Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 can be deployed on Microsoft Azure! This blog post provides an overview, and points you to TechNet articles that provide the details you’ll need for your deployment.

How to deploy

To deploy AX 2012 R3 on Azure, you can use Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services. Lifecycle Services is a cloud-based collaborative workspace that customers and partners can use to manage Microsoft Dynamics AX projects. The Cloud Hosted Environments tool—available on the Lifecycle Services website—helps you deploy AX 2012 R3 environments on Azure.

When you use the Cloud Hosted Environments tool to deploy, you’ll need to select the type of environment that you want to deploy on Azure. Currently, you can deploy the following types of AX 2012 R3 environments:

• Demo environment

If you choose to deploy this environment, the Cloud Hosted Environments tool deploys one virtual machine on Azure. This virtual machine has Windows Server—and the software that you’ll need to demo AX 2012 R3—already installed on it.

Note: The Cloud Hosted Environments tool is currently in beta and supports the deployment of AX 2012 R3 demo environments only. Additional AX 2012 R3 environments, such as a production environment and a disaster recovery environment, are planned to be released in the future, as announced at the Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2014 event.

The following diagram shows the architecture for the demo environment.

Where to get the details

To get the details about how to deploy AX 2012 R3 on Azure, see the following articles on TechNet:

• Get the overview: To learn more about Azure, and the overall process for deploying AX 2012 R3 on Azure, see Deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 on Azure using Lifecycle Services.
• Plan your deployment: To prepare for the deployment on Azure, see Plan your Microsoft Dynamics AX deployment on Azure.
• Deploy AX on Azure: For step-by-step procedures about how to use the Cloud Hosted Environments tool (in Lifecycle Services) to deploy AX 2012 R3 on Azure, see Deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX on Azure.
• Manage your deployment: For tips and tricks about how to manage your deployment on Azure, see Manage your Microsoft Dynamics AX deployment on Azure.
• Troubleshoot your deployment: To get assistance, see Troubleshoot your Microsoft Dynamics AX deployment on Azure.

Within Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and AX 2012 R2 the error message "The payment account currency should always be EUR" may be thrown. To solve this issue, please have a look at the attached pdf.

Special thanks to engineer Sharon Price for providing the following blog content.  Due to technical issues I am posting it on her behalf.

Switching from 4.0 to 2012: Creating a Credit Note in Projects

Dynamics AX improves and changes its design and layout with each of its versions.  AX 2012 has an easy approach that separates different modules from previous versions, 2009 and 4.0.

Often when upgrading from one version to the next, attempting to perform a transaction can be quite difficult.  However, when upgrading from AX 4.0 to AX 2012 is quite a drastic change, thus the frustration to perform daily transactions heightens. 

Creating a credit note invoice in a project [AX 2012] follows the steps below.

1. Highlight the Project to create a credit note
   
   
   
2. Click Project management and accounting> Common> Projects > All projects. On the Action Pane, on the Manage tab, in the Bill group, click Invoice journals.
   –or–
   Click Project management and accounting> Common> Projects > Project contracts. On the Action Pane, on the Maintain tab, in the Bill group, click Invoice journals.
   
   
3. In the Invoice journals form, on the Overview tab, select the invoice or invoices to which you want to apply credit.
   
   
   
4. Click Functions> Select for credit note.
   
   
   
5. In the Select for credit note form, on each tab, select the transactions that you want to create credit notes for.
   
   
   
6. Click OK.

Follow the General Ledger > Journals and Vouchers procedures to ensure the credit note posted to the project invoice.

We are continuing to see a reoccurrence of very similar error messages when using Dynamics Online Payment Services (DOPS) with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and 2012.  The resolutions normally deal with the setup and configuration of either AX or DOPS.  This blog is intended to cover some of the common errors encountered with the resolutions that we have been providing when configuring or using DOPS.  The list of errors below can occur in Accounts Receivable and/or Retail.  If you are experiencing a different error or the resolution did not resolve your issue, follow the steps at the end of this blog to create a new case with the AX support team.

AX 2009 CU7-CU8 - "The credit card feature is not installed."
     Cause: There were two updates to enable credit card processing in AX 2009 CU7 & CU8.
     Resolution: Install the two fixes from KB 979304 (located by searching PartnerSource only).

The authorization could not be completed.

     - Error code: InvalidExpirationDate - Error message: Invalid Argument: ExpirationDate
          Cause: Check Expiration Date is not marked
          Resolution:  Go to: AX >> Retail >> Retail Channels >> Retail Stores >> select a store >> Set up menu >> Payment Methods. Select the credit card payment method.  Click Card Setup.  For each card type, checkmark the Check expiration date option.
  
