instances with vanity URLs can now support Single Sign-On (SSO). [New vibe coding documentation](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=vibe-coding-landing&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) : Documentation is now available that introduces vibe coding, which is a natural language approach to application development in ServiceNow, including how to get started, when to use it, and how it fits within the broader suite of AI-powered development tools. [Clarified sandbox initialization status](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=allocating-sandboxes&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) : An error status message now appears on the instance home page when there's an initialization error when allocating a sandbox. [Developer Sandboxes home page hidden when product is inactive](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=dev-sbx-entitlements&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) : The Developer Sandboxes home page is unavailable when Developer Sandboxes is inactive on an instance. | [ ] ## Removed Between your current release family and Australia, some Developer Sandboxes features or functionality were removed. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__20} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | No updates for this release. | | Australia | No updates for this release. | [ ] ## Deprecations Between your current release family and Australia, some Developer Sandboxes features or functionality were deprecated. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__26} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | * All data generation metadata and non-metadata records are automatically deleted. * The data generation plugin is no longer discoverable. * All references to data generation will be removed from sandbox templates. * Sandbox initialization will operate independently of data generation logic. | | Australia | * All data generation metadata and non-metadata records are automatically deleted. * The data generation plugin is no longer discoverable. * All references to data generation will be removed from sandbox templates. * Sandbox initialization will operate independently of data generation logic. | [ ] ## Activation information Review information on how to activate Developer Sandboxes. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__32} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | Activation information : Contact your ServiceNow account manager to install Developer Sandboxes. Important: [Developer Sandboxes](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=sandboxes-landing&family=zurich&ft:locale=en-US) is available in the ServiceNow Store. For details, see the "Activation information" section of these release notes. | | Australia | Activation information : Contact your ServiceNow account manager to install Developer Sandboxes. | [ ] ## Additional requirements If any additional requirements were introduced or changed for Developer Sandboxes we have noted them here. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__38} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | No updates for this release. | | Australia | No updates for this release. | [ ] ## Browser requirements If any specific browser requirements were introduced or changed for Developer Sandboxes we have noted them here. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__44} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | No updates for this release. | | Australia | No updates for this release. | [ ] ## Accessibility information Review details on accessibility information for Developer Sandboxes, such as specific requirements or compliance levels. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__50} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | No updates for this release. | | Australia | No updates for this release. | [ ] ## Localization information If there are specific localization considerations for Developer Sandboxes we have noted them here. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__56} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | No updates for this release. | | Australia | No updates for this release. | [ ] ## Highlight information If there are specific highlight considerations for Developer Sandboxes we have noted them here. {#dfrn3-developersandboxes-summary__entry__62} | Release | Release notes | |-|-| | Zurich | * Support for Build Agent in sandboxes. * Enable your administrators and delegated developers to request, access, and manage the isolated development environments on top of the same underlying development instance. * Provide developer isolation and parallelism for customer development environments and instances. * View the total, available, and allocated sandboxes in your instance by using the Sandbox Management home dashboard. The dashboard also displays information about each sandbox, including the status, data utilization, owner, when it was last accessed, and when the sandbox was allocated. See [Developer Sandboxes](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=sandboxes-landing&family=zurich&ft:locale=en-US) for more information. | | Australia | * Support for Build Agent in sandboxes. * Upgrading an instance recreates sandboxes and backs up any update sets. * A new plugin supports clone preservation when cloning an instance with sandboxes. See [Developer Sandboxes](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/access?context=sandboxes-landing&family=australia&ft:locale=en-US) for more information. | [ ]