Part 2 – Integrating Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to Microsoft Azure Service Bus Queue. You can check part 1 here. Scope: To demonstrate the integration through Message-flow from Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Azure Service Bus Queue. Pre-requisite: Source: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Target: Microsoft Azure Service Bus Queue SDK for Dynamics CRM Online (plugin Registration Tool) Service Bus Explorer to view the message contents received from CRM in Azure SB Queue. Visual Studio to create Custom WCF Service to push the messages from CRM to SB Queue (alternate method) Background: In earlier Blog we had seen steps to Create Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services as well as Developing and Deploying BizTalk bridges on Azure. In this Blog we will see the steps to create Service End Point (Azure Aware Plugin) that will push messages in JSON (default) format whenever a new Account Name is created in CRM to Azure Service Bus. We can View the contents of this message in Azure SB Queue, using Service Bus Explorer Tool (URL for the tool https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsazure/service-bus-explorer-f2abca5a). Alternately we can also create a custom WCF Web Service that will push the messages whenever a new record is created CRM (Entity- Accounts) STEP 01: Creating Azure Aware Plugin in CRM Download the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Software Development Kit (SDK) for CRM Online and on-premises CRM 2015 from URL http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=44567 After Download, Extract the same and go to Path \MicrosoftDynamicsCRM2015SDK\SDK\Tools\PluginRegistration, and launch the PluginRegistration.exe Select Create New Connection and enter the details for your CRM like Deployment Type as per your CRM, Online Region, User Name and Password and click on Login. You can create CRM Trail account if needed. In the Next Window of Service End Point Registration, provide details for the endpoint Please note in above screen the path is taken from Service Endpoint URL in Azure. For example URL is Then my path is TwoWayService/Demo. The Contract can be selected from dropdown Oneway, TwoWay, Queue, REST, TOPIC and PersistentQueue. After entering the details you need to click on Save & Configure ACS (Access Control Service) We will need below Information in this screen. Management Key Certificate File Issuer Name   Management Key: This key is obtained from Azure Portal. Login to Azure Portal and Create a ServiceBus and a Queue. Here the Service Bus is btscfsnamespace and btscfsqueue is a Queue in it. The Management Key is the Default Key found in the Connection Information for the Service Bus in the Azure Portal. After this you need to Register the Steps in Plugin Registration tool for the Service End point you recently created.   Certificate File: This certificate file is obtained from CRM under Customizations, under Developer Resources. Issuer Name : This is found as in above screen in CRM under Windows Azure Service Bus Issuer Certificate (crm.dynamics.com)   Select Save & Verify Authentication in the Service Endpoint Registration window and close the window after verification test is completed successfully. Step 02: Registering the Step in Plugin Registration Tool In the Message, mention the type of action like Create or Update or Delete etc. Then specify the Entity in CRM. In this case Entity is Account. Execution Mode will be Asynchronous.   Now that the Plugin registration and Step registration is completed. We can login to CRM and create new Account Name in account entity.   When a new Account Name is created, the Message is pushed by the plugin that we created earlier to Azure Service Bus Queue. You can view the Message using the service bus explorer tool. The message remains in the Queue as per the Time-To-Live settings in the Azure portal. After that if there is no further processing, the message gets moved to dead-letter queue. So we have pushed the messages from Account entity in CRM to Azure Service Bus Queue. Azure Service Bus Queue has many features as below FIFO Ordering guaranteed Transaction Support Automatic Dead Lettering Increasing Queue TTL (Max Unlimited) Poison Message Support Message Auto Forwarding WCF Integration Support Message Sessions supported Duplicate Detection functionality. Maximum Queue Size 1 GB to 80 GB Maximum Message Size 256 KB Maximum message by default is TTL 7 days Maximum No of Queues 10,000 (per service namespace, can be increased) Unlimited number of concurrent clients for REST based Maximum throughput upto 2000 Messages/seconds Average Latency 20-25 ms. Azure Service Bus Architecture combined with BizTalk Bridge solution deployed in Azure can provide integration solutions with scalable and monitoring capabilities at affordable cost. In the above steps, there was not coding involved due to SDK plugin registration tool. We can write the custom WCF service that will push the messages from CRM whenever a new Account is created, to Azure Service Bus Queue and then from there these messages can be picked up by BizTalk Service Bridge that listens for the incoming messages in the Queue and then process these messages to external end point or web service that can write the same in to other application or another CRM. We can track the status of these message processing in BizTalk service Tracking option. Creating the WCF service to Push the messages from CRM to Azure Service Bus Queue. Alternately we can write a custom code that will integrate the pre-defined entities and fields from CRM to other applications. Here we need Schema from Source and Target. To achieve this we need to host the WCF code and register the Assembly using the same plugin registration we used earlier. Describing the code for the same is beyond the scope of this blog. Please note the messages that we send to SB Queue through WCF service are by default in XML UTF -8 encoding, and this aspects needs to be handled while creating the processing steps in the Solutions that listens to this messages. In the next article we will have more insight in to the Messages flow in the Queues and the Processing inside the Azure BizTalk Bridges.  