     - Error code: Value cannot be null - Parameter name: name - Error message: 
          Cause: The incorrect EFT Service was selected, normally experienced in AX 2012 R1 as the "Dynamics Online" service is no longer used.  This is option is removed in R2.
          Resolution: Go to: AX >> Retail >> Setup >> POS >> Profiles >> Hardware profiles.  Select the hardware profile.  Expand the EFT Service fast tab. In the EFT Service field, select Payment Connector and select Dynamisc Payment Connector in the next field.  Complete the rest of the form.
 
     - Error code: CommunicationError - Error message:  There was an error communicating with the payment provider. Please retry your request.
           Cause: The customer's Payment Provider Profile information was entered incorrectly in the activation profile in Dynamics Online.  The profile information is not viewable in Dynamics Online.
           Resolution:  Disable the payment service in the Dynamics Online customer portal.  Have the Partner activate the payment service again in the Dynamics Online partner portal with the correct information.

Error code 1100 - Error message: Cannot authenticate with the provided credentials
     Cause: Issue is in the authenticating of the Microsoft account (Live ID), password, and/or public key.
     Resolution: Go to: AX >> Retail >> Setup >> POS >> Profiles >> Hardware profiles.  Select the hardware profile.  Expand the EFT Service fasttab.  Delete and enter in the Microsoft account (Live ID) and password again.
 
     Resolution: Go to the following blog to check user credentials: 
     http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axsupport/archive/2013/03/06/dynamics-online-user-roles.aspx
 
     Resolution: AX 2012 R2 introduces the use of a public key - Use the following blogs to assign the public key to a system user in Dynamics Online.
          Retail - Step 15 - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axsupport/archive/2013/10/22/ax-2012-r2-for-retail-configuring-the-eft-service-in-the-retail-hardware-profile-with-dynamics-online-payment-services.aspx
          AR - Step 12 - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axsupport/archive/2013/10/03/ax-2012-r2-connecting-a-dynamics-online-payment-service-to-ax-accounts-receivable.aspx

Error code 1100 - Error message: Payment provider has not been set up.
     Cause: You are not running POS in TestMode.  Running N-job can overwrite this if you have already set the EFTTESTMODE = 1 at the POS.
     Resolution: Use the blog below to set the POS EFTTESTMODE = 1
          Step 30 - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axsupport/archive/2013/10/09/ax-2012-r2-for-retail-configuring-pos-for-test-mode-with-dynamics-online-payment-service.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

     Cause: You created a production Payment Service but haven’t signed up for a Payment Provider yet
     Resolution:  Log into your payment service at https://www.dynamicsonline.com/CustomerPortal.aspx and under the Payment Providers section, sign up for a payment provider account.
 
Error code 21073 - Error message: There is no active payment provider for the specified payment type
     Cause: The Payment Service hasn’t been activated by the Partner
     Resolution:  Have the Partner log into https://www.dynamicsonline.com/PartnerPortal.aspx and activate the payment service.  For a walk through, view the video at:     
          Provisioning Microsoft Dynamics Online Payment Services
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pOs48Mh4FI&feature=youtu.be
 
     Cause: Using a production payment service with no active payment provider while POS is set to test mode
     Resolution:  You should be using a ServiceID from a “demo” Payment Service which doesn't require (or allow) a payment provider.  You can have both a demo and production payment service set up at once in Dynamics Online and then set up two different Retail hardware profiles for testing and for production.

     Cause:  While utilizing POS in test mode, you ran an N-1090 job that updated the hardware profile and set the POS hardware profile back to production mode. 
     Resolution: Use the blog below to set the POS EFTTESTMODE = 1 
          Step 30 - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axsupport/archive/2013/10/09/ax-2012-r2-for-retail-configuring-pos-for-test-mode-with-dynamics-online-payment-service.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0
 
Error code 20002 - The Windows Live ID that you entered is not valid.  Do you want to continue. 
     Cause: If encountered in the POS Retail Hardware profile
     Resolution: Just click Yes to continue.  This validation is not correctly performed.  Test transactions to verify. 
     Side note: Ensure the public keys are properly copied and roles assigned to the system user
 
     Cause: Corrupted hardware profile settings after an upgrade or database restore.
     Resolution: Try creating a new AR payment service profile or Retail hardware profile.  If in AX 2012 R2, this includes creating a new System User in Dynamics Online with proper public key and roles assigned.

