Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 in Windows Azure (IaaS)

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 in Windows Azure (IaaS)
 

Purpose: The purpose of this document is to explain how to deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) using Windows Azure platform.
 

Challenge: You may want to deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) for the purposes of POC (Proof of concept), in case you want to have additional development or test environment, or if you are considering deploying production instance of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 in the Cloud. There're number of options when deploying Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 in the Cloud, it may be a Private Cloud (Company data centers), Partner Private Cloud (Partner-hosted deployment), Public Cloud (for example, Windows Azure platform) or Hybrid Cloud (when part of the infrastructure still resides On-Premises).

Solution: Windows Azure provides on-demand infrastructure that scales and adapts to your changing business needs. Whether you are creating new applications or running existing applications we provide best-in-class price-performance and end-to-end support. Please find more information about Windows Azure Infrastructure Services here: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/solutions/infrastructure

Scenario

In this scenario I want to deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) for the purposes of POC (Proof of concept).

Walkthrough

For the purposes of this walkthrough I created Windows Azure Virtual machine with Windows Server 2012 OS and installed required Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 components on it.

I assume that you already have Windows Azure Subscription account to complete this walkthrough. In case you don't you may want to sign up for the free trial here: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial

Now let's review the process step-by-step!

Virtual machines

Currently I don't have Virtual machines, so I'll go ahead and "Create a virtual machine"

Create a Virtual machine (1)

Then I'll select Windows Server 2012 Datacenter OS

Create a Virtual machine (2)

Then I'll give my Virtual machine a name and assign appropriate size

Create a Virtual machine (3)

Then I'll select preferred data center and storage account details

Create a Virtual machine (4)

Please note that you can configure endpoints and in my case I'll enable RDP endpoint

Virtual machines (Instances)

In couple of minutes the VM will be up and running

Virtual machines (Images)

Virtual machines (Disks)

Please note that VM VHD disk was also created. This is how Location URL will look like schematically (this is not a real URL): http://portalvhd.blob.core.windows.net/vhds/azureax.vhd

Cloud services

Windows Azure platform also provisioned a Cloud service

Storage

Finally Storage account has been provisioned in order to store VM VHD disks

RDP

Once we've successfully created VM and exposed RDP endpoint we can access VM using RDP

Windows Security

Active Directory Domain Controller

The first thing I have to do on the VM before installing Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 components is to install Active Directory Domain Services

Promote this server to a domain controller

Once AD DS installation is complete we can promote the server to a domain controller

Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard

As a part of Active Directory Domain Services Configuration Wizard I'll provide a domain name

Active Directory Users and Computers

Now I can introduce appropriate domain users

Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CTP1

For the purposes of this walkthrough I chose to install Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CTP1 as database platform. You can download a free trial of Microsoft SQL Server 2014 CTP1 here: http://www.microsoft.com/sql-server‎

Please note that you may face with the following error when installing Microsoft SQL Server

"Error while enabling Windows feature: NetFx3, Error Code: –2146498298, Please try enabling Windows Feature: NetFx3 from Windows management tools and then run setup again."

In order to avoid this error please install .NET Framework 3.5 Features which includes .NET Framework 3.0 Features

.NET Framework 3.5 Features

Now we can install an instance of Microsoft SQL Server. Please note that Microsoft SQL Server Full-text search feature will be required for AX database, that's why I will select Full-text and Semantic Extractions for Search feature upon Microsoft SQL Server installation

SQL Server 2014 CTP1 Setup

Once we've successfully installed Microsoft SQL Server instance we can start installation of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 components

 

In this walkthrough I chose to install Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2. You may download Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 image from Partner Source here (Partner Source login is required): https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/deployment/resources/productreleases/MicrosoftDynamicsAX2012R2

Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup

Please note that in order to successfully install Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 database on Microsoft SQL Server 2012/2014 CTP1 platform you will have to apply a hotfix KB2680186 which will update Setup Support Files appropriately

Microsoft Dynamics AX Update Setup

Otherwise you will see the following error when you will be installing AOS

"Cannot find the object 'UTILIDELEMENTS', because it does not exist or you do not have permission."

