Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 on Azure – Doing it Manually (step by step)
If at all you do not have an MSDN subscription and you think using PowerShell scripts to host NAV on Azure is cumbersome, there is a third way: Doing it manually!
In this blog, I’m going to explain how to host NAV on Azure manually step by step.
Step 1 : Sign-up for Windows Azure Subscription
- Go to http://windows.azure.com and sign-in using your Live ID (Hotmail, outlook, live etc..). If you do not have a Live ID, sign-up for one
- Click on Sign up now
- Choose to buy an Azure subscription (Buy Now) or click on Free trial (30 days)
- Sign up for Azure subscription by filling up the form, verifying your mobile & credit card information etc..
- Once the Sign-up process is over, it opens your Azure Management Portal with one item called Default Directory
Step 2: Create a Virtual Machine
- In your Azure management portal, on the left hand side, select Virtual machines (VM) tab and Click on the + New at the bottom to create a new VM. Enter a unique DNS Name (Your VM name ex: navonazure01), Admin user name and password ( which will be used to login to the VM), Region of the VM and click on Create a Virtual Machine.
- After few minutes, you’ll see 3 new items created in your Azure Management Portal. (Click on All Items tab on the left hand side to see all the items.)
- Virtual Machine
- Cloud Service
- Storage Account
Step 3: Login to Virtual Machine
- In your Azure management portal, under Virtual Machines Tab, select your newly created VM and click on connect at the bottom. This, prompts you to open or save an rdp file.
- Click on open and connect using remote desktop connection. use the username and password specified while creating the VM in previous step.
- You should now be able to successfully login to the VM.
Step 4: Download and Install NAV 2013 R2 in the VM
- Download Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2 (from PartnerSource for example) install dump.
- Install NAV 2013 r2 on the VM with components shown in the below image. (you might encounter ocsetup error! watch this video to resolve it.)
- Default parameters for installation (few important parameters are highlighted. You can change them if you want to!):
- Installation in process:
- Once the installation completes, you have successfully installed NAV 2013 r2 on single Azure VM.
Step 5: Test the installation within the VM
- Within the VM, check for NAV windows client, development environment, NAV 2013 R2 Administration etc..
- Since we have installed web server components as well, within the VM, we should be able to see a web site created under IIS (Internet Information Services) sites and we should be able to open the NAV web client using https://localhost:8080/Dynamicsnav71/webclient [https://localhost:port/servicename/webclient] (the port is 8080 by default when installed in this way. If you’ve used another port for web server while installing, use that port number)
Step 6: Access NAV Web Client from outside (Over the internet)
- Open windows azure management portal https://manage.windowsazure.com/ and sign in.
- Select your VM and click on ENDPOINTS
- click on ADD at the bottom –> Add a stand-alone endpoint –> Next
- Enter parameters as shown in the below image and finish. (the port is 8080 by default when installed in this way. If you’ve used another port for web server while installing, use that port number)
After Step 6, you should be able to access NAV web client from anywhere (Any computer connected to the internet) using the link https://VMname.cloudapp.net:8080/Servicename/Webclient
- VMname: Virtual machine name which you gave in Step 2
- Servicename: DynamicsNAV71 by default
When prompted for username and password, enter the VM user name and password (created in step 2)
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Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy NAV on Azure.
In my following blog posts, I will explain how we can make the connection to Azure VM more secure for web client, Different user authentications and using windows client to access NAV on Azure using ClickOnce installation.