Currency not supported by connector(20002)
     Cause: In the Payment services window, the Supported currencies field, you cannot end with a semi-colon.  For example, a value of CAD; will return the error but CAD by itself will validate.  AX sees the semi-colon and then looks for another currency which is blank and handled by the code as a not supported currency.
     Resolution: Remove the semicolon in the Supported currencies field from CAD; to display CAD

Error code 20976640 - Error message: Unable to resolve the service
     Cause: The System User in DOPS doesn’t have full rights to all
     Resolution: Go to the following blog to check user and system user credentials:
          http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axsupport/archive/2013/03/06/dynamics-online-user-roles.aspx
 
     Cause: Incorrect service account ID entered
     Resolution: Verify or reenter the Service Account ID from the Dynamics Online customer portal:
          https://www.dynamicsonline.com/CustomerPortal.aspx
 
     Cause: Firewall is blocking the payment service sites
     Resolution: Check and add access to the following site that should return an XML coded page:
          https://paymentservice.dynamicsonline.com/paymentwebservice.asmx?wsdl

CreatePaymentTransaction failed: 1022 = We encountered a problem. Please try again after some time. Contact Support if the problem persists.
     Cause:  Firewall is blocking the payment service sites
     Resolution: Add the following sites to the Firewall:
          https://paymentservice.dynamicsonline.com/paymentwebservice.asmx?wsdl
          https://paymentservice.dynamics.com/dlpaymentservice.asmx

Error code 20119 - Error message: Invalid Argument: TenderAccountNumber
     Cause: The card type is not set to the proper entity.  The main issue here is that if you create a new Card Type, this field is blank with no drop-down options. 
     Resolution: Go to: Retail >> Setup >> Payment Methods >> Card types >> Card issuer >> this column should display “Credit provider” or “Debit provider” as this is required and verified through DOPS.  
 
     Cause: You may receive this error in AX 2012 R2 - Retail POS if you do not have EFTTESTMODE set to 1 and the EFTCONNECTORPROPERTIES field is not corrected by adding the IsTestMode PaymentProperty.
     Resolution: Use the blog below to set the POS to test mode.
          Start at step 30 - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/axsupport/archive/2013/10/09/ax-2012-r2-for-retail-configuring-pos-for-test-mode-with-dynamics-online-payment-service.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

Error code 50000 -
     Cause:  This is a general error stating there is a credit card setup issue in AX
     Resolution: Check expiration checkbox not checked
 
     Resolution: Go to: Retail >> Setup >> Payment Methods >> Card types >> set the Card Types column to International credit card/debit card
 
     Resolution: Go to: Retail >> Setup >> Payment Methods >> Card Numbers >> The digits to verify should match the number of digits entered into the Card number from and Card number to fields.  
          Example: If Visa is set up with Card number from = 4, then the Digits to identify should be set to a 1 to verify just that 1 digit.  If this is set to 4, then its expecting the Card number from to be something like 4000 and the Card number to be something like 4999
  
Online services error 1100: Unmapped: 1100 Message: Authentication didn't succeed with the given credentials.  You must specify a certificate pfx data.
     Cause: The customers Voice account is already linked with another organization in Dynamics Online
     Resolution: Locate and log into the correct organization in Dynamics Online.

Still having trouble?
If you’re still having trouble, you can get assistance in the following ways:

• Post your questions on the Microsoft Dynamics Community forum.
• Contact your partner.
• If you are enrolled in a support plan directly with Microsoft, enter a new support request with Microsoft Dynamics Technical Support.

Getting Help from Technical Support

If you need to file a request for help setting up or using Payment Services, use the following steps to contact Microsoft Technical Support.

1. If you are a partner:
   • Sign in to PartnerSource.
   • In the navigation bar, click Support.
   • Click Get Help Now by Creating a Support Request.

   -or

   If you are a customer:

   • Sign in to CustomerSource.
   • Click Log a Support Incident.

    

2. In the Regarding which customer? field, select the company the request is for, and then click Next.
3. Under New Support Incident, click the name of the product that you want to use Payment Services with, such as Microsoft Dynamics AX Business Value (2012).
4. In the Support Topic list, select Company-Wide Features (GAB, Workflow, Number Sequences, and so on).
5. In the Sub-topic list, select Dynamics Online (site, commerce, and credit card, and then click Next.
6. Review details for accuracy in the Contact information, Support contract information, and Product information areas and make any necessary updates.
7. In the Please tell us about your problem area, provide our support team with details about the issue you are having.
8. Click Submit.

The Management Packs have arrived! We now have System Center Operations Manager management packs for both core Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and the AX 2012 R3 Retail functionality. The Retail management pack has been tested for side-by-side compatibility with the core management pack.

This management pack allows IT administrators to gain deep real-time insights into their distributed retail deployments, during deployment as well as ongoing operations.

Note: The Retail Management Pack works only with AX 2012 R3 Retail functionality. 

You can get it from the Download Center at: System Center 2012 Management Pack for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 Retail or from the catalog in System Center. For detailed documentation, see the Management Pack Guide in the download package.

