Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 introduces a new way to handle SIFT. Instead of maintaining totals in separate tables, Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 uses a SQL feature called indexed views. Indexed views will automatically be maintained by the SQL Server.

With SQL Server 2000, updating an indexed view can be a time consuming process as the SQL Server 2000 might decide to include a clustered index scan as part of its query plan to update the view. If your Microsoft Dynamics NAV implementation includes tables with many records and is based on Microsoft SQL Server 2000 there is a potential risk for experiencing bad performance.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 is optimized for Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and you should consider to upgrade to SQL Server 2005 if you are implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1.

The problem described here, only applies to SQL Server 2000. SQL Server 2005 handles the updates of indexed views much more efficiently.

These postings are provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confer no rights. You assume all risk for your use.

CustomerSource

PartnerSource

If you are submitting an electronic support request, be sure to include these details in your description of the situation.

The following guide can help you prepare for a support request:

Microsoft Dynamics Solution Information

1.     Describe the procedure you were trying to accomplish when the error occurred.

o    What was the exact error message? Can you please provide screen shots?

o    What module (Financial, Sales, etc.) were you working in?

o    What window were you using?

o    What were you doing when you got the message?

2.     What version of the product are you using? (Please provide steps to retrieve GP and add-on build numbers)

3.     What steps have you tried so far to resolve the situation?

4.     Have you been able to complete the task before? If so, what is different since the last time you completed the task?

5.     Does the problem occur from any other workstation or with another user?

6.     Do you have similar problems in other modules as well?

7.     Do you have any third-party products (applications developed by another vendor) loaded?

8.     Are you able to recreate the problem?

9.     Do you have a backup system in place? Can a backup be restored?

10.  Can you provide a dexsql.log and Sql trace?

Hardware/System Information

1.     What type of server is being used? (Windows NT, Windows 2000, etc.)

2.     What operating system are the client workstations running? (Windows XP, Windows NT, Windows Vista, etc.)

3.     How many workstations have the problem?

4.     Are there any workstations that are working? What is different about these workstations?

5.     Does the hardware satisfy our minimum requirements?

6.     How much RAM do you have? How much available disk space do you have on the server and workstations?

7.     What protocols do you have loaded on the server and/or on the workstation? (TCP/IP, IPX/SPX or NETBEUI)

8.     What type of network card is being used on the server/workstation?

9.     What type of network hub are you using?

10.  How many users do you normally have on the system?

Sunita Patel

In response to a lot of feedback, the PartnerSource site (login required) has recently been updated. This post describes some of the improvements, and lists a number of new features which are designed to help you find the content you need.

If you have been away from PartnerSource for a while, then I hope you will take this opportunity to re-visit the site and to follow the links below to find som really useful ways to find content.

Below are some examples of improved areas.

See the latest updates by the product you are interested in:

Click on Solutions, and select your product. This gives you the newest content, grouped by the following categories:

• News
• Sales & Marketing
• Support & Deployment
• Training
• certification

In addition to this, you can subscribe to each category so you will get an email notification whenever new content arrives.

Support hot topics:

Click on Support and select "Hot Topics". Here you can get topics by date, by product, and by type (Hot topics / Product Releases / Hotfixes etc).

Email notifications (RSS feeds):

As mentinoed above, you can now subscribe to updates in specific categories. Click here to get a full list of RSS feeds that you can subscribe to. The list includes RSS feeds lilke "Most Recent KB articles" and "Most Viewed KB Articles", for each product (NAV, AX, GP, CRM and SL).

Finally, a few links that I would recommend that you try out:

• Knowledge Base Articles added for Microsoft Dynamics NAV
• Granule List for Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Use the list to determine what objects are included in a certain granule or in what granule a specific object is included)
• Knowledge Base Articles added for Microsoft Dynamics AX
• Knowledge Base Articles added for Microsoft Dynamics GP and SBF
• Knowledge Base Articles added in  for Microsoft Dynamics CRM
  

As always,  you can add comments just below. I encourage any comments to what other features / problems / wishes / questions / etc that would help PartnerSource help you!

