Download - How do I check if I meet BI4Dynamics system requirements?

How do I check if I meet

BI4Dynamics system

requirements?

Last update: November 2015

CONTENTS

1 Permissions .......................................................................................................................................... 3

1.1 Permissions on the BI SQL Server ............................................................................................. 5

1.1.1 Check user’s Server Roles ................................................................................................... 5

1.1.2 Check user’s Effective Server Permissions ....................................................................... 5

1.2 Linked server ................................................................................................................................ 5



1.3 Permissions on the SQL Analysis Server .................................................................................. 6

1.4 Permissions on NAV databases ................................................................................................. 8



1.4.3 Check user’s Database Roles ............................................................................................. 8

1.4.4 Check user’s Effective Database Permissions .................................................................. 8

2 Windows Server ................................................................................................................................... 9

2.1 Requirement: The user running BI4Dynamics application must be administrator on the

server. 9

2.2 Requirement: Windows version, RAM and processor .......................................................... 10

2.3 Requirement: User Account Control (UAC) ........................................................................... 12

2.4 Requirement: Internet connectivity ........................................................................................ 13

2.5 Requirement: Installed .NET 4.0 .............................................................................................. 13

3 SQL Server .......................................................................................................................................... 15

3.1 Requirement: Appropriate SQL Server version and edition Installed ................................ 15

4 NAV Database ................................................................................................................................... 19

4.1 Requirement: The license should be uploaded to the database (NAV) or to the server

(NAV) 19

1 PERMISSIONS

Specifying appropriate permissions on your servers and databases is the most important part of

BI4Dynamics system requirements. Without appropriate permissions you won’t be able to access

and transfer data from the source NAV databases to the target data warehouse and OLAP cubes.

It is important to differentiate two user accounts that are used to run BI4Dynamics:

• The user running BI4Dynamics application (i.e. the user logged on your server)

• The user running SQL Agent Job

Please note that permissions and user account privileges settings may vary greatly by company.

In the installation documentation you will find our recommendation that you use one single

domain user account for BI4Dynamics. And this user account should have all the required

privileges. However there are situations when the security policy don‘t allow for such

configuration.

For simplicity’s sake we will explain all the privileges on our recommended setup and you will

have to use the following information to translate that to your specific requirement.

Below you can see a diagram showing the required permissions of the BI4Dynamics domain user

account.

When working withapplication

(i.e. during installation)

When executing job (periodicupdating)

When working with BI4Dynamics application the current windows user that is logged in, is being

used. This is the case when you perform initial configuration or when you are developing

customizations. In general this user must have at least the following permissions:

Be (local) administrator on the windows server where BI4Dynamics is installed.

Read permissions on the NAV database.

Read permissions on the master database of the NAV SQL Server (only required if the

NAV license is uploaded to the SQL server).

Create database and linked server permissions on MS SQL Server where the BI4Dynamics

DWH will be deployed.

Granted Server role on MS SQL Analysis Services where the BI4Dynamics OLAP cubes will

be deployed. Additionally the Analysis Server service should run under BI4Dynamics

domain account.

After the initial configuration and set up of BI4Dynamics instance you also create an SQL Agent

Job that runs on a schedule (usually during the night). This job keeps your BI4Dynamics data

warehouse and OLAP cubes up to date by periodically processing your solution. The user

running this SQL Server Agent service is used to run BI4Dynamics.

In the example above the user under which the SQL Agent Job service runs, is the same

BI4Dynamics domain user account. But if, for example, it were a different user account, that user

would also need the same permissions as described above.

We will now explain how to check each of the individual permissions required.

1.1 Permissions on the BI SQL Server

With management studio connect to your BI SQL Server using BI4Dynamics domain user

account.

In order to successfully create and maintain the Data Warehouse, the user running BI4Dynamics

(or SQL Agent service) must have one of the following permissions (start in Step 1 and if the user

has that permission you don't need to check the subsequent steps):

1.1.1 Check user’s Server Roles

SELECT SUSER_NAME(SRoleMembers.role_principal_id) AS [Role]

FROM sys.server_role_members as SRoleMembers

WHERE SUSER_NAME(SRoleMembers.member_principal_id)='YourDomain\YourUserName'

If the user has the “sysadmin” or “dbcreator” role, it has the permissions necessary and you don’t

need to check the following step.

1.1.2 Check user’s Effective Server Permissions

SELECT *

FROM fn_my_permissions(null, 'SERVER')

If the user has the “create any database” or “alter any database” or “control server” permission, it

has the permissions necessary.