Using the Retail Management Pack, IT administrators can:

 We've had several questions on how to setup Advanced Bank Reconciliation in AX 2012 R2, so here's the steps to get this working in the Contoso Demo data:

1. Ctrl+D to open the AOT. Expand Resources and locate “BAI2CSV_to_BAI2XML_xslt”, and then right-click and click “Open”.
2. On the form that opens, change “Resource type” to “XML document”. Click “Export”. 
3. Export the file to a directory on your machine.
4. Repeat steps 1-3, this time for the “BAI2XML_to_Reconciliation_xslt”.
5. Go to Tools | Application Integration Framework | Manage transforms. Click “New”, and enter “CSV to XML”. Click “Load”. Change the file extension to “XSLT files” to ensure you can see the files exported earlier. Select the “BAI2CSV-to-BAI2XML.xslt” file, and click “Open”.
6. Click “New”, and enter “XML to Reconciliation”. Click “Load”. Change the file extension to “XSLT files” to ensure you can see the files exported earlier. Select the “BAI2XML-to-Reconciliation.xslt” file, and click “Open”.
7. Close the “Manage transforms” form and close the AOT.
8. Go to System administration | Setup | Services and Application Integration Framework | Inbound ports. Click “New”, enter “AdvancedBankReconciliation” for the “Port name” and “Description”. Change the “Adapter” to “File system adapter”. Click the drop-menu for “URI” and click the location of the bank transform files.
9. On the “Service contract customizations” fast tab, click “Service operations”. Select BankStmtService.create, BankStmtService.delete, BankStmtService.find, BankStmtService.getChangedKeys, BankStmtService.getKeys, and BankStmtService.read, and move them to the “Selected service operations” section. Close the “Select service operations” form.
10. On the “Processing options” fast tab, check the box for “Transform all requests” and click “Inbound transforms”.
11. On the “Inbound transforms form, click “New”. Select “XML to Reconciliation” for the “Transform name”. Click “New”, and click “Yes” to the warning box. Select “CSV to XML” for the “Transform name” and Ctrl+S to save, and click “Yes” again to the warning box.
    **Be sure that “CSV to XML” is the first line and “XML to Reconciliation” is the second record to have the correct order for the transforms. Close the “Inbound transforms” form.
12. In the “Troubleshooting” fast tab, change the “Logging mode” to “Original document”. In the “Security” fast tab, select “initial” for the “Restrict to partition”.
13. Lastly, click “Activate” to activate the new inbound port.
14. Go to Cash and bank management | Common | Bank accounts. Select the “USA OPER” account and click “Edit”.  Expand the “Reconciliation” fast tab, and check the box for “Advanced bank reconciliation”. Click “OK” to confirm. 
15. In the same section, right-click the drop-menu for “Statement format” and click “View details”. On the “Bank statement format” form, click “New”. Enter “BAI2” for the “Statement format” and “Name”. Select “AdvancedBankReconciliation” for the “Inbound port” and close the form. 
16. On the “Bank accounts” form, select the drop menu for “Statement format”, and select “BAI2” that was just created. Close the “Bank accounts” form.
17. Go to Cash and bank management | Setup | Cash and bank management parameters. Click the “Number sequences” tab, and select a number sequence for “Reconcile ID”, “Statement ID”, and “Download ID”. Close the form.
18. Go to Cash and bank management | Common | Bank statements. Click “Import statement” in the action pane. Change the “Bank account” to “USA OPER”, select “BAI2” for the “Statement format”, and navigate to the location of the .txt file from the bank in the “File folder” line. Select the bank file, and click “OK”. 
19. Click “Refresh” on the bank statements list page. Select the imported bank statement, and click “Validate” on the action pane.

Given scenario:

You receive the following failure when compiling the application:

The INSERT statement conflicted with the FOREIGN KEY constraint "FK_ModelElementData_HasModelId_LayerId". The conflict occurred in database "YourDataBaseName_model", table "dbo.Model"

Cause:

This might be caused by some metadata pieces that have offending <LayerId, ModelId> combination)

Resolution suggestion:

a. Disable the FK constraint from model database by running following SQL statement:

 EXEC sp_msforeachtable "ALTER TABLE ? NOCHECK CONSTRAINT all"

b. Do a full application compile

c. Run the following SQL query to check the affected objects :

select top 100 *fromModelElementDatamed

where notexists

( select 1 fromUTILMODELSumwheremed.ModelId=um.IDandmed.LayerId=Layer)

d. Take necessary actions to correct the affected objects 

e.  Enable the FK constraint again on your Model Database by running following SQL statement:

EXEC sp_msforeachtable "ALTER TABLE ? WITH CHECK CHECK CONSTRAINT all"

f. Do a full XPP compilation and a full CIL generation

Issue description:

We have seen some scenarios while deploying Models/ModelStore among multi environments, 

that a TableMap object turns to be a Table.

Cause:

Unknown, no consistent repro pattern has been spotted

Resolution suggestion:

We take e.g. that the affected object is the 'CustVendInvoiceTrans' table map.

