CRM 2011: Plug-in Isolation(Sandbox), Trusts and Statistics

Plug-in Isolation (Sandbox Mode)

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 supports the execution of plug-ins in an isolated environment, also known as Sandbox.

A Sandbox plug-in can access

•  Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK web services
• External endpoints just as Windows Azure cloud and other common web services

and CANNOT access the following

• File system
• System event log
• Network and more 

The execution of plug-ins in a sandbox mode is recommended by Microsoft because 

• It is more secure
• It supports run-time monitoring and statistics reporting
• It is supported for all Microsoft Dynamics CRM deployments

Full and Partial Trusts

Plug-ins can be registered

• In the sandbox mode, known as partial trust
• Outside the sandbox mode, known as full trust

The table illustrates the deployment types and the supported trust level.

Run-time Statistics  

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform collects run-time statistics and also monitors the plug-ins that execute in a sandbox mode. If sandbox worker process exceeds the threshold utilisation of resources or is unresponsive then the CRM platform ends the process, this won't impact the other organisations because each organisation has its own sandbox worker process. This information is stored in the database table "PluginTypeStatistic".