Now we are set to install Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 database

Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup (Database)

After successful installation of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 database we'll have to enable Windows Identity Foundation 3.5 before we install Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 AOS

Add Roles and Features Wizard

Now it's time to install Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 AOS

Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup

The final step will be to install Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Client

Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup

During Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 depending on the type of User you select (in my case User type = Administrator) you may also be required to install some of prerequisites, for example, Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Management Objects

Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Management Objects Setup

Now Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 components installation is complete and we can provision access to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for users using Import Users from AD Wizard

Users

After the fresh installation we'll have a minimum of data. However if you want to deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Demo database you may want to download it from Partner Source here (Partner Source login required): https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/deployment/resources/productreleases/microsoftdynamicsax2012r2.htm

After Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 installation is complete there're number of tasks you may want to do, for example, how do I download a local copy of Azure VM (for backup purposes, etc.)? or how do I upload my own VHD in Azure?

In order to answer these questions I'll first install Windows Azure SDL for .NET (Visual Studio 2012)

Windows Azure SDK for .NET (VS 2012)

Windows Azure SDK for Visual Studio 2012 gives you an ability to access Windows Azure Subscription details from within Visual Studio 2012

Server Explorer

In order to connect to your Windows Azure Subscription account you will need to import Subscription settings file in Import Windows Azure Subscriptions dialog 

Import Windows Azure Subscriptions

You can initially download Subscription settings file from Windows Azure Portal

When connected you will be able to see the details on your Windows Azure Storage account

Server Explorer

Please note that I have "azureax.vhd" VHD file stored under my Windows Azure Storage account

Now in case you want to download a local copy of VHD file you can simply "Save" this file "as" on your local drive

Download VHD (Save as)

You can also upload VHD file from local drive to Windows Azure. Please see detailed instructions on how to upload VHD file to Windows Azure here: http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/windows/common-tasks/upload-a-vhd

Ultimately you may have a collection of VHD files under My disks as templates, so after uploading VHD disk to Windows Azure you can quickly spin up new Virtual machine based on this template

Create a virtual machine

Please note that you can also transfer virtual machines from one Windows Azure Subscription account to another if needed

As you can see Windows Azure platform provides a very robust foundation for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) scenarios for Line of Business (LOB) applications 

Summary: This document describes how to deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) using Windows Azure platform. In addition to Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Windows Azure platform also offers Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) capabilities which makes it a world-class Cloud platform. Please learn more about Windows Azure here: http://www.windowsazure.com. 

Tags: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, Windows Azure, Microsoft Cloud, IaaS, Infrastructure as a Service, Virtual Machine.

Note: This document is intended for information purposes only, presented as it is with no warranties from the author. This document may be updated with more content to better outline the issues and describe the solutions.

Author: Alex Anikiev, PhD, MCP

Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Master Data Management Scenario

Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Master Data Management Scenario

 

Purpose: The purpose of this document is to describe Master Data Management capabilities included in standard Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Please note that in the previous articles I described how to implement Master Data Management scenario for Microsoft Dynamics using Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Master Data Services.

 

Challenge: There is number of tools and services available for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 which have Master Data Management capabilities. The challenge is to understand usage scenarios and how to apply them properly. Please note that Master Data Management capabilities included in standard product may be enough for some of your scenarios.

 

Solution: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 does provide some out-of-the-box Master Data Management capabilities for number of business entities which we are going to review in this document.  

 

Scenario

 

In this walkthrough for the sake of simplicity I’ll be focusing on usual Master Data Management entities such as Customers and Products.