Run the following SQL script in order to correct the object type:

-- Assumption: Script works against dev model store

-- Assumption: Clean baseline model store is named: axdbdev_model_id_baseline (can be replaced by own naming)

-- Check existence affect object in dev environment 

SELECT m.ElementType, m.Name, m.AxId, md.LayerId, manifest.DisplayName, md.Properties as Metadata

FROM [dbo].ModelElement AS m

INNER JOIN [dbo].ModelElementData AS md

ON m.ElementHandle = md.ElementHandle

INNER JOIN [dbo].ModelManifest AS manifest

ON md.ModelId = manifest.ModelId

AND m.ElementType = 44 AND m.Name = 'CustVendInvoiceTrans'

-- Check existence affect object in baseline environment

SELECT m.ElementType, m.Name, m.AxId, md.LayerId, manifest.DisplayName, md.Properties as Metadata

FROM axdbdev_model_id_baseline.[dbo].ModelElement AS m

INNER JOIN axdbdev_model_id_baseline.[dbo].ModelElementData AS md

ON m.ElementHandle = md.ElementHandle

INNER JOIN axdbdev_model_id_baseline.[dbo].ModelManifest AS manifest

ON md.ModelId = manifest.ModelId

AND m.ElementType = 44 AND m.Name = 'CustVendInvoiceTrans'

-- Replace corrupted metadata on dev environment from baseline environment 

Update md Set md.Properties = md_base.Properties

FROM [dbo].ModelElement AS m

INNER JOIN [dbo].ModelElementData AS md

ON m.ElementHandle = md.ElementHandle

INNER JOIN axdbdev_model_id_baseline.[dbo].ModelElement AS m_base

ON m.ElementType = m_base.ElementType AND m.Name = m_base.Name

INNER JOIN axdbdev_model_id_baseline.[dbo].ModelElementData AS md_base

ON m_base.ElementHandle = md_base.ElementHandle

AND m_base.ElementType = 44 AND m_base.Name = 'CustVendInvoiceTrans' AND md_base.LayerId = 0

An earlier post by my colleague began by posing the question, “what do you do?” This post takes that thought a step further by turning the question in a slightly different direction: what’s your job?

What are you doing when you’re doing your work? For myself, a content publishing manager in the Microsoft Business Solutions division, my work is helping the writers and editors that I manage complete their work. And their work is delivering content that helps our customers get their work done.

At a high level, we assume that the work of the people we consider to be our audience is getting AX installed and configured, beginning balances and starting data imported, processes defined, users trained, and the necessary reports printing reliably. Sounds about right, but hold that thought.

I’m building a new garage and have engaged a contractor to manage the work of tearing down the existing structure, hauling away the debris, pouring a new concrete slab, replacing the wiring, completing the framing, roofing and finishing work. Yet I realized some years ago, after being disappointed with another home improvement project, that all the work that looks like it’s “the job,” isn’t the real job.

The bigger, more important objective for my garage project is not to get a new garage. It’s closer to feeling better about the place where I live. The real job is to provide the base-level necessities without compromising important relationships.

It’s to end up with a new structure that doesn’t cost more than it should, take more time than it should, fall apart sooner than it should, or leave me feeling like it didn’t go well because I didn’t understand the language a contractor uses or didn’t ask exactly the right questions in exactly the right words at exactly the right time to avoid some utterly avoidable point of frustration.

But with that same metric turned on my own work, how well do I do? How well do we – all of us at Microsoft – how well do we do that? Did we just make great improvements to the way our software runs on your touch device, only to make it more vexing to use on your laptop or PC?

Did we write the exact content you needed to troubleshoot a problem or get something in AX set up and running, but put it someplace where you couldn’t find it without asking someone else? Maybe someone completely outside your organization?

Our job should be to make sure you never, ever experience that. Doing that successfully is hard work.

While a lot of business people might not express concern about how their accounting feels, it’s still the case that a business that implements AX embarks on a significant long-term investment in software that it will run on and grow on, that can boost or reduce employee morale, that can expedite decision making that allows you to seize new opportunities, or that can encumber it.

We sell and implement our software through partners to help spread the work out, which allows people to specialize and build expertise in certain tasks. Our content team is part of that partnership. And when we do our jobs well, you’ll find the information you need, and experience the satisfaction of working with others to create a solution that facilitates lots of other successful business activity.

Well, that’s our goal. Let us know how we’re doing and what you need.

The installation was succesful, post installation tasks went to the end, the XPO projects were imported in AX, synchronisation is done and you’re sysadmin on all SQL Server instances and local Administrator of Windows servers.

The .Net business connector can connect to the AX environment as I can view a worker process when you launch the IDMF console and there is no error in the event viewer on the server where IDMF is deployed.

