Debug in a Tier-2 (UAT) environment

 From time to time, you may have to debug a copy of the production database, but you are unable to export & import the DB to your dev machine, for example: the DB's size is too large, or it's an urgent issue, or the customer doesn't allow to export their Prod DB... Then you have to debug directly in the UAT environment. 

There is an article from Microsoft that describes briefly about this here, but there is no screenshot and the information isn't detailed enough, so the purpose of this post is to guide you step by step to achive this :)

1. Find your ip address at https://nordvpn.com/what-is-my-ip/ and note it down  

2. Enable just-in-time database access

Go to LCS > Select the Tier 2 environment > Maintain > Enable access

Add your IP address in step 1: click on + button, then enter your IP as below: 

Click "Confirm" button at the bottom and then you can see a new record is added with your IP info.

Then under the Manage Environment, choose "Performance tuning for AX (write to AX)" as the "Reason for access" and write some descriptions and then click on "Request Access"

After that, refresh the page and you will see the login details under the Database Accounts

3. Change web.config in your DEV environment

In your DEV environment, backup the original web.config file at K:\AosService\WebRoot

Reference: https://stoneridgesoftware.com/how-to-connect-your-dev-and-uat-environments-in-dynamics-365-finance-and-operations/

Set up Onebox VM for D365 FO with non-organization microsoft account

With the release of the new VHD 10.0.37, I have tried to create a Onebox VM in my laptop instead of using the cloud hosted environment and found the below articles really helpful to setup the VM with my private Microsoft account:

https://alexdmeyer.com/2023/07/05/step-by-step-guide-to-deploy-a-local-vhd-of-d365fo/

https://community.dynamics.com/forums/thread/details/?threadid=01455e69-5d7e-4896-b2c6-673a49b28bfa

Optimization advisor in D365 FO

 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/fin-ops-core/fin-ops/sysadmin/optimization-advisor-overview

Uninstall Store Commerce app using Power shell

 1. Search for the full package name of the current MPOS using command 

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers

or 

Get-AppxPackage *pos* --AllUser

then find the package of the Microsoft.Retails

2. Uninstall the package using below command

Remove-AppxPackage -AllUsers <Package name in step 1>

3. Go to Control Panel to find the Commerce app and uninstall it.

Creat DB snapshot in order to reuse the test data

 --Taking the snapshot

CREATE DATABASE AxDB_Snapshot ON  

( NAME = <DB Logical name>, FILENAME =  

'J:\MSSQL_BACKUP\AX_Snapshot2.ss' )  

AS SNAPSHOT OF AxDB;

It took me around 2 mins to create the snapshot

--Restoring the database from the snapshot

ALTER DATABASE AxDB SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE;

RESTORE DATABASE AxDB from  

DATABASE_SNAPSHOT = 'AxDB_Snapshot';  

ALTER DATABASE AxDB SET MULTI_USER;

Setup Dynamics 365 Commerce development environment

 

1. Install WebView2 dev tools at https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2/#download-section (install for all windows users as admininstrator)
2. Download Store Commerce SDK installer in LCS > Shared Library
3. Run Windows PowerShell as admin, then install CommerSDK with the command .\StoreCommerce.Installer.exe install --enablewebviewdevtools
   
   
   
4. Click Start button > Store Commerce 
   
   
   
5. Copy retail server URL from D365 HQ at Retail and Commerce > Channel Setup > Channel profiles  and paste it to the Store Commerce app
   
6. Validate if the Retail Server is alive: go to IIS and browse the Retail Server or copy the Retail Server URL in step 5 and paste it in the browser.
7. Check if Full text index has been install in SQL Server by running the command below  SELECT 

       CASE 
            WHEN 
                FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY('IsFullTextInstalled') = 1 
            THEN 
                 'INSTALLED' 
            ELSE 
                 'NOT INSTALLED' 
       END IsFullTextInstalled

8. Check Prerequisites for setting up the enviornment https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/commerce/dev-itpro/setup-local-dev-env

Search extended elements in a form design

 When you extend a standard form and add many form controls into it, there will be a time that you want to see only these extended objects, not the entire form. In that case, put "e:" in the search bar above the form design