Microsoft Dynamics Ax 2009 Administration Book – Review

Ax 30 was then fresh in the hands of Microsoft, I had just begun my professional career with Dynamics Ax. There was one frustration that was common among our entire team and that was lack of materials and books. It was Steen anderson’s Morphx It that came as savior in those days and more like Inside Microsoft Dynamics Ax, Supply chain management with Ax followed. As Steen had kicked off development series, today Marco has done it for administration. I think this is the first book dedicated to the installation and administration of Dynamics Ax. Thanks to Marco for the great move which could be followed by more in the days to come.

Target Audience: VAR’s and IT admin’s

Dynamics Ax has transformed itself from a single piece software to multitude of systems working together to deliver a complete enterprise solution. This technically dilutes to different set of softwares like Sharepoint, SSRS, Dynamics Ax, Office working in tandem. Integrating different systems in practical situations throw up wide challenges.  Microsoft Dynamics Ax 2009 Administration comes in handy to help overcome these challenges.This book on administration will be a good beginner guide for novice users and help to broader insights for the experienced users.

What is so good about it ???

The book basically starts with choice of hardware, topologies, installation of Ax, EP, SSRS and moves on to discuss in detail about configuration of  Security, Workflow and AIF. Towards the final part the book talks about data migration, backup and performance tunning. This is a right mix of detail required for anybody doing administration.

The content on kerberos authentication in the context of Ax is unique and sparingly discussed on the web. Chapter on security cover setting up security on EP, Cubes, SSRS, RLS security setup apart from the dynamics Ax security setup. Configuration related chapters also have content to run basic steps to ensure proper configuration.

Apart from the essential chapters the appendix also includes good information related to peculiar but blocking issues like AOS Common trouble shooting guidelines,  installing multiple EP portal in a web server and most  steps to enable Ax 2009 to work along with Sharepoint 2010[Ax 2009 was basically designed to work for SP2007]

Good efforts have been made to include many screenshots that would guide through installation and configuration steps.

What would be good to be included in next version ?

– More troubleshooting guidelines along with the ideal setup explanations for installations.

– Chapter on handling upgrades and roll-ups in production environments

– Short examples of topology decisions relating to real world experiences

few points that would make this book interesting read for ISV’s too is

– Detail on development topologies

– Detail on building on top of Dynamics Ax like Layers, Patches and version maintenance

Overall: Good book to understand and start with planning, installing and configuring Dynamics Ax

Rating: 3.5/5 Click here to buy it now

A special Thanks to Marco for sharing the copy of book through PACKT Publisher to review and present it before you. An interesting co-incidence is that I wrote this review straight  back after visiting the Marina Bay Sands hotel adoring the cover page in this book 🙂