The macro #define.SysAdministrator('System administrator') should have been defined as a multi language capable label instead of hard coded in US English

Solution:

Go to \Classes\DMTValidateAdminUser method: vaildate user

in Standard you find there:
#define.SysAdministrator('System administrator')

because this is a French Installation you have to replace this through :

#define.SysAdministrator('Administrateur Système')

If you are looking for Information here the following hints might be of interest:

We have the following Benchmark report available. That was performed based on MS Dynamic 2012 R1 but in terms of the sizing results things remained the same so it is still valid.
Important note: The tests in the Benchmark Report were performed on "standard" solution without any branch or ISV solutions or other customizations which can have a big impact on performance!

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/northamerica/deployment/documentation/white-papers/ax2012_benchmarkpapers

Within the MS Dynamics Lifecycle Services (https://lcs.dynamics.com) there is a tool called Usage Profiler which can help you with sizing tasks. If you like please have a look here:

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/northamerica/news-events/news/MSDlifecycleservicesavailable

Also the following presentation from Informationsource portal can help you in terms of the sizing topic:

a) MS Dynamics AX 2012 Performance, Benchmarks, Features & Patterns:
https://informationsource.dynamics.com//RFPServicesOnline/Rfpservicesonline.aspx?DocName=CONV2012%3a+Microsoft+Dynamics+AX+2012+Performance%3a+Benchmarks+Features+%26+Patterns%7cQJ4JEM76642V-8-1423

b) MS Dynamics AX 2012: Solution Architecture:
https://informationsource.dynamics.com//RFPServicesOnline/Rfpservicesonline.aspx?DocName=CONV2012-Solution+Architecture%7cQJ4JEM76642V-8-1048

c) MS Dynamics AX 2012: Solution Architecture Best Practise:
https://informationsource.dynamics.com//RFPServicesOnline/Rfpservicesonline.aspx?DocName=CONV2013%3a+Microsoft+Dynamics+AX+Solution+Architecture+Best+Practices%7cQJ4JEM76642V-8-1497

We recently published a number of white papers about Project management and accounting features in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 integration with Microsoft Project

In Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, you can integrate and manage a project in both Microsoft Dynamics AX and the Microsoft Project client application. This integrated experience provides customers with a more robust and efficient project management experience. This white paper presents guidance on using the integrated functionality and information about resolving issues that you might encounter.  

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43114

Worker resource scheduling in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

A number of enhancements to the worker resource management tools in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 make it possible to schedule workers for projects and quotations more efficiently.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43112

Timesheet audit trail and absence reporting for DCAA in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3

This document describes the timesheet audit trail and absence reporting features in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 that help organizations meet requirements of the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43111

Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services has a new feature you’ll want to check out: Cloud powered support! Cloud powered support helps you manage support incidents.

How it works

Cloud powered support lets you create a virtual machine (VM) in Microsoft Azure that has the same hotfixes installed as your local environment. You can reproduce and record the incident on the virtual machine, and then submit the VM to our support team. Our support team follows up by investigating the incident, testing a fix on the virtual machine, if a fix is found, and sending the VM and the fix back to you for verification.

Note: Virtual machines are only available for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 and AX 2012 R3 environments.

The following flowchart illustrates the process of using Cloud powered support.

How to learn more

See the Cloud powered support (Lifecycle Services, LCS) article on TechNet.

I have seen a few instances with the following error: 

"System.ArgumentException: The endpoint associated with
contract :HcmMassBenefitExpirationEngine is not found.

at Microsoft.Dynamics.Ax.WCFDynamicProxy.DynamicProxyFactory.GetEndpoint(String
contractName, String contractNamespace)

at Microsoft.Dynamics.Ax.WCFDynamicProxy.DynamicProxyFactory.GetProxy(String
contractName)

at RunAsync(interpret* ip)"

This error occurs when trying mass expire a benefit.  The following steps will help you to allow this benefit to use the mass expiration functionality.

1.  Click on AOT | Service Groups | HCMServices. Right Click on HCMServices  and select Deploy Service Group

2.  Once the deployment has completed, close the info log.

3.  Click on AOT | Data Dictionary | Tables | AIFPortActionPolicy.  Right click on the AIFPortActionPolicy Table and select Open.

4.  We now need to create new record to enter the HCMMassBenefitExpirationEngineService.runExpirationProcess.

Press Control + N on the keyboard to add a new line.

In the Action ID field, select HCMMassBenefitExpirationEngineService.runExpirationProcess.

In the Port field, select AxClient

5.  Save the record and close the form.

6.  Close the Developer Workspace.

7.  Click System Administration | Setup | Services and Application Integration Framework | Inbound Ports.

8.  Select HcmService and click Deactivate.  Once the deactivation is complete, click Activate to re-activate the service.

