Testing a New Deployment

ISV Direct Billed Providers may wish to test their implementation prior to going to market in their channel. In this section you will find some key concepts that need to be considered.

Microsoft provides Direct Billed Provider Partners with two set of credentials for subscription management:

• Production Partner Center API Credentials: Every sales order committed with these credentials is considered commercially firm and final. It is prohibited to place Test, Demo or other kinds of non-production orders with these credentials.

• Test in Production (TIP) Partner Center API Credentials: Only test orders should be placed with these credentials. Microsoft will provision services but suppress invoicing for billing. To prevent malicious or fraudulent use for production delivery, Microsoft imposes throttling limits on the use of these API Credentials.

You can obtain these credentials separately in the Microsoft Partner Center. To do this, complete the following steps:

• Production credentials:

  • Click CSP > Partner Profile > App Management.

• TIP credentials:

  • Click CSP > Partner Profile > Integration Sandbox

When obtaining the credentials, you will also notice that the sandbox domain is a variation of the production domain. For example, if your production credential domain is myproviderbusiness.onmicrosoftcom, the TIP credential domain will be automatically generated as myproviderbusinessTIP.onmicrosoft.com.

Once you have obtained your credentials, you will be able to configure them both for the production and test environments in the Connect Distributor Portal as described in the Configuring Parameters section.

When configuring your local Cloud Marketplace, you should ensure that it refers orders to Connect as Production or Test. When Connect receives a Marketplace Test order, it will fulfill the request using Microsoft Test In Production (TIP) credentials.

Note: Once the test cycle is complete, remember to switch the credentials used in CloudBlue from TIP to Production.

What is the criteria for a valid test order?

Test orders must meet the following requirements:

• A marketplace/Connect test order must be placed with Microsoft test credentials.

• For indirect 2T Reseller Partners only, the following is required:

  • A Test In Production (TIP) Partner object.

  • A Test in Production (TIP) Reseller Partner PLA MPNID issued by Microsoft and valid for the authorized region.

• A Test in Production Customer object.

• The test order must be within TIP Throttling limits.

Creating Customers for Test in Production

A TIP Customer that is reserved for test orders must be created. Microsoft Direct Billed Providers can create a TIP customer by using their RBAC. If you are an indirect reseller, you will not be able to create a TIP customer on your own. Please, contact your Microsoft Provider to request this subject to their Terms and Conditions.

Note: Test orders cannot be committed to a production customer, as Microsoft will reject the sales order attempt.

It is important to consider that Microsoft imposes a throttling limit on the maximum number of concurrent TIP Customers that may exist. For this reason, the Provider Partner should take the following actions:

• Manage the creation and use of TIP Customers subject to the total demand for testing.

• Destroy TIP Customers after testing has concluded, so the capacity may be freed up for future use.

Creating an Indirect Reseller for Test in Production

Indirect 2T distribution indirect resellers and Ingram Micro Cloud syndication resellers must use a TIP indirect reseller reserved for test orders.

However, if you are an indirect reseller or an Ingram Micro Cloud syndication partner you will not be able to create a TIP reseller on your own to impersonate yourself. Please contact your Microsoft Provider Partner or Ingram Micro Cloud respectively to request this based on their Terms and Conditions.

Microsoft Direct Billed Partners can create a TIP indirect reseller for use with test orders by using their RCBAC.

Note: Test orders cannot be committed to a production indirect reseller, as they would be rejected by Microsoft.