Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Back from the clouds
Hello friends,
I have been away for quite some time and there are many reasons for that, primarily a slump in the market and the efforts to revive business, and the second, a shift in focus from Microsoft Dynamics CRM to Windows Azure.
Well dont get upset, i havent actually disconnected myself from CRM but have just shifted focus to Azure for sometime as the cloud has lots of promises to it right now.
Do visit my blog on the Azure platform at http://azuregurus.blogspot.com
Regards
Jan.
I have been away for quite some time and there are many reasons for that, primarily a slump in the market and the efforts to revive business, and the second, a shift in focus from Microsoft Dynamics CRM to Windows Azure.
Well dont get upset, i havent actually disconnected myself from CRM but have just shifted focus to Azure for sometime as the cloud has lots of promises to it right now.
Do visit my blog on the Azure platform at http://azuregurus.blogspot.com
Regards
Jan.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Internet Facing Deployment (IFD)
Originally when MSCRM 4.0 came out it appeared that in order to set up a site with an Internet Facing Deployment it could only be done through the install. Meaning, once installed you would have to uninstall and then reinstall in order to get the IFD working.
Microsoft has recently come out with a tool to change any existing site from IFD to regular On-Premise setup. And on top of that they even have a Knowledge Base article that steps you through using the tool and changing your site set up. I know there have been some other blog posts about this but Microsoft just updated their documents on February 15, 2008, so there have been some additions/changes to what was originally put out there.
Here is the link to the Knowledge Base article (the download link for the tool is in the Knowledge Base article):
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 948779
For more information on how to deploy a site as IFD take a look at this document that Microsoft has posted:
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Internet Facing Deployment Scenarios
If you aren't sure what IFD is, or what it does for you or your customers, let me give you my understanding of it as there is minimal documentation on what it is, only documentation on how to set it up. Basically the IFD sets up Forms over Active Directory Authentication to the MSCRM pages externally to your deployment. What does that do for you?
Two things:
1. Users logging in externally will now see a sign in page where they don't have to input their domain, just their username and password. This is different from 3.0 in that MSCRM sites that were accessible over the internet would bring up the windows login prompt, requiring your domain and username.
2. It makes is so that you can use your Outlook client without a VPN. The Outlook client will first attempt to connect to the internal site, if it doesn't find it, it will kick over to the external address provided in the configuration wizard. As it tries to connect it will first try Active Directory Authentication, it will tell you that it fails and will attempt to connect using Forms over Active Directory Authentication.
Good luck out there!
Jan
Microsoft has recently come out with a tool to change any existing site from IFD to regular On-Premise setup. And on top of that they even have a Knowledge Base article that steps you through using the tool and changing your site set up. I know there have been some other blog posts about this but Microsoft just updated their documents on February 15, 2008, so there have been some additions/changes to what was originally put out there.
Here is the link to the Knowledge Base article (the download link for the tool is in the Knowledge Base article):
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 948779
For more information on how to deploy a site as IFD take a look at this document that Microsoft has posted:
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Internet Facing Deployment Scenarios
If you aren't sure what IFD is, or what it does for you or your customers, let me give you my understanding of it as there is minimal documentation on what it is, only documentation on how to set it up. Basically the IFD sets up Forms over Active Directory Authentication to the MSCRM pages externally to your deployment. What does that do for you?
Two things:
1. Users logging in externally will now see a sign in page where they don't have to input their domain, just their username and password. This is different from 3.0 in that MSCRM sites that were accessible over the internet would bring up the windows login prompt, requiring your domain and username.
2. It makes is so that you can use your Outlook client without a VPN. The Outlook client will first attempt to connect to the internal site, if it doesn't find it, it will kick over to the external address provided in the configuration wizard. As it tries to connect it will first try Active Directory Authentication, it will tell you that it fails and will attempt to connect using Forms over Active Directory Authentication.
Good luck out there!
Jan
Pop-up reminders in Microsoft Outlook for activities created in CRM
One of the GREAT new features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is the ability to get pop-up reminders in Microsoft Outlook for activities created in CRM. By default, Microsoft CRM will create reminders for every record it syncs into Outlook that has a due date. Consequently, a large number of customer records and a large number of automated activities means a large number of pop-up reminders!
Personally, I have found that sometimes these reminders were a bit too much for me and I found myself wishing I had less pop-ups. This is especially true if you don’t include the customer’s name in the activity subject because otherwise you will see a reminder dialog that looks like this (not terribly useful because all the records look identical).
Fortunately, I picked up a neat little registry setting trick from former CRM Product Manager Michael Lu. By adding the registry setting OutlookSyncDisableTaskReminders to your client computer (not the server) at HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/MSCRMClient and setting its value to 1, the Outlook client will not create reminders on activities it syncs into Outlook.
This solution won’t work for everyone, but I find that it works pretty well for me.
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to re-install Windows to correct them. Only administrators will have the necessary permissions to perform this modification. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use the Registry Editor at your own risk.
Cheers,
Jan
Personally, I have found that sometimes these reminders were a bit too much for me and I found myself wishing I had less pop-ups. This is especially true if you don’t include the customer’s name in the activity subject because otherwise you will see a reminder dialog that looks like this (not terribly useful because all the records look identical).
Fortunately, I picked up a neat little registry setting trick from former CRM Product Manager Michael Lu. By adding the registry setting OutlookSyncDisableTaskReminders to your client computer (not the server) at HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/MSCRMClient and setting its value to 1, the Outlook client will not create reminders on activities it syncs into Outlook.
This solution won’t work for everyone, but I find that it works pretty well for me.
WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to re-install Windows to correct them. Only administrators will have the necessary permissions to perform this modification. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use the Registry Editor at your own risk.
Cheers,
Jan
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