9.  Select AxClient and click Deactivate.  Once the deactivation is complete, click Activate to re-activate the service.

10.  Close the Inbound Ports form.

11.  Click on Human Resources | Common | Benefits | Benefits.

12.  Select the Benefit you wish to mass expire and click on Mass Benefit Expiration.

13.  Click on Expire.

As we can see, we were now able to mass expire the benefit.

Thanks!

Ryan S.

With KB 2959798 a new possibility was published to define outbound ports for SEPA electronic payments differently than currently SEPACreditTransfer for SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Direct Debit for SEPA Direct Debit.

Now you can define other names for SEPA electronic ports.

Symptom:

If you have e.g.  a form grid control name which is longer than 40 characters, the MorphX Best Practice check

fails with error like:

"Unknown data source <ControlName>"

Cause:

The reason that the problem occurs is that the Best Practice check class that is generating this error

(SysBpCheckFormEditControl) uses variable of type "IdentifierName" to hold the name of the

datasource used on the control. The IdentifierName EDT is a 40 characters string but the datasource name

is several characters longer than this. Consequently, the datasource name from the control is truncated

so it does not match when compared against the actual datasource available on the form

(which are not being held in "IdentifieName" variable).

Resolution:

If you change the type of datasource from identifierName to unbounded str in

SysBPCheckFormEditControl.checkReference() method, this issue can be resolved.

Another option is adding the Best Practice error into AOT/Macros/SysBPCheckIgnore, the issue will be
resolved. E.g. add this line:

<violation errorcode="#BPError"

  path='\Forms\RetailPeriodicDiscount\Designs\DesignList\RetailPeriodicDiscount_RetailDiscountMixAndMatch_Field'/>

This is because that the errors are in the ignoreMap which is defined in SysBPCheck class. And the ignoreMap is

initialized according to the AOT/Macros/SysBPCheckIgnore Macro.

When you have discovered a product-defect and you need a hotfix as soon as possible, you have to report it to Microsoft support. Our frontline engineers will investigate the issue and in order to submit a hotfix request to the Product Group they need to collect all required information in a special format and pass it to the 2^nd level support team. We understand that we spend time on communication to collect all required information from you and this leads to delays and frustration of end users.

I believe if we get required information from the moment when you open a support request we can verify the issue on our side and pass it to the development team without a delay. Please review the  Issue Description Example to understand what we expect to receive and use this   Bug Template when you submit a new support request.

I hope it can help Microsoft Dynamics AX Partners reducing the time to receive a solution.

Basically you have 3 possibilities to proceed with the physical change of the data center locations:

1) You shut down the existing servers in the old data center in a controlled manner, transport these servers physically to the new data center and start them up there in a controlled manner again.

2) You leave the existing hardware in the old data center and configure new similar or even better hardware in the new data center. You create a backup of the data base or detach the database in the old data center. You move the data base backup or database itself only to the new data center and restore the backup or attach the database in the new data center.

3) You leave the existing hardware in the old data center and configure new similar or even better hardware in the new data center. You perform the database base change using SQL server tools in one of the following 3 ways:

a) You expand your already existing SQL server cluster with one or more new nodes in the new data center. You “provoke” a fail over manually to the new nodes in the new data center and by doing this the new nodes will become the active nodes.

b) You use SQL server feature Database Mirroring by setting up a connection from the old to the new data center

c) You use SQL server feature Log Shipping by setting up a connection from the old to the new data center

MS Dynamics AX-related hints: the latest SQL Server Version, which was supported in connection with MS Dynamics AX 4.0 is SQL Server 2008 R 2. Since MS Dynamics AX 4.0 is already out of MS product lifecycle (https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle) there is no support planned here for the latest SQL server version 2012, I’m afraid. MS recommends to migrate from MS Dynamics AX 4.0 to AX 2012 in order to gain from latest technology improvements and to have full support capabilities.

MS recommendations regarding data center change scenarios above:

If it is most important for you to have the least effort here from IT administration perspective then option 1) is the best choice if the old and the new data center are in the same Windows domain because the downtime is only to be expected for the physical transport of the hardware and after settling it there a direct controlled start up should be possible. From cost perspective you do not have to invest into new hardware here if the data center change happens for location change reasons only.

If the least available downtime is your most important goal here then you should go for option 3) a) because here the downtime is only to be expected for the timeframe it takes to process the manual fail over.

IMPORTANT:

You should at all costs test your final choice of the „data center change process“ intensively at least with a test database regardless of any specific option 1), 2) or 3) mentioned above before the real live change takes place!