Prerequisite: MySQL, Power BI Desktop Tool, Power BI Personal Gateway Purpose of the setup: MySQL is one of the popular open source database used right after Microsoft SQL and Oracle. Power BI being one of the most powerful tool used for reporting and data visualization with different data sources supported. Here we will be looking on how to connect and refresh on-premise MySQL database to Power BI. Steps for establishing connectivity between MySQL and Power BI: Here we have one database created in MySQL named ‘emp_details’ which has table-‘emp_salary’ with 4 records. Now, we will pull this MySQL data to Power BI and create a .pbix file For that first we will open Power BI Desktop tool and click on Get Data Here we will select ‘Database’ option on the right hand side and then select the ‘MySQL Database’ and click on ‘Connect’ Then it will ask for server name and database. Enter the appropriate server name and database (which you want). And then click OK. Now, it will ask for the username and Password. Then click on Connect Now the list of all database and its related table will appear. You select your required table and click on Load. Now, create a report in Power BI Desktop tool and save it with some appropriate name. Then, login to Power BI online and using GetData option pull the .pbix file you have created. You will find the .pbix file under Dataset on left hand side of the screen. Now, create a simple report and pin it to dashboard. Then schedule Refresh and click to Apply. Now when we select the Dataset and click on Refresh Now , will get Now, to check the Refreshing of data add a new data or update the Existing one in your MySQL table. Now, again go to Power BI Online and click on the Dataset and select Refresh Now . You will find the changes reflected on your dashboard.   You can read more about scheduling on-premise data sources in our previous blog given below: https://www.cloudfronts.com/on-premise-data-refresh-in-power-bi/

Part 1 – Creating Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services and Deploying Bridge. Scope: Creating Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services on Azure Portal Developing and Deploying BizTalk Bridge on Azure. Pre-requisite: Azure Subscription to create BizTalk Service. Visual Studio for Developing BizTalk Bridge solution. Windows Azure BizTalk Services SDK (including Microsoft BizTalk Adapter Pack and Microsoft WCF LOB Adapter SDK) .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features should be enabled .NET Framework 4.5 must be installed Background: Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure, created by Microsoft, for building, deploying and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed and Microsoft partner hosted datacenters. The cloud services as offered as PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). Step 1: Creating BizTalk Service Launch windows Azure portal through URL https://manage.windowsazure.com (You can create a Trial Subscription) Go to NEW option at the bottom of the page. Select APP SERVICES → BIZTALK SERVICE → CUSTOM CREATE This BizTalk Service Creation web form allows the creation of storage Account Tracking Databases. After successfully creating the BizTalk Service you get the BizTalk URL. ) On Clicking the Connection Information Button at the bottom of the page, you get Access Connection Information. This information you need to copy to a notepad to be used during deployment of the BizTalk Bridge solution on Azure. NAMESPACE DEFAULT OWNER DEFAULT KEY   Step 2: Developing the BizTalk Bridge Solution Launch Visual Studio 2012 and open a new project. Select BizTalk Service Template under folder located BizTalk Services in Visual C#. Please note BizTalk Services Templates are visible in Visual Studio 2012 only after you install the Windows Azure BizTalk Services SDK. (BizTalk Service Templates are not available in Visual Studio 2013 and 2015 even after installing the SDK) In the Visual Studio solution you need to specify 4 components. Sources Bridges (XML One way or XML Reply Request or Pass-Through bridge Destinations BizTalk Service URL Sources can be FTP / SFTP or Service Bus Queue or Subscription. Destinations have more options like FTP, FTPS, Service Bus Queue, Service end point, Blob Storage etc. Bridges can be XML one-way or Two way i.e. Reply Request and simple Pass Through Bridge. Right click anywhere in the empty space in the solution and select Properties. Enter the BizTalk Service URL (Example: https://cfsbtdemo.biztalk.windows.net). We get this URL when we create BizTalk Service in Azure portal. After placing the source, Bridge and Target blocks, connect them using connector under Bridge in toll box items. For complex solutions business logic and SCHEMA mapping between source and Target entities can be defined inside the bridges. Custom code can be written here.   