Engineer / Solution Architect / Dynamics 365-AX Technical Consultant / Instructor (MCT)

In this article, I will talk about what needs to be done after creating a new development environment. The first step is to log into Visual Studio. Then, I will explain how to connect to the Azure DevOps project. I intend to summarize the steps to be taken before starting development in a few articles.

In these installations, I will use the development environment we built on Azure. I explained how to deploy a development environment in my previous articles. Once the machine is deployed, you can download and connect Remote Desktop connection information via LCS. Currently Visual Studio 2015 comes installed, but there will be a migration to new versions of Visual Studio soon. Visual Studio must be opened with Run as administrator. For convenience, right click on Visual Studio and click Pin to taskbar.

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Right click on the Visual Studio icon in the task bar and click Properties

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Click Advanced from the screen that opens. Check Run as administrator and click OK. This eliminates the need to do this every time you open it. Also, if you forget this, some functions do not work, and you will waste time.

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We need to Sign in with an account authorized for Visual Studio.

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I use an account created for this project.

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Software developers like to use Dark themes, but I use the classic theme because I have difficulty reading on dark screen.

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If there is no problem with your user’s authorization, your login will be completed. Dynamics 365 menu is available. I will talk about the menus here in my next articles. Now open the Team Explorer screen.

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Open the connection page with the Manage Connections link.

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Nothing appears in the Select a Team Foundation Server section. The reason for this is that the user login I used to connect to Visual Studio is not authorized for the Azure DevOps project that we connect to LCS.

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Open the Azure DevOps project and invite the user to the project by clicking Invite.  Of course, you must log in with an authorized user in Azure DevOps. Since I have the information of the Admin account, I logged in with it.

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When I type my username from the search, it automatically appears. I select and add it.

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Also, since I want to have Admin rights in this project, I add my user to the Administrators section as shown in the picture.

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When I looked back to Visual Studio, I could see my project. To do this, you need to restart Visual Studio. Refreshing doesn’t work.

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When you click Connect, you will be connected to your Azure DevOps project. You will see the link under Visual Studio Team Services as shown below.

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In this article, I talked about the initial settings required for a new Devbox. First of all, it is very important to open Visual Studio with admin rights. It is often forgotten, so I explained how to make a definition to automate it. Then, we established the connection to our Azure DevOps project, which is required for the version control of our application. Now we can move on to the other settings. I will talk about Model, Package and Branch setups in my next articles.

Regards.

www.fatihdemirci.net

TAGs: Microsoft Life Cycle Services, LCS, Azure, Azure DevOps, Microsoft Dynamics 365, MsDyn365FO, MsDyn365CE, MsDyn365, Dynamics 365 Insights Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apps, Power Virtual Agents, what is Dynamics 365, Dynamics 365 ERP, Dynamics 365 CRM

In this article, I will show you how you can open a support case via Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations and access automatically-generated support records via LCS and Azure DevOps.

First, some basic setups need to be made. In my previous articles, I explained how to setup Help. If you follow the setups there, you can create a support case without having to do anything else. When you click the question mark and click Support, if you have not installed, the LCS connection screen will appear.

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You can click the link and establish the connection. It will be connected without entering any information here.

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When the connection is successful, the following screen will appear. You can now create a support case.

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Click on the question mark again and click Support.

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On the screen that opens, you can enter many details about your support case. First, enter the title and description of the issue.  You can create a task record and add it here. If there is a file log, you can add it. You can indicate if the issue prevents you from working. The more details provided here, the easier the solution will be.

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For Send to be active, you have to click Yes for the email notification. Then, when you click Send, the following screen will appear.

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The support case you created will be sent as follows.

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To view the support request you created on LCS, open your project and click Support.

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The support case you created appears in the support issues section. You can follow the actions from here. Also, a Work Item has been created in Azure DevOps. You can open Azure DevOps Work Item record by clicking directly on the support case name.

