Backing Up - Default Environment or Migrate?

[thomst08-mahony]

Hello,

We have been working on a PowerApps program for a while, it has a number of flows and apps.  These apps and flows have been setup in the default environment, as it started somewhat as a test and has turned into a production environment.

As the project has grown, we need to look at how backups are handled, as this is in the default environment, there is no backup option in the admin section.

Is there a way to change the default environment to production environment or will we have to migrate the apps, flows and data into a new environment?

The issue being if we have to migrate, we will have to update all our flows using HTTP requests to contact one another, I would like to avoid doing this if possible.

Any suggestions would be helpful, thank you.

[jukka-niiranen · Accepted solution]

The Default environment is included in system backups and you can request a restore via Microsoft support. See documentation.

Nevertheless, if you are serious about developing a business critical application, the Default environment is simply the wrong place for such activity in the long run. Every user is going to have Environment Maker access to it and users who have been shared an app in it might be able to leverage implicitly shared connections.

I'd imagine at some point you'd want to have separate non-production and production environments for your apps. Creating dedicated environments and then leveraging the solution framework for packaging all components to establish a proper ALM process should be the long term target. So, while it's going to require a bit of work initially, migrating applications away from the Default environment is a goal worth pursuing.