Step 3: Deployment Save and Build the project and Right click and select deploy. Details like ACS Namespace and Issuer Name (Default – owner) and Shared Secret needs to be entered. ACS NameSpace is the Namespace we got earlier from Azure portal on clicking connection information for the BizTalk service. Shared Secret is the Key “Default Key “ Check the status in the Visual Studio output window for the deployed components. Please Note: Deployment Name needs to be Registered / created on https://biztalksvc12.portal.biztalk.windows.net/default.aspx before deploying your bridge. (You may need Silverlight on to be able to launch this end point URL). Provide the BizTalk Service Name as in Azure portal ACS Issuer name (Default is owner) ACS Issuer secret – This is Shared Secret key from BizTalk Service Connection Information in Azure portal. Once you deploy your bridge, it appears under BRIDGES in Microsoft Azure BizTalk services (MABS) Portal. Rest of the deployed codes appear under “RESOURCES”. If you are using bridge solution to route messages from Azure Service Bus Queue to Destinations like Web service end point, you can track them under Tracking Details. In the next article we will explore the integration between the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Azure Service Bus queue. Azure servicebus Queue is one of the sources that Azure BizTalk Services can listen to for Integration requirements. Please note Azure Queues and Service Bus Queues are 2 different type of Queue offered by Microsoft Azure.  

We often have need to send recurring reminders to our users, customers from CRM. We can do it using below solution wherein we will create a task for the reminder. Deletion of which will send out a Reminder Email. For deletion of task we will create a Bulk Delete task, which will run in recurrence. So basically for setting it up we need to do 3 steps: Create a task for Reminder. Create a workflow to send Reminder email. Create Bulk delete task to delete the Reminder task. Create a task for Reminder. Add a new field to Task entity, ‘Reminder’ which will be Two Options. Add new Task activity with name ‘Daily Reminder Task’ and set Reminder field for the same as ‘Yes’ as in below image: Create a workflow to send Reminder Email. Create a new workflow on deletion of Task record. Set the properties for the workflow: Check if the Reminder flag for the Task is set to ‘Yes’. Check subject of the Task to match your reminder task. In our case ‘Daily Reminder Task’. Send Mail to intended public. Re-Create the Task activity with the same name as your reminder task. In our case ‘Daily Reminder Task’. Refer below image: Create Bulk delete task to delete the Reminder task. Create Bulk delete task to delete your Reminder Task. In our case ‘Daily Reminder Task’. Set deletion criteria for the entity. Set scheduling and notification options. Submit the job.

Azure Web Apps is a service provided by Microsoft Azure to host .Net, Java, PHP, Node.js, Python applications. We can host Web, Mobile, API as well as Logic Apps using Azure Web App Service. In this article we will look at how we can deploy an ASP.NET application on the App Service. Pre-requisites Active Azure Subscription Visual Studio 2013   A. Deploy ASP.Net Web applications by signing into Visual Studio Open Visual Studio and create a new ASP.Net Application. Check Host in the Cloud in the Select Template Menu and click on OK. Sign in to your Azure Account. Select the Service Plan for your application. After the application has been successfully created you can publish it to Azure using the Publish button. B. Deploy an already created ASP.Net Web Application on Azure Login to your Azure account and then select Web Apps->New->Quick Create. Enter a valid url for your web app and then click on Create Web App. Next click on your web app and then click on download publish profile. After downloading the Publishing profile go back to Visual Studio to import this profile and start the deployment. Inside Visual Studio right click on the project and click on publish. Click on import and then select the publishing profile file that we had downloaded and then click on Ok. Click on Publish and the deployment will begin. If the deployment is successful you can browse you website from the app service using the url you had used to create the web app on Azure.  