1.2 Linked server

With management studio connect to your BI SQL Server using BI4Dynamics domain user

account.

In order to successfully create and maintain linked servers (used when connecting to different

servers), the user running BI4Dynamics (or SQL Agent service) must have one of the following

permissions (start in Step 1 and if the user has that permission you don't need to check the

subsequent steps):





If the user has the “sysadmin” or “setupadmin” role, it has the permissions necessary and you

don’t need to check the following steps.


SELECT *


If the user has the “alter any linked server” or “control server” permission, it has the permissions

necessary.

1.3 Permissions on the SQL Analysis Server

With management studio connect to your BI SQL Analysis Server using BI4Dynamics domain

user account.

In order to successfully create and maintain the Data Warehouse, the user running BI4Dynamics

(or SQL Agent service) must be granted the “server” role. To check whether the user has that role

right click on the server and select properties, then click on the security page. The BI4Dynamics

domain user account should be listed on the server administrators list. If it is not you must add it.

Alternative method for checking if the user has Server role permissions is by checking the entries

in the Administrators.Role.xml file.

By default you can find the file in

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\...\OLAP\Data\

1.4 Permissions on NAV databases

With management studio connect to your NAV SQL Server using BI4Dynamics domain user

account.

The user running BI4Dynamics (or SQL Agent service) must have one of the following

permissions (start in Step 1 and if the user has that permission you don't need to check the

subsequent steps):





If the user has the “sysadmin” role, it has the permissions necessary and you don’t need to check

the following steps.


SELECT *


If the user has the “control server” permission, it has the permissions necessary and you don’t

need to check the following steps.

1.4.3 Check user’s Database Roles

USE 'Your NAV Database Name'

SELECT User_Name([memberuid]) as [UserName],

User_Name([groupuid]) as [RoleName]

FROM [sys].[sysmembers]

If the user has the “db_owner” or “db_datareader” roles, it has the permissions necessary and you

don’t need to check the following steps.

1.4.4 Check user’s Effective Database Permissions


SELECT *

FROM fn_my_permissions (NULL, 'database')

If the user has the “select” or “control server” permission, it has the permissions necessary.

If your license is uploaded on the server you have to check permissions to the master database

on this SQL server as well. The same rules as above apply.

2 WINDOWS SERVER

2.1 Requirement: The user running BI4Dynamics application must be

administrator on the server.

Start -> type user -> Click »Edit local users and groups«

Click Groups, and double click Administrators to open the Administrator Properties window.

Make sure your user name is on this list (individually or as a part of one of the groups).

2.2 Requirement: Windows version, RAM and processor

Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008 R2 or Win XP/Vista/7

2 – 4 Intel® processors or equivalent (at least 2GHz)

4 GB RAM (recommended at least 8 GB RAM).

Start -> type system -> Click System (under Control Panel section)

Check Processor/RAM.

2.3 Requirement: User Account Control (UAC)

UAC should be disabled or the application needs to be installed somewhere else than in

Program Files.

Start -> type UAC -> Click »Change User Account Control settings«

Make sure the slider is set to “Never notify”.

2.4 Requirement: Internet connectivity

Server has to be connected to the Internet with port 80 opened (if the server is under proxy, the

application needs access to our authorization web service).

Open your browser and point it to www.bi4dynamics.com

If you can see the BI4Dynamics page open, you have internet connectivity and port 80 should be

open. If you have a custom firewall solution, you will have to make sure it's not blocking that

port or BI4Dynamics application.

2.5 Requirement: Installed .NET 4.0

The server has to have .NET 4.0 installed.

Start -> type programs -> Click »Programs and Features«

http://www.bi4dynamics.com/

Search for .NET to filter your list. If you can see Microsoft .NET Framework 4 on the list you have

it installed.

3 SQL SERVER

3.1 Requirement: Appropriate SQL Server version and edition Installed

Microsoft SQL Server 2005, 2008 or 2008 R2 (Standard/Enterprise/Development version):

a. Database Engine

b. Analysis Services

c. SQL Agent

Start -> type programs -> Click »Programs and Features«

Type “SQL server” to check if it is installed at all.

In the above screenshot you can see I have two SQL servers installed, one 2005 and one 2008.

Next we will check the configuration of the servers.

Start -> type SQL server configuration -> Click »SQL Server Configuration Manager«

In the below screenshot you can see I have 4 different server instances of SQL Server, Analysis

Server and SQL Agent.

I can also see what state each of the components is in and also who is the user running the

individual service. You can also use the configuration manager to change the user running the

service.

By selecting one of the entries, right clicking and selecting properties you can check the version

