Easy Deployment of the Latest Version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015

As you all know, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015 has been available as an image in the public Microsoft Azure Marketplace since January 2015. This image is updated when each cumulative update is released, and you can choose the exact version that you want to use based on the release date. At time of publishing this post, the latest version is cumulative update 7 from May 13^th 2015. So if you want to see the very latest version, such as how the latest tax update works from a tablet device, you can use the pre-configured image to get easy access to the latest functionality.

As you have seen in the coffee break series, you can use Windows PowerShell to automate deployments based on the Azure images. In this blog post, you can get started with the image itself, and in a later post, we'll take a closer look at the demo scripts that are available on the image.

 The image contains essentially three things:

• All language versions of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015 product media.
• A pre-installed W1 version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015.
• A set of sample scripts that can help you set up a stunning demonstration environment.

When you create a virtual machine based on the Dynamics NAV image for demonstration purposes, you have to create a number of public endpoints in order to be able to access resources from the outside. Even though this doesn’t seem overly complex, it is still time consuming and a manual process, where you might make a typo or forget to create an endpoint.

If, instead, you want to automate this process, you can easily do this in Windows PowerShell.

Of course, you need an Azure subscription before you can get started. If you don't have a subscription already, we recommend that you sign up here: http://azure.microsoft.com.

Then you need to install the Azure PowerShell cmdlets, following this guideline: http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/powershell-install-configure/

Once you have installed the Azure PowerShell cmdlets, you can start the Windows PowerShell ISE and run the following script - make sure you choose the relevant values for the 3 properties that are highlighted in yellow:

Add-AzureAccount

# Find the latest Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015 image

$image = Get-AzureVMImage | where { $_.ImageFamily -ilike “*NAV 2015*” } | Sort-Object -Descending -Property PublishedDate | Select-Object -First 1

# Settings

$AzureServiceName = '<Azure Service Name of your choice>'

$AzureVirtualMachineName = $AzureServiceName

$InstanceSize = 'Standard_D2'

$InstanceLocation = '<Location of your choice>'

$VMAdminUserName = 'vmadmin'

$VMAdminPassword = '<Password of your choice>'

# Create Service

New-AzureService -ServiceName $AzureServiceName -Location $InstanceLocation

# Create VM configuration

$AzureVMConfig = New-AzureVMConfig -Name $AzureVirtualMachineName -InstanceSize $InstanceSize -ImageName $Image.ImageName |

                 Add-AzureProvisioningConfig -Windows -AdminUsername $VMAdminUserName –Password $VMAdminPassword |

                 Add-AzureEndpoint -Name "HTTPS" -Protocol tcp -LocalPort 443 -PublicPort 443 |

                 Add-AzureEndpoint -Name "HTTP" -Protocol tcp -LocalPort 80 -PublicPort 80 |

                 Add-AzureEndpoint -Name "WinClient" -Protocol tcp -LocalPort 7046 -PublicPort 7046 |

                 Add-AzureEndpoint -Name "SOAP" -Protocol tcp -LocalPort 7047 -PublicPort 7047 |

                 Add-AzureEndpoint -Name "OData" -Protocol tcp -LocalPort 7048 -PublicPort 7048 |

                 Add-AzureEndpoint -Name "HelpServer" -Protocol tcp -LocalPort 49000 -PublicPort 49000

# Create VM in Service

$AzureVMConfig | New-AzureVM -ServiceName $AzureServiceName –WaitForBoot

When you run this script, the result is a Virtual Machine that is running the latest cumulative update of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015. You can use it for demonstration purposes, or to base your production work on. To do that, you must connect to the VM and configure it for your use. You can install the demonstation packages in the C:\DEMO folder to configure a demo environment that is integrated with Office 365, BingMaps, PowerBI, and a lot of other cool stuff.

You can use PowerShell to install the demo packages almost automatically, and we'll update you on that in a later post.

Best regards 

Freddy Kristiansen

The Dynamics NAV team