To migrate Scribe integration setup from one AOS to another in AX 2012, below mentioned steps has to be performed, On the AOS server, in IIS go to the Default Web Site node. Under the node check if there is MicrosoftDynamicsAXAif60 web site. If not, go to the below link to install Microsoft Dynamics AX web services on IIS. [https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg731848.aspx] In AX, System Administration module→Setup→Services and Application Integration Framework open the Web sites form. Create a new record for the above web site. Enter appropriate name, description and correct virtual directory path. Next go to System Administration module→Setup→Services and Application Integration Framework→Inbound ports. Follow the below steps to modify the inbound port, Select the inbound port for scribe integration. Deactivate the port. Note : Before you do this, make sure no user is online(System Administration module→Common→Users→Online users) and no messages are being processed(No xml in ScribeIn queue). On right side under the ‘Address’ group, click the drop down next to URI textbox. Select the new web site from ‘Select Web site’ form and click OK. Check if the port has all its service operations. If not, you can add them. Activate the port. This will generate new wsdl url. Copy-paste this wsdl url in a text document, we will use it later. Now, login to the Scribe server. In the Collaborations folder open any dts file in scribe workbench. In the dts file, open the Connection Manager and click ‘Edit’. Click Change Connection. Select ‘Web Services’ under Adapters. Click OK. In the Web Service Connection Manager form, select the AX web service and click ‘Edit’. Change the WSDL url. Put the url from step-3. Validate the url and Save. Perform steps-4 to step-8 for all other dts files. By doing the above steps, Inbound port url, in AX, will be changed and AX web service connections in Scribe will point to the changed url.  

What are content packs? Content packs let users package up and share your own dashboard, reports, and datasets with your co-workers. It can be useful where a user needs to regularly distribute reports to team instead of sending email request repeatedly. Content packs are easy to find as they are all in one location, the content gallery. And since they’re part of Power BI, they leverage all the great features of Power BI including interactive data exploration, new visualizations, Q&A, integration with other data sources, data refresh, and more. Difference Between content packs and sharing dashboard Content packs are different from dashboard sharing which gives your co-workers read-only access to your dashboard and any associated reports. Steps for creating content packs Here we have two Pro Power BI user account. One with name as Kailas where we will be creating content pack and publishing to another Pro Power BI user account Ashish. Ashish can view the content pack and personalize/customize to create his own local copy. Steps for doing the same is as given below: Step 1: Log in to your Power BI account and on top right corner click on ‘Create Content Pack’ as shown below Step 2: Here you can specify email address to share your content pack with either specific members or group. Also select dashboard that needs to be shared via content pack. Automatically it will select related reports and dataset. Click on ‘Publish’ Step 3: On another Power BI user account click ‘Get Data’ and under ‘My Organization’ click ‘Get’ Step 4: Here you can see the name of the content pack shared. Here in this case it is ‘Content Pack Test’. Later click connect Step 5: You can see dashboard, reports and dataset shared here with * marked Step 6: Once you click on dataset, it will prompt you with the below message. Click save and it will personalize to create a local copy so that user can play around and save any work done. You can also check content packs created by clicking on ‘View Content Pack’ as shown below   For more details you can also refer the link given below: https://support.powerbi.com/knowledgebase/articles/651040-introduction-to-organizational-content-packs  

Global Address Book allows Customer/Vendor information mainly addresses and contact details to share across multiple legal entities. For example: Customer/Vendor of one legal entity may be Customer/Vendor in other legal entity or Customer in one legal entity may be vendor in same legal entity etc. In below scenarios explain on how we can share Customers, Vendors and their addresses and contact details across multiple legal entities. Scenario 1 Utcon Engineers Pvt. Ltd is Customer as well as Vendor in USMF Legal entity Scenario 2 Toyo Engineering Pvt. Ltd is Customer in USMF legal entity and also customer in USSI legal entity Scenario 3 Globus Engineering  is Vendor in USMF legal entity and also Vendor in USSI legal entity Scenario 1: Utcon Engineers Pvt. Ltd is Customer as well as Vendor in USMF Legal entity Select USMF legal entity. Click Home > Common > Global Address Book In Global address book form, in new field click on Party to create new party (Party: A person or organization. A