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You can also see the support case you created in Azure DevOps. From here, you can follow the necessary steps to solve it.

In this article, I tried to explain how to enter a new support case and view it via LCS and Azure DevOps. Support has always been a painful process for business applications. It’s not easy to get users who just take a screenshot of the error and post it to enter detailed support cases. However, this mechanism will reduce the IT workload and make it easier to track. For this reason, it’s best to encourage business units to use this place. For example, support cases entered here can be prioritized and resolved quickly.

Regards.

www.fatihdemirci.net

TAGs: Microsoft Life Cycle Services, LCS, Azure, Azure DevOps, Support Case, Microsoft Dynamics 365, MsDyn365FO, MsDyn365CE, MsDyn365, Dynamics 365 Insights Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apps, Power Virtual Agents, what is Dynamics 365, Dynamics 365 ERP, Dynamics 365 CRM

In this article, I will try to explain how to set up the Azure connection required to Deploy Dynamics 365 For Finance and Operations via Lifecycle Services. First, open your project from Lifecycle Services. Under Environments, click on Microsoft Azure settings.

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Your Azure Connectors will appear from the Azure connectors tab, if any. Since I have an available connection for this environment, it appears on the list. When you check here again after completing these steps, the connection should be established.  You can start adding a new link by clicking the + Add button.

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In the window that opens, Name will be the name we gave for the link.  In the Azure subscription ID section, you must enter the code of the Azure membership we want to connect to. Tenant Domain information will automatically be available. You should mark Azure Rsource Manager(ARM) as Yes. Proceed to the next page by clicking Next.

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You must have given the Dynamics Deployment Services authorization that I mentioned in my previous article before this step. If you have, you will see the screen below. Proceed to the next page by clicking Next.

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Before continuing, you need to download the Management certificate and upload it to the Microsoft Azure Portal. You can leave this page open.

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Sign in to the Azure portal and choose the membership you want to connect with.

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Click on the Management certificates section and click the Upload button in the window that opens.

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Select the certificate you downloaded and install it.

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When you see this screen, it means the installation process is completed.

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You can return to the screen in Lifecycle Services and continue by clicking the Next button. After this stage, you can continue without any errors. 

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In the Azure region, you usually choose West Europe.

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After clicking the Connect button, you should see an item like the one below in your Azure Connection list. At this point, the connection is complete.

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In this article, I tried to explain how to set up Azure connection through Lifecycle Services. Since Dynamics 365 is a structure running on Azure, it is necessary to have knowledge about many Azure issues. I plan to continue writing articles on these topics. I hope it is useful for you.

Regards.

www.fatihdemirci.net

TAGs: Lifecycle Services, LCS, Azure, Azure DevOps, Dynamics 365, MsDyn365FO, MsDyn365CE, MsDyn365, Dynamics 365 Insights, what is Dynamics 365, Dynamics 365 ERP, Dynamics 365 CRM, Azure Connections

With Dynamics 365, we met Developer VMs and since they work on a pay-as-you-go logic, they must be closed when you are not working with them. Especially in projects where multiple software developers are working, it is useful to arrange the virtual machine opening and closing in order to avoid problems in terms of cost and time management. In this article, I will explain the Auto-Shutdown feature that comes with Azure. I will also talk about a product you can use for more advanced adjustments.

First, let’s talk about Azure Auto-shutdown. This feature allows you to automatically shut down your virtual machines at a certain time every day. It also allows you to take special action with notification emails. Let’s take a quick look at how to set up and get notifications.

Enter the Azure Portal and choose your virtual machine. Click on Auto-shutdown from the menu.

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On the page that opens, we set the Enabled section to On.  Select the time and time zone you want it to turn off. Send notification before auto-shutdown? This is very useful. Sometimes it is necessary to work overtime, or a process that you run takes a long time. In such cases, notification and postponement links in the notification make it easier. You can send these notifications to a service over a web with Webhook URL. I have never used this. I usually use the Email Address. You can add as many e-mails as you want with semicolons. After completing the definitions, you can save them by clicking Save.