Lars Lohndorf-Larsen 
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
EMEA Customer Support & Services - SMS&P
Microsoft UK Ltd

It is now possible to manage your Dynamics CRM 4.0 environment from within Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, using the download available here

The following overview is taken from the same article :-

The views, tasks, rules, and knowledge specific to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 that comprise this Management Pack provide the means for MOM users to centrally manage the server application, its component services, and the computers on which they run. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Management Pack also collects performance analysis and capacity planning data by tracking application performance and user load.
By managing these Microsoft Dynamics CRM components in MOM, the administrator can respond quickly to critical events and key performance indicators, and take action to prevent service outages, reduce the resolution time for alert conditions, and increase the overall availability and performance of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM system.
Feature Bullet Summary:

• Monitors the availability and health of the following component services:
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM Asynchronous Processing service
  • World Wide Web Publishing
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM Deletion service
  • Microsoft Dynamics CRM databases
• Monitors the availability and health of the following application components and functionality:
  • Deletion of deleted records
  • Operability of ISV plug-ins
  • Web application requests processing, SOAP exceptions, and unexpected failures
• Detects brute-force attacks and denial of service attacks.
• Monitors the performance metrics of the following components:.
  • Web application requests processing
  • Database query processing
• Monitors the system for configuration-related failures.

Regards,

Iain McDonald.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Technical Lead.

EMEA Customer Support & Services - SMS&P

I am glad to state that Service Pack 2 (aka -  GP 10 Feature Pack) has been released.

CD 1 and CD 2 are now on one single DVD.  The Rapid Migration, Rapid Configuration, and Performance Point Integration tools will be available at a later date.

The DVD is available at the links below:

CustomerSource

PartnerSource

The System Requirements pages have also been updated with the Windows Server 2008 compatibility.  SQL 2008 will be added once it RTM’s in July. Certain products are not supported on Windows Server 2008, so please check out the matrix. 

Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 System Requirements

CustomerSource

PartnerSource

Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 Web Application System Requirements

CustomerSource

PartnerSource

Best Regards

Kevin Tunstall BSc

Microsoft Dynamics GP Support Specialist

I am happy to state that the KB 951229 is now live!

This knowledge base article lists the frequently asked questions about role-based security in Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0

Many partners and customers have queried the security in GP 10 so this document should be helpful as a 1st point of call when questions arise.

Please click here for article.

Best Regards

Kevin Tunstall BSc

Microsoft Dynamics GP Support Specialist

I am happy to announce that Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 and Update Toolkit are available to do from PartnerSource.

The release is currently for GR0 and GR1 countries but eventually all country version will be available.

This release includes a significant amount of new application features and enhancements that will benefit existing partners and customers while attracting new customers.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 delivers the following:

• New and enhanced application functionality to support increased business productivity (see list of the new and enhanced functionality in the “Changes in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 document” included in the release note).
• Even greater integration with other Microsoft products and technologies.
• C/SIDE and technology improvements.

Find more information about Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 on PartnerSource:

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 - Download page

Best Regards,

Zeeshan Mehdi
Microsoft Dynamics NAV Support Professional
EMEA Customer Support & Services - SMS&P
Microsoft UK Ltd

This webcast will cover the following features:

–         Multiple Ship to

–         Enhanced delivery date control

–         Direct Delivery

–         Transfer Orders

–         Release Sales Order Picking

Registration:

Delegates can book their places on this webcast via the Microsoft Partner Learning Centre using a .NET passport/ Windows Live ID on: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=247302

Dates & Times: Thursday May 29, 2008: 5:00pm – 6:00pm CET, 1 hour

Location: Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 (upon registration you will receive login details).

Delivery Language: This session will be presented in English. 

Microsoft Dynamics Self and Assisted Technical Support Options:  How can unmanaged partners take full advantage of the Dynamics technical support options.

Registration:

Delegates can book their places on this webcast via the Microsoft Partner Learning Centre using a .NET passport/ Windows Live ID on: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=246542

Dates & Times: Tuesday May 27, 2008: 5:00pm – 6:00pm CET, 1 hour

Location: Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 (upon registration you will receive login details).

Delivery Language: This session will be presented in English. 

Additional Logistics: Upon registering and receiving the login details, please ensure that you have read through the instructions contained in this document carefully in order to avoid problems connecting to your meeting on the day of the webcast.

ADDITIONAL INVITES: If you wish to receive invitations for MBS run webcasts which relate to AX, NAV and/or CRM, please send an email to emeareg@microsoft.com to inform us of your preference. If you no longer wish to receive these invitations, please send an e-mail to emeareg@microsoft.com.

Queries: EMEA Registration, emeareg@microsoft.com, Phone: +31 23 5656 510

The way Dynamics NAV manages SIFTs in version 5.0 SP1 is a radical step forward from previous versions. Dynamics NAV is now leveraging the power of native SQL Server functionality for this important feature.  Prior to SP1, ever since Dynamics NAV was first ported to SQL Server, each SIFT index was implemented as a separate SQL Server table which had to be updated by a standard SQL Server trigger every time the base data table was changed.  Building just a few SIFT indexes could slow certain Dynamics NAV operations significantly and many partners have had to become quite adept at SIFT performance tweaking.