party can be internal or external to an organization. Party may be customer or vendor for organization) In party ID for, specify Record type Organization, in name field enter organization name Utcon engineers Pvt. Ltd. Specify addresses and contact details of Party and close the form. Close the form   Now you can see created Party record on Global address form. Now edit Party record (Utcon engineers Pvt. Ltd.) and in Party tab, click on customer to create customer in USMF legal entity. In Customer form, you can see name, address and contact information automatically came from Party record. Enter other information which is required for customer and close the form. You can see created Customer in Accounts receivable or in Sales and marketing module. Navigation: Accounts receivable/Sales and marketing > Common > Customers > All            customers Now go back to Global address book form edit party record (Utcon engineers Pvt. Ltd.) and in Party tab, click on Vendor to create vendor in USMF legal entity. In Vendor form, you can see name, addresses and contact information automatically came from Party record. Enter other information which is required for vendor and close the form. You can see created vendor in Accounts payable or in Procurement and sourcing module. Navigation: Accounts payable/Procurement and sourcing > Common > Vendors > All            vendors   Scenario 2: Toyo Engineering Pvt. Ltd is Customer in USMF legal entity and also customer in USSI legal entity Select USMF legal entity. Click Home > Common > Global Address Book In Global address book form, in new field click on Party to create new party In Party ID form, specify Record type Organization, in name field enter organization name Toyo Engineering Pvt. Ltd. Specify addresses and contact details of Party and close the form. Close the form Now you can see created party record on Global address form. Now edit Party record (Toyo Engineering Pvt. Ltd.) and in Party tab, click on Customer to create Customer in USMF legal entity. In Customer form, you can see name, addresses and contact information automatically came from Party record. Enter other information which is required for customer and close the form. You can see created Customer in Accounts receivable or in Sales and marketing module for USMF legal entity. Navigation: Accounts receivable/Sales and marketing > Common > Customers > All            Customers Now select USSI legal entity. Click Home > Common > Global Address Book Select Party (Toyo Engineering Pvt. Ltd.) and click on edit. Click on customer to create customer in USSI legal entity. In Customer form, you can see name, address and contact information automatically came from party id record. Enter other information which is required for customer and close the form. You can see created customer in Accounts receivable or in Sales and marketing module for USSI legal entity. Navigation: Accounts receivable/Sales and marketing > Common > Customers > All            customers   Scenario 3: Globus Engineering Pvt. Ltd is Vendor in USMF legal entity and also vendor in USSI legal entity Select USMF legal entity. Click Home > Common > Global Address Book In Global address book form, in new field click on Party to create new party In party ID form, specify Record type (Organization or Person), in name field enter organization name Globus Engineering Pvt. Ltd. Specify addresses and contact details of Party and close the form. Now you can see created party record on Global address form. Now edit Party record (Globus Engineering Pvt. Ltd.) and in Party tab, click on Vendor to create Vendor in USMF legal entity. In Vendor form, you can see name, address and contact information automatically came from Party record. Enter other information which is required for Vendor and close the form. You can see created vendor in Accounts payable or in Procurement and sourcing module for USMF legal entity. Navigation: Accounts payable/Procurement and sourcing > Common > Vendors > All            Vendors Now select USSI legal entity. Click Home > Common > Global Address Book Select Party (Globus Engineering Pvt. Ltd.) and click on edit. Click on Vendor to create Vendor in USSI legal entity. In Vendor form, you can see name, addresses and contact information automatically came from Party record. Enter other information which is required for Vendor and close the form. You can see created Vendor in Accounts payable or in Procurement and sourcing module for USSI legal entity. Navigation: Accounts payable/Procurement and sourcing > Common > Vendors > All            Vendors.   Relationship of Party with Customer and Vendor You can check relation between customers or vendors between different legal entities on Party form. In Global Address Book, select party and click on edit and open Relationship fast tab to check relationship between customers or vendors between different legal entities   Summary: By using Global Address Book you can create a business party, define various information like addresses, contact details etc. and by using Party you can create and share customers and vendors across multiple legal entities.  

