Dave Ireland - MSCRM Development

CRM 4.0 Rollup 1 released

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:25:19 GMT

Nearly 1 year after its general release, the first cumulative rollup patch is available for Microsoft CRM 4.0

Tips for installing CRM 4.0 on Windows Server 2008

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 12:07:36 GMT

Having installed CRM (both v3 and v4) on Windows 2003 Server-based systems literally hundreds of times over the past few years, you get into a routine of being able to fix things before they break. On Win2003 there were a few settings you could check before you installed CRM that would ensure the installer finished the first time.

Yesterday I did my first install on Windows 2008 Server. Luckily, I spend some time in the CRM Public newsgroups and knew there were a lot of people that ran into a lot of snags while trying to get CRM 4.0 working on Win2008. But their misfortune was my good fortune - Microsoft had received enough questions that they created a KB article on common issues resolution. Armed with this KB, I went in with my usual 'what could possibly go wrong?' attitude.

To be honest, the CRM installation went pretty smoothly, but I am getting ahead of myself. My first task was to get SQL Server and SSRS installed on the database server, which was also running Win2008. There is surprisingly little in the way of quick references for installing SQL2005 on Win2008.

Undaunted, I ran the setup.exe for SQL2005 Standard, only to be told that I was missing some features: namely IIS. But I had installed IIS (and even the IIS6 compatibility components), so I was stumped by this one. Eventually I came across this KB, which described how to install SSRS on Windows 2008. Turns out there was one option I had not selected when installing the IIS Service Role, and as soon as I followed the instructions in the KB, the SQL installer finally recognized IIS.

So for Installing SQL Server 2005 on Win2008, here are my recommendations:

Follow the steps in this KB to set up IIS properly.
Also install the "Application Server" role, so that .Net 3.0 will be installed (SSRS doesn't use it, but the CRM Data Connector that you will install after the CRM will require it)
Install SQL 2005 including the database engine, SSRS, and any other modules you like.
During installation, check the box that says to 'install SSRS but do not configure'
After SQL is installed, download and run the SQL2005 SP2 (this is mandatory).
Reboot
Configure Reporting Services as per normal

Once SQL is installed, you're nearly home-free. Earlier in the article I mentioned a Microsoft KB that details the resolution of a number of common issues. Being the pragmatic sort, I decided to go through each 'resolution' before I installed the CRM in the hopes of avoiding the big red X during installation. This proved to be worthwhile, as there were a few settings that I had to tweak.

For installing CRM 4.0 on Win2008, here are my recommendations:

Review each resolution in this KB, and ensure your server settings match up to what's documented
Also install the "Application Server" role, so that .Net 3.0 will be installed
Run the CRM installer - it should all go well from this point

Hope this helps someone with their installation!

Dave

CRM Case Study - When life hands you lemonade...

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:55:53 GMT

I was searching the internet for something the other day, and stumbled across a rather unconventional Microsoft CRM Case Study on YouTube of all places. The video was from 2006, but I'd never seen it before.

If you have 3 minutes and don't mind some satire, it's well worth the time.

Check out the YouTube video here.

Dave

Creating a simple auditing log with CRM 4.0 Workflow

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:35:57 GMT

The much rejuvenated workflow engine in CRM 4.0 now provides you with the engine to create your own audit tracker. In CRM 4.0, the workflow engine can catch adds, updates, and deletes. So the engine is there, just waiting for you to write the workflow rule that will make use of it.

Where's my yellow product key sticker?

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 01:52:49 GMT

With the release of CRM 4.0, Microsoft has done away with the familiar yellow-product key sticker. So where do you find your license key?

Creating a CRM 4.0 Virtual Machine

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 20:34:52 GMT

Creating an all-in-one, self-contained Virtual Machine for CRM 4.0 proved to be a bit trickier than I thought it would.

The Communication Trap

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:19:41 GMT

One of the implications of the network being down is that electronic communication ceases to flow. On these occasions I'm reminded of just how ingrained e-mail has become in our lives.

Salentica User Conference

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 13:15:14 GMT

The 2nd Annual user conference was a success, with users from the US and Canada converging to hear about Salentica's plan for the upcoming year, and to share experiences with their peers.

CRM 4.0 [TITAN] Software Minimums

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:49:45 GMT

CRM 4.0 will introduce higher minimum software levels for almost every aspect of the CRM.

Getting away with CRM Small Business Edition

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 01:38:27 GMT

Ever notice how cheap the Microsoft Small Business family of products are, compared to the full-blown licenses for the same software? Wondering if you can save your organization some money by using the Small Business family of software?