Here are some more additional useful hints which could be interesting here for you:

If the domain will not change, and only the ip address + subnet is changing, you will only need to modify the ip address + subnet for the cluster and SQL:

Windows 2003:

230356 Changing the IP address of network adapters in cluster server

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;230356

258453 The Cluster Does Not Start After You Change the Subnet Mask of the Network Adapter

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;258453

SQL 2005:

244980 How to change the network IP addresses of SQL Server failover cluster instances

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;244980

How to: Change the IP Address of a SQL Server 2005 Failover Cluster

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190460(SQL.90).aspx

SQL 2008:

How to: Change the IP Address of a SQL Server Failover Cluster

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190460.aspx

For full domain change of SQL Server 2005/Windows 2003:

================================================

From a windows perspective here are the steps to move the OS cluster :

269196 How to move a Windows Server cluster from one domain to another

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;269196

For SQL 2005, the recommended way of doing this is to uninstall and then reinstall SQL 2005 after the migration. If that is not possible, this article discusses a way to edit the registry

915846 Best practices that you can use to set up domain groups and solutions to problems that may occur when you set up a domain group when you install a SQL Server 2005 failover cluster

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;915846

For full domain change of SQL Server 2008/Windows 2008:

===============================================

Cluster rebuild + SQL Uninstall/Reinstall is required:

269196 How to move a Windows Server cluster from one domain to another

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;269196

910708 You must specify the domain groups for the clustered SQL Server services when you install a SQL Server failover cluster

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;910708

Found the following way on how to customize user depended fonts for reports and forms in AX 2012 client:

(1) Open a new developer workspace

(2) Navigate in the AOT to forms, SysUserSetup, designs, design(sys), [tab:tab](sys)], right click [TabPage.Fonts] (sys) and select properties

(3) Set the property visible by default No to Yes

(4) Save and compiling you the form change.

(5) In the AX 2012 client you can now see menu file (Note: blue button top left), tools, options the fonts and set the setting there user specifically

SSRS in MS Dynamics AX 2012 RTM uses session pooling. The first request that comes in from a user – a session will be created for them within the AOS services. Each user gets a session cached on the AOS services, so subsequent calls just reuse the session which matches the user who is making the request. This means that the first time this is created for the user the report will perform slower.

SSRS in MS Dynamics AX 2012 RTM also uses a metadata cache the first request coming in which needs a certain piece of metadata, the metadata is read from the application code, and then cached in SSRS so it doesn’t have to read it subsequent times. There is one metadata cache for all users – once an object is cached in metadata, the services don’t go back to the code and retrieve it again, they just read from cache, until the cache is cleared. This is also why a report may become slower the first time it is run.

The method Classes\SRSReportRunUtil\getParameterNameValueCollection is returning a CLR data type. The type it’s returning is “System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection”. This data type is used to store a map of parameter names and their values.

If there are no parameter names or values to be stored, then we still need to return the CLR data type but we need to return it with a value of null. To do this we use the method “CLRInterop::Null” (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa623097(v=ax.10).aspx)

If this line is commented out, I believe an error would be thrown in scenarios where there are no parameter names or values in the map, because the CLR data type has not been instantiated.

In the current design, the CLRInterop::null method is called every time. However, it might be possible to move this line so that it’s only called in the scenario where there are no parameters to be stored. An IF statement at line 29 checks if the parameter passed to the method contains any elements. If it does, then the code in the IF statement runs and a new CLR data type object is instantiated. Otherwise, we jump straight to the last line (61) and return the CLR datatype, which was set to NULL.

It might be possible to set the CLR data type to NULL within an ELSE statement, see below:

“Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This mail message assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and the tools that are used to create and debug procedures.”

//nameValueCollection = CLRInterop::Null(@"System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection");

if (_reportParametersMap.elements() > 0)

{

  nameValuePairMap = SrsReportRunUtil::getReportParamNameValuePairs(_reportParametersMap);

  if (nameValuePairMap != null && nameValuePairMap.elements() > 0)

{

// convert the X++ map to a .NET NameValueCollection sorted by RDL parameter order

// BP Deviation documented.

collectionSize = nameValuePairMap.elements();

nameValueCollection = new System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection(collectionSize);

sortedParameterNameList = SrsReportRunUtil::getRdlOrderParameterNameList(_reportParametersMap);

listEnum = sortedParameterNameList.getEnumerator();

while (listEnum.moveNext())

{

  parameterName = listEnum.current();

  if (parameterName && nameValuePairMap.exists(parameterName))

{

// The .Net NameValueCollection keeps the inserted order and allows inserting the same name more than once

// although we are guaranteed unique parameter names

nameValueCollection.Add(parameterName, nameValuePairMap.lookup(parameterName));

}

}

CodeAccessPermission::revertAssert();

}

}

// Begin: Adding call to CLRInterop::Null in ELSE statement

else

{

nameValueCollection = CLRInterop::Null(@"System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection");

CodeAccessPermission::revertAssert();

}

// End