All of this is considerably simplified in Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1. SIFT tables are a thing of the past, SIFT triggers are no more. SIFT indexes are now implemented as “Indexed Views” which are a powerful feature of the SQL Server database engine. When you update a Dynamics NAV table which includes one or more SIFT indexes, SQL Server’s Indexed View(s) will automatically take care of maintaining the SIFT totals.

A SQL Indexed View is a materialised view which is most often used to keep aggregated totals based on a related SQL Server table. As Indexed Views are an integral part of the database engine they can maintain SIFT totals more efficiently than a structure involving custom TSQL triggers and separate tables. As a bonus, we will never have to worry about “zero SIFT records” ever again!

Part of this change means that you can no longer specify SIFT levels as all key columns are now included in each SIFT index. The “SIFTLevels” column (i.e. SIFTLevelsToMaintain property) has been removed from the Key maintenance window in Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1.

This change, along with other performance enhancements in Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 (e.g. batching repeated inserts for the database into a single “Bulk Insert” operation), have delivered very significant improvements in the speed of certain typical Dynamics NAV operations.

If you would like to know more about this and some of the other significant SQL changes in Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 why not join the Webcast on this subject scheduled for 6/5/08. This will be one hour well spent if you have an interest in Dynamics NAV running on SQL Server.

For more details about the Webcast see: http://blogs.msdn.com/ukdynsupport/archive/2008/04/17/webcast-sql-related-changes-in-microsoft-dynamics-nav-5-0-sp1.aspx

For more information about other improvements in Dynamics NAV 5.0 SP1 see: http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_dynamics_nav_sustained_engineering/archive/2007/11/30/overview-of-microsoft-dynamics-nav-w1-5-0-sp1.aspx

For more details about SQL Server Indexed Views see SQL Server 2005 Book online.

Best regards,

Gerard Conroy

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Support, UK.

The Scalability document for GP has been updated for GP 10.0.  Here are the links on PartnerSource and CustomerSource.  This paper does include additional information specific to Payroll, as well. Best Regards

PartnerSource - Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 Scalability on SQL Server 2005 White Paper

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/documentation/whitepapers/gp10.0scalabilitysql.htm?printpage=false

CustomerSource - Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 Scalability on SQL Server 2005 White Paper

https://mbs.microsoft.com/customersource/documentation/whitepapers/gp10scalabilitysql_eng.htm?printpage=false

This white paper documents the successful performance benchmark testing of GP 10.0 running with 1,000 constant concurrent users in heavy transaction processing and analysis activity across various functional areas of the solution. This document includes sample customer environment processing more than 2.6 million business transactions (with a total of more than 8.31 million transactions line items) in an 8 hour day and real life customer results.

Best Regards

SP1 for Microsoft Dynamics NAV version 5 introduces a number of new platform changes to help improving performance when running NAV on SQL Server. This webcast will give details of these changes.

Partners can sign up through the link below:

Register for - SQL-related changes in NAV 5 SP1

Agenda:

1)  Pre-prepared SQL statements to help resolve problems with forms being slow
2)  Redesign of the SIFT system to use Indexed Views instead of SIFT tables
3)  The SQLIndex-property on keys is no longer used in the standard application
4)  New Bulk Insert functionality

Dates and times:

Tuesday May 6, 2008: 5:00pm – 6:00pm CET, duration 1 hour

Location:

Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 (upon registration you will receive login details).

Delivery language:

This session will be presented in English.

Presenters:

Lars Lohndorf-Larsen

Jasminka Vukovic

I hope to see you there,

Lars Lohndorf-Larsen,

Microsoft Dynamics Support, UK

The Dynamics AX Performance Team's blog is now up and running. The first entries will discuss SQL Server 2005 configuration and Best Practices for Dynamics Ax and they'll be covering a much wider range of topics over the coming months, such as Dynamics AOS configuration, X++ profiling, and leveraging new features of SQL Server 2008.

 Visit the Blog here: http://blogs.msdn.com/axperf/

 Best Regards,

Tariq Bell

Now that we are starting to see our first hotfixes being released for Dynamics CRM 4.0, I wanted to let you know where you can review these as they are released.

Microsoft have published a Knowledge Base article here which will be updated with any new updates or hotfixes, as they become available.

Currently there are some updates to the Setup files for CRM 4.0 and also updated Help Files.

For me, the key issue that has been addressed is the "Microsoft.Crm.CrmArgumentException: Invalid domain name. Domain name is either invalid or unreachable" error that many of you reported running into during installations or upgrades.

Regards,

Iain McDonald.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Technical Lead.

EMEA Customer Support & Services - SMS&P