Learn how our additional login pools will impact your end-users!

As an admin, you want to ensure your end-users can consistently access Salesforce. As we continue to expand our infrastructure, we are adding additional login pools across the globe.

Login pools process end-user authentication

When end-users head to our login screen, and type in their credentials, they are sent to the closest login pool in the closest data center to them for authentication. After that, they are routed to their appropriate instance.

If you have end-users who travel for work, let’s say France this time, but your IT department is restricting network access to only our North America data centers, your end-users will not be able to log in with the change coming in November 2015.

Login Pools – Will this change impact my company?

If your IT department is blocking access in their network settings (whether that’s via proxy settings, firewalls, or elsewhere) to only certain data centers, end-users may not be able to log in. These network restrictions would also prohibit inbound traffic integrations to run. Network access settings are not found in the Salesforce application. Your company’s IT department makes these changes in the company’s network. If you don’t have anyone who manages your network, it is unlikely that anyone has ever restricted access in this way.

How do I know if my IT department is restricting logins?

A simple way to check if your IT department is blocking access to one of our data centers is to log in to a data center in a different region. You should be redirected to the correct data center and you should be able to log in. For example:

1. If you are on an NA instance (e.g. NA4) try entering eu5.salesforce.com and type in your normal NA4 credentials there
2. You should be redirected to your NA4 instance
3. If you receive an error, you should contact your IT department to ensure they’re prepared for success. The How to Prepare for Additional Login Pools Knowledge article is a great technical resource for your IT department to leverage.

Where this wouldn’t impact your end-users (or inbound traffic integrations)

1. If your end-users log in directly to an instance (e.g. na4.salesforce.com) – although this isn’t our best practice as we may move you to a different instance in the future! See our hard-coded references wikiforce page for more information!
2. If you don’t have end-users who travel and need to access Salesforce globally.
3. If you have a corporate VPN that requires all employees to access the internet from one geographic region.
4. If you have MyDomains enabled.

How can I partner with my IT department to ensure we’re always set up for success in regards to any infrastructure or security-related changes?

We are continuing to expand our infrastructure in order to provide awesome performance regardless of how our customers use Salesforce. We ask that you follow our infrastructure and security best practices below to ensure you are always prepared for upcoming changes:

1. Allow Network Access to all Salesforce Data Centers: https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewSolution?id=000003652&language=en_US&release=180.9
2. Enable MyDomains: https://help.salesforce.com/apex/HTViewHelpDoc?id=faq_domain_name.htm&language=en_US
3. Stop hard-coding references: https://wiki.developerforce.com/page/Best_Practices_When_Referencing_Server_Endpoints
4. Reserve the 1st and 3rd weekends of each month for Salesforce Maintenance: https://help.salesforce.com/HTViewSolution?id=000176208
5. Ensure you’re receiving all of our Salesforce Product & Service Notifications: https://www.buttonclickadmin.com/want-streamline-communications-receive-salesforce-heres/
6. Develop a relationship with IT! https://www.buttonclickadmin.com/3-reasons-worth-investing-relationship/

Additional Login Pools Resources

1. 90 Second Mini-Video: Login Pools – Will this change impact my company?
2. Knowledge Articles:
   1. How to prepare for additional login pools
   2. What are the Salesforce network IP addresses that I need to whitelist
3. Wikiforce Page:Best Practices When Referencing Server Endpoints
4. Customer Webinar Recording (this was for our additional login pools added to APAC, but same rules apply for this change)