 

Walkthrough

 

In this walkthrough I’m using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Demo VM (AX2012R2A) which has USMF company as a part of Demo data

 

Let’s first consider Customers. The customer business entity in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 has associated Global Address Book record which can be one of two types: Person or Organization

 

Global Address Book

 

 

Please note that in Maintain section on Global address book tab in the menu bar we have number of functions which may help us to manage Global address book records such as “Merge duplicates” and “Check for duplicates”

 

Check duplicates

 

 

Check duplicates function allows you to find similar Global address book records based on set of criteria such as Name, Phone, E-mail, State, City, ZIP/postal code. In this case I was looking for Global address book records also belonging to WA State

 

Maintain

 

 

After you identify duplicate Global address book records you can merge them by using “Merge records” function

 

Merge party records

 

 

On the dialog screen you will have to select Survivor party

 

All customers

 

 

Please note that you can also export information to Excel workbook from any list page in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

 

Now let’s look at Products. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 you can manage products and product masters definitions separately from released products. Product and product master definitions are shared across all companies, but released products are typically only released to selected companies. This allows for centralized management of products within enterprise, at the same time you may want to create released product right away (decentralized approach) and the system will create appropriate product definition for you automatically

 

All products and product masters

 

 

Using centralized approach once you created product definition you will release it to one or more companies

 

Release products – Select products

 

 

Release products – Select companies

 

 

Product release session batch

 

 

Please note that you may want to execute release of products as a batch job

Ultimately when the product is released to particular company you will see it on Released products list page as shown below

 

Released products

 

 

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 also provides other data management capabilities applicable to any business entity or table. For example, Database log functionality allows you to log details of changes done to selected tables. Let’s see how we can apply Database log functionality to Customers and Products in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. 

 

Logging database changes - Welcome

 

 

//Configuration key = Ledger basic

 

Logging database changes – Tables and fields

 

 

In this particular case I’ll select Customers

 

Logging database changes – Type of change

 

 

I’ll be also interested to log all changes made to Customer records

 

Logging database changes - Finish

 

 

By the result of Logging database changes wizard the following record will be created on Database log setup form

 

Database log setup

 

 

Now when you do any changes to Customer records they will be appropriately tracked

 

Database log - Overview

 

 

You can also review details of those changes including info who changed the data, when, and what exactly was changed (old value vs new value)

 

Database log - History

 

 

Please note that when you activate Database log you introduce certain performance overhead

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 also provides Electronic Signature feature which works in conjunction with Database log functionality. Let’s review how this works!

 

First off Electronic Signature feature first has to be enabled in License Configuration

 

License Configuration  

 

 

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 provides number of standard templates for Electronic Signature controlled business entities. For example, BOM and Route

 

Electronic signature requirements

 

 

In this particular case I’ll activate Electronic Signature for BOM Activation process (“Activate BOM version”)

 

I’ll also need to get a certificate, designate approver and set up a password on Options form in Electronic Signature section

 

Options

 

 

When all preparation work is done we can now test Electronic Signature functionality out

I’ll go ahead and try to activate BOM version so I see “Sign document” dialog popped up

 

Sign document

 

 

Now I’ll provide approver password so I can successfully activate BOM version

 

Database log

 

 

When I’m done the fact of change will be logged in Database log as shown above

 

Signature review

 

 

You can also review detailed information regarding change including Signature information

In this document we reviewed just some of Master Data Management capabilities included in standard Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012

 

Summary: This document describes how to leverage existing Master Data Management capabilities included in standard Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. In particular I explained how to use global address book and product management features related to Master Data Management, and some generic Master Data Management features such as Database log ad Electronic signature. Please review my other articles to learn how to implement Master Data Management scenario for Microsoft Dynamics using SQL Server Master Data Services.

 

Tags: Dynamics AX 2012, Master Data Management, Customers, Products, Global Address Book, Released Products, Database Log, Electronic Signature.

 

Note: This document is intended for information purposes only, presented as it is with no warranties from the author. This document may be updated with more content to better outline the issues and describe the solutions.

 

Author: Alex Anikiev, PhD, MCP