After all the excitements around the launch of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 RTM with an abundance of all round improvements penned in the roadmap. It is time to take a closer look at the new tool that we will use in the coming battles before we get our hands on it.
Apart from the improvements in term of functionalities, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 has incorporated numerous technologies under Microsoft to improve communication and visibility of the solution. In Microsoft Dynamics AX 3.0 and 4.0 implementations, I have configured quite some Analysis Services cubes and Reporting Services reports to provide visibility. Microsoft Dynamics AX powers the operation well in those releases but is lacking in term of business process monitoring and business analysis capability out-of-the-box.
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 on the other hand has taken a different direction. A huge portion of the functionalities are taken out of Microsoft Dynamics AX. Dynamics AX 2009 comes with plenty of Analysis Services cubes and Reporting Services reports preconfigured. Then there is this dashboard that is hosted by Sharpoint Services. There is also integration with Microsoft Unified Communication, Microsoft Project Server, etc. The following figure shows the various components we may have in a Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 installation.
Let us look at the servers in a Dynamics AX 2009 production environment with all these additions. We could divide the servers into three categories; base servers, extension servers and infrastructure support servers.
Base Servers
The base installation consists of the traditional components which include the Database, Application files, Application Object Server (AOS) and the Windows client. There are three servers under this category.
Database server
As the name suggests, this is where Dynamics AX data is stored. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 could work with Microsoft SQL Server database as well as Oracle database. Although Oracle database server supports various editions of UNIX, Linux and Windows, supports for Oracle database is limited to issues that could be reproduced with Oracle under Windows environment.
File server
The Microsoft Dynamics AX application files are installed here. The application files installed here will be accessed by all Application Object Servers (AOS) in the environment. Access rights should be configured accordingly.
Application Object Server (AOS)
This server hosts the AOS Windows service. The AOS service coordinate communications among database, application files and the Microsoft Dynamics AX clients. AOS could be installed on a single computer or a server cluster for load balancing.
Extension Servers
Servers under this category add functionalities to Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Role Centers and Enterprise Portal
This server hosts a Microsoft Windows Sharepoint Services site. This server exposes the role center and enterprise portal functionalities to relevant users. You may run Windows Sharepoint Services or Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server to enable these functionalities.
Workflow server
A workflow server runs the Windows Workflow Foundation. It enables the creation of individual workflows as well as business processes in Microsoft Dynamics AX. It controls how a document flows through the system for processing and approval.
Reporting server
A reporting server uses Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services to add reporting functionality to Microsoft Dynamics AX.
OLAP server
An OLAP server uses Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services to provide multidimensional reporting functionality to Microsoft Dynamics AX.
Application integration server
An application integration server runs the Application Integration Framework (AIF). It allows the sharing of electronic business documents between Microsoft Dynamics AX and external parties.
Infrastructure Support
The servers mentioned earlier are either the integral part of Microsoft Dynamics AX or add specific functionalities to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Those under this category provide supports. The compulsory server under this category is the domain controller. We could have SMTP server to provide email abilities to alert, mass mailing, etc.
Final Thoughts
With all these additions, you are unable to appreciate Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 with the traditional base installation where you configure the Database, Application, AOS and Dynamics AX client. At the very least, you need to have the Analysis Services, Reporting Services, and Sharepoint Services.
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Hi! Thank you for the knowledge you share with us. I wanted to know about components because in upcoming future I will contact anegis consulting to introduce the software in my company. I still need to learn a lot. Cheers!