Review On Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Administration Book

As promised, I have come up with my review on Dynamics AX 2009 Administration Book Sorry for the delay as was tied up here with project commitments.

Introduction

This book is an excellent resource for Dynamics AX Administrators to install/configure Dynamics AX 2009 components into a company's environment topology.

The best thing I like about this book is it has covered the complex topics of installation and configuration of AX Components in a simple and lucid manner with screenshots wherever applicable so that any layman who follows the steps with screenshots can do the installation/setup without much of a learning curve. Also, the chapters are arranged in a logical manner.

Highlights

a. Cover Image, It's really an eye catcher for me :-)

b. Hardware Sizing - Usually you don't across information on sizing so easily over the web. This is very critical part of the project when you plan an implementation. The author is aware of this aspect and has provided good information on the capacity planning and different topologies.

c. Installation of Dynamics AX Base Components. In this chapter, there's an interesting Section in Page 50 on granting the execute permissions on 2 stored procedures. I had stumbled on this issue sometimes back while manually restoring an AX Database and here's my experience on that
Object Server 01 Internal Error
Good to see the book covering this part.

 d. Enterprise Portal Setup and covering in depth through Sharepoint Central Administration (With screenshots) showing the different steps for configuring the web application in Sharepoint. Also, the book covers Configuring and Deploying Enterprise Portal in Sharepoint NLB forms.

 e. There's a dedicated section on configuring Kerberos authentication with respect to setup of Enterprise Portal, Role Centers, SSAS reports and SSRS. Usually one never comes across this information in any of Dynamics training materials which exists. The author has put his efforts in showing the configuration
involved in Kerberos Authentication. Good job here.

f. Setting up and Configuring Workflow and AIF Components (Bindings, Authentication, Security covered).


g. There's section on User Profiles and Security Permissions, Alerts and Notifications

h. Good to see the author put here screenshots of setting up Enterprise Portal in Sharepoint 2010

i. A separate topic for Backup of Application and Database is covered

j. Automatic Processing of SSAS Cubes



WishList - Things which I would have liked to see the book mention

i. AIF Load balancing (IIS) - How to Scale AIF

ii. Would have liked to see the book mention about Role Center Migration (maybe in appendix section or somewhere) Troubleshooting Dynamics AX Role Center Migration

iii.  There's a chapter for Data Migration, It covers Excel migration, I would also have liked to see in the book more real time complex scenarios involving data migration from different data sources like ODBC and OLEDB Sources, Customizing SSIS Packages etc. Also, it would have been nice if the book had covered topics on Archiving and Data Purging

iv. There should have been a section or chapter detailing about Dynamics AX Build and Deployment using Team Foundation Server (More About TFS Administration, Adding Users, Providing permissions, Branching and Release Procedures)

v. Also, there should have been a chapter or section talking about SQL Performance Tuning - SQL Performance Tuning


Overall, I rate this book high (4/5) as this covers most of the day to day tasks undertaken by an AX Administrator and going further with AX 2012 (Which is the first leap of Dynamics AX moving towards Tier1 ERP Solutions competing with SAP and Oracle Apps), I see more specialized positions opening up in AX for Administrators and a book such as this will always be handy! Good work with this book overall and would be excited to see the next version of this book for 2012.