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When it’s time to shut down, you will receive an email like the one below. Using the links, you can postpone it for 1 or 2 hours, or skip it for once.

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As the name suggests, Auto-shutdown does not have a mechanism to open the virtual machine, it only performs shutdown. You can use the Start/Stop VMs during off-hours option in Azure Marketplace for this.

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It tells you what you need when you open it and how to activate it. Just start with Create and follow the steps. It has a simple setup, so I will not go through it step by step. Thanks to this tool, you can turn off/turn on your VMs at any time. For example, if the work starts at 9:00, it would make sense to open it at 8:30.

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In this article, I talked about the Azure Auto-shutdown tool used to automatically shut down your virtual machines and the Start/Stop VMs during off-hours tool that can also do a turn on operation. It is beneficial to build these tools well in order to manage costs effectively.

Regards.

www.fatihdemirci.net

TAGs: Microsoft Life Cycle Services, LCS, Azure, Azure DevOps, Azure Auto-shutdown, Microsoft Dynamics 365, MsDyn365FO, MsDyn365CE, MsDyn365, Dynamics 365 Insights Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apss, Power Virtual Agents, what is Dynamics 365, Dynamics 365 ERP, Dynamics 365 CRM

In this article, I will try to explain step by step how to deploy a new virtual machine for new X++ developments. In this example, I will explain how to do this in a client environment. It has a similar logic in virtual machines for partner or educational purposes.

First, we log in to Lifecycle Services. Select your project and select Cloud-hosted environments from the hamburger menu.

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A page will open and list your environments. Here you can view the details and manage their status. For a new environment, click the + Add button.

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The first screen that opens has Application Version and Platform Version. You usually select the most recent one. Of course, you should select the version of your environment here. Click Next to proceed.

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Here you select the type of the environment. Available options are Demo and DevTest. For development, you should select DevTest.

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There are two options here. First one is used for Build or Test. For development, you should select Develop. For additional Test or Build environments, you should use the option above.

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Here you can adjust the environment settings. First give a name. This name is not virtual machine’s name. We will set it from the advanced settings. The most important option is D12 machines that are recommended for you, but if you want it to be a little faster and money is not an issue, definitely choose D13. Think of it like D13 is exactly twice as D12 in terms of money and configuration. You can view the advanced settings by clicking Advanced Settings.

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You can make advanced settings from the screen that opens. You don’t need to change many settings.  I will talk about the important ones. Visual Studio Version has two options.  Pro and Enterprise, use whichever suits you best.

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Here you can find the details of the version. Generally, you need to keep all development versions the same.

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Here you can choose whether you want Demo data in your environment. Generally, this is not necessary for the customer environment. If you are going to use Management Reporter, you can select demo data for it as well.

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In this section you can adjust the disk sizes. These settings are sufficient for general improvements.

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You can enter the virtual machine name here. If you leave it blank, it automatically assigns a name, and it’s not a good one.

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After completing the settings, you can start the deploy process by clicking Next.

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You will then be able to see your new environment in Deploying status in the list below. It usually takes 3-4 hours to complete. I’ve seen it take less. I did not start Deploy because it was not needed for this environment.  When these steps are done, the virtual machine will be ready. Even if you see the virtual machine when you go to the Azure side, do not try to open it before the process is completed. In order to properly use the environment, this must be Deployed.

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In this article, I briefly explained how to deploy a new development machine and I will explain the necessary settings to start developing on this machine in my next articles.

Regards.

www.fatihdemirci.net

TAGs: Microsoft Life Cycle Services, LCS, Azure, Azure DevOps,X++, Project onboarding, Microsoft Dynamics 365, MsDyn365FO, MsDyn365CE, MsDyn365, Dynamics 365 Insights Power BI, Power Automate, Power Apss, Power Virtual Agents, what is Dynamics 365, Dynamics 365 ERP, Dynamics 365 CRM