Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2 Administration Cookbook

379 Pages·2013·8.08 MB·English

by  Simon Buxton

Microsoft Dynamics
AX 2012 R2
Administration
Cookbook
Over 90 hands-on recipes to efficiently administer
and maintain your Dynamics AX 2012 implementation
Simon Buxton
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R2
Administration Cookbook
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First published: November 2013
Production Reference: 1191113
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Cover Image by Artie Ng ([email protected])
Credits
Author Project Coordinator
Simon Buxton Kranti Berde
Reviewers Proofreader
Andrew Birch Samantha Lyon
Janet E Blake
Mohit Rajvanshy Indexer
Tejal Daruwale
Martin Winkler
Graphics
Acquisition Editor
Ronak Dhruv
Harsha Bharwani
Production Coordinator
Lead Technical Editor
Melwyn D'sa
Azharuddin Sheikh
Cover Work
Technical Editors
Melwyn D'sa
Rosmy George
Krishnaveni Haridas
Shali Sasidharan
Copy Editors
Alisha Aranha
Dipti Kapadia
Gladson Monteiro
Sayanee Mukherjee
Karuna Narayanan
Kirti Pai
Laxmi Subramanian
About the Author
Simon Buxton has worked with Dynamics AX since its earliest incarnations, starting out
as a consultant and developer in early 1999 when Dynamics AX was known as Damgaard
Axapta 1.5.
He quickly became a team leader at Columbus IT Partners, and carried out one of the first
AX implementations in UK before joining a new reseller, Sense Enterprise Solutions, as its
Technical Director. Sense Enterprise Solutions enjoyed a global reach through the AxPact
alliance, where Simon was placed as AxPact's Technical Lead. Simon played a major role
in growing the company into a successful Microsoft partner and was the Technical Lead on
a number of highly challenging technical projects around the world—from UK to Bahrain to
USA. These projects include developing solutions for third-party logistics, multichannel retail,
and eventually developing an animal feed vertical as well as integrating Dynamics AX into
production control systems, government gateways, and e-commerce solutions among others.
Sense Enterprise Solutions was sold to a major PLC, and since then Simon has teamed up
with Binary Consultants as their Technical Architect, where he works with some of the most
technically able AX and Microsoft .NET professionals in Europe. Binary Consultants are
involved in the implementation, upgrades, and support of Microsoft Dynamics AX, and the
development of add-ons for AX 2012 (under the name Axponents) and setting up vertical
solutions for the production of animal feed.
Simon has been a reviewer on Implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 with Sure Step
2012, which was published in March 2013.
I would like to thank my colleagues at Binary Consultants, specifically Andrew
Birch for his assistance and seemingly tireless debate, and Clare Morrissey for
her support with proofreading. I would also like to thank all those who helped
to review this book; without them, this wouldn't be possible. Finally, I have to
thank my partner, Evi, for her patience when I disappeared for hours each
night tapping away on my laptop. Of course, no bio could be complete without
mentioning my children, Tyler and Isabella, who gave me more inspiration
than they could ever know.
About the Reviewers
Andrew Birch started his career initially in network infrastructure engineering and then
moved on to analysis and design for software development. With over 15 years of experience
in the technology industry and 10 years working with Microsoft Dynamics AX, he has become
a leading proponent of Dynamics AX in Europe, speaking at a number of Microsoft events and
wining top industry awards for the projects led by him.
Andrew currently runs Binary Consultants with some of the most experienced, brightest, and
creative Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft .NET professionals in the world. Andrew is the
Lead Solution Architect for Binary, which has offices in four countries and is heavily involved in
the creation and implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX solutions for Binary's clients.
In March 2013, Andrew's co-authored book Implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
with Sure Step 2012 was published.
I would like to thank all our clients from Binary for providing the challenges
that fuel the culture of innovation and development within our team and
allow us to constantly strive to excel in all we do.
Janet E Blake was introduced to Axapta in 2006 by a friend who promised her that she would
never get bored, and kept that promise. Now, as part of the team, she is is a Technical Solution
Architect at mcaConnect, LLC. She has two degrees from the New York University and spends
her free time blogging, searching for AX books, and pondering over her next certification.
Mohit Rajvanshy has spent nearly 10 years working on Microsoft Dynamics AX. He started
his career working with Microsoft Axapta 3.0 in 2004 and since then has continued with his
professional journey by working with various Microsoft Dynamics AX releases. Mohit worked
as a technical lead and developer, delivering various customization, upgrades, and integration
projects in Microsoft Dynamics AX. He is certified in Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 and AX 2012.
His profile is available at https://www.mcpvirtualbusinesscard.com/VBCServer/
mohit.rajvanshy/profile.
Currently, Mohit is working for Avanade Inc. and based out in Seattle, USA. Avanade is
Microsoft's largest Dynamics AX delivery partner.
Mohit has a passion for photography (http://www.flickr.com/photos/
mohitrajvanshy/) and likes to travel. Mohit also contributes to the Microsoft Dynamics
Community via his blog that is available at http://daxer-dynamicsax.blogspot.com/.
Martin Winkler has over 10 years of experience with Microsoft Dynamics AX. After
receiving his Master's degree in Mathematical Computer Sciences at Vienna University of
Technology, he gained experience as a web technology consultant at Capgemini and later
as a BI consultant at a consulting company specializing in CFO-targeted services.
In 2003, Martin Winkler joined a newly founded company that specialized in Microsoft
Dynamics AX services. Starting as a developer and then as Head of IT, he finally became
Head of Development, leading a team of up to 10 developers from 2007 onwards. In 2008,
the company was merged with FWI, making it the largest Dynamics AX partner in Austria.
Additionally, he built a team of AX performance experts.
While staying with development, he mostly worked as Technical Lead Consultant for Microsoft
Dynamics AX for several corporate customers with implementations in Europe, Middle East,
North Africa, and North America, with up to 1000 users. He also carried out numerous
projects in the areas of Dynamics AX performance and Microsoft BI.
Together with two long-term colleagues, Martin Winkler founded his own company in 2013,
Semantax Business Consulting GmbH (www.semantax.at). This company specializes in
services and products based on Microsoft Dynamics AX in the areas of solution architecture
(both on technical and business side), finance, cost accounting, and budgeting. The question
this company asks its customers is "Already controlling, or still only posting?"
Over the last decade, Martin Winkler has met the author of the book at several technical
conferences on Microsoft Dynamics AX. He was impressed not only with the author's in-depth
technical knowledge, but also with his understanding of the business and process side of the
ERP industry. He was honored to be asked to review this book.
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Managing Users in AX 2012 7
Introduction 7
Creating a new Dynamics AX user 8
Creating a Claims (flexible authentication) user 14
Importing users from the Active Directory 20
Understanding the user request workflow 25
Defining user relations and basic roles in human resources 27
Assigning roles to users 29
Assigning profiles to users 35
Managing users by PowerShell commands 38
User groups, what happened? 39
Chapter 2: Working with Licensing in AX 2012 41
Introduction 41
Adding a new license key 42
Importing a license file 47
Managing configuration keys 48
Reporting your user license count to Microsoft 51
Making the most out of your AX 2012 license 54
Chapter 3: Model Management 57
Introduction 57
Transferring an XPO 59
Installing an AX model 64
Managing conflicts 68
Uninstalling a model 75
Exporting or importing a model store 77