Prerequisite: Power BI Desktop Tool, Power BI Service, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Changing User’s in Power BI Desktop: Many a times we need to change user in Power BI Desktop for developing reports to get data from different perspective. As Power BI Desktop provides data source as CRM Online and also supports data refresh, it plays an important for Power BI users. So here is a trick to quickly change user in Power BI Desktop with CRM Online as data source. Find the steps given below: Step 1: Open your Desktop file and go to File → Options and settings → Data source settings. Step 2: Select the OData URL and right-click and then edit. Step 3: After that under credentials click ‘edit’ and then under ‘Organizational account’ hit ‘Sign in as different user’. You will be prompted to enter new user credentials. That’s it! Changing CRM Environment in Power BI Desktop: This can often be an important option which can be of use to Power BI users. Many a times, report needs to be created and tested first on Sandbox environment and later migrated to Production environment. Once reports are properly verified for look and feel and data manipulations, user can change the environment to some other desired environment. Following are the steps for achieving the same in Power BI Desktop: Step 1: Hit Edit Queries in ribbon Step 2: Click on Advanced Editor and on second line enter your OData URL (for required environment) Source = OData.Feed(https://_____________.crm5.dynamics.com/XRMServices/2011/OrganizationalData.svc) Then click done. This will fetch data from specified CRM Online environment.  

In this Blog we will walk-through how to add custom Domain/sub-domain in Azure web app with the help of GoDaddy. Problem Statement: We have a domain cloudfronts.in, purchased from GoDaddy and we want that it should point to website hosted on Azure. We have divided this blog in two different parts. Part 1: Add new custom Domain Part 2: Add new custom Sub-Domain Pre-Requisite: Azure Subscription with Web apps (Service administrator/Co-administrator) GoDaddy Account with new Domain (Admin) Next we need to follow the steps given below Steps 1: Login to your GoDaddy account with admin credentials and click on Manage domains. Steps 2: Click on domain name that you want to configure. In Our case we want to configure for cloudfronts.in. Double click on domain name and wait for new window. Step 3: Click on DNS Zone file and then edit option. Steps 4: We need some additional information from Azure web apps, that we will add in DNS configuration. Login to your Azure account and navigate to web site that you want to configure. Web site must be in share mode or standard mode to configure domain name. Change apps service plan pricing ties accordingly. Please refer following URL for more information http://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/pricing/details/app-service/ Navigate to Dashboard and click on Manage domains to add new custom domain name for your web site. Steps 5: Copy IP address of Azure web site. This information will need, when we add DNS record in GoDaddy. Steps 6:  Add new A(Address) record and point to IP Address with below configuration. Record Type: A (Host) Host: @ Point to: 192.198.15.14 (Azure website IP Address) If @ record in already present, then edit that record. Add new CName record with below configuration. Record Type: CNAME (Alias) Host: www Point to: cloudfrontsdev.azurewebsites.net (Domain Name of Azure website) Kindly edit this record if already present. Steps 7: Add CNAME(Alias) record that will point to Azure website. This information is required  by azure for verification purpose. Add two CNAME(Alias) record given in Image. Record Type: CNAME(Alias) Alias Name: awverify.www Points to Host Name: awverify.cloudfrontsdev.azurewebsites.net Record Type: CNAME(Alias) Alias Name: awverify Points to Host Name: awverify.cloudfrontsdev.azurewebsites.net Steps 8: Save all changes by clicking on Save Zone File. It might take 10-15 mins to update DNS entry. Steps 9: Add domain name in manage domain section(Azure) and click on ok. Reference https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/documentation/articles/web-sites-custom-domain-name/