Configuring IFD on a split server environment

To configure IFD on a split server role you would need the following:

- The IFD tool, which can be downloaded from here:
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=69089514-6E5A-47E1-928B-4E4D4A8541C0

- To understand how to use the tool and get a basic understanding of configuring IFD, as described in the whitepaper:
https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=3861e56d-b5ed-4f7f-b2fd-5a53bc71dafc&displaylang=en

Below is the extract of Split server configuration from the whitepaper regarding the DNS configuration:

The App Root Domain and SDK Root Domain values need to be different if you have split out the server roles. The App Root Domain is the Application Server Role. SKD Root Domain is the Platform Server Role. If you have two servers one for the Application Role called AppServer and one for the Platform Role called Platserver then you would set the values to something like the following:

IFD App Root Domain – app.domain.com
IFD SDK Root Domain – platform.domain.com

Note: host header will be a value that will be added in DNS along with the unique org name to differentiate the App Root Domain from the SDK Root Domain. For example if my host header name was app and my unique organization name was Microsoft then in DNS I would create a host record called:

Microsoft.App

AD App Root Domain – AppServer:80
AD SDK Root Domain – PlatServer:80

In addition to creating DNS pointers for both Platform server and application server, you need to run the IFD tool on both servers and expose the platform server as well to the internet.

Running the IFD tool on the CRM application server works as expected, but to run the IFD configuration tool on the platform server you need to follow the below steps to run the tool successfully:

1. On the application Server go to c:\program files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\Tools.
2. Copy the Microsoft.Crm.Tools.Logging.dll assembly and place the copy in the c:\program files\Microsoft Dynamics CRM\Tools directory on the platform server.
3. Run the IFD tool on the platform server and verify the settings are correct, and then choose apply settings to push everything out again.

As mentioned before you would need to create a DNS pointer now for the platform server which is organization specific.
If you organization is called “Organization”, your platform server is called “Platform” than your DNS pointer would look like this:

Within outlook client please enter the platform server url when configuring, this is where the discovery service is:

Enjoy…

Thanks,

Jibran Ali