Tip #660: Talk to your network administrator if you split Dynamics CRM server roles

Messy network

Be nice to your network administrators. Really. They may be pain in the neck but they are the ones keeping the bad stuff out. If you install Dynamics CRM with all roles on one machine, it typically goes well and rarely requires fiddling with the firewalls. However, once you start splitting the roles, e.g. offloading […]

Tip #659: Installing Dynamics CRM on a named SQL Server instance

I don't trip

It is possible to install Dynamics CRM On-premises using SQL Server named instance. For most parts, the process is straightforward and no different from a “standard” installation except that you have to use server_name\instance_name notation when referring to SQL Server. But sometimes things don’t go according to the plan and this is what I learned: […]

Tip #656: Dynamics CRM Online is truly global with multi-regional deployments

Pangea supercontinent

If you have or are a multinational customer with the user base spread around the globe, CRM Online offers multiregional instances. It means you can keep your local data in the regional datacenter for performance, regulatory and corporate governance reasons. Your tenant needs to be enabled for multi-region deployment and you need to request this […]

Tip #655: Defensive use of undocumented functions

Black box

This is a sweet lesson for all the lovers of the undocumented functions. On odd occasion yours truly is guilty of being lazy and choosing a shortcut worthy spießrutenlaufen. From time to time those fits of laziness come back hard. For a long time I’ve been using SaveAsCompleted internal function on a command bar for […]

Tip #652: Promote to admin explained

Promote to admin privilege

I’ve already seen some articles about “Promote To Admin” button, new in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 Update 1, explaining in details how this button makes admin life easier by allowing quickly grant a user System Administrator role. All of the articles miss one important function that this button allows you to do. The functionality we’ve […]

Tip #650: The real role to manage Dynamics CRM Online

Role playing game

Few days ago we explained how to give your O365 users ability to manage CRM Online features but without being a Global Administrator. O365 admin portal UI gave us Service administrator role. We suspected it’s too much but decided to let it go for the sake of simplicity. Thanks to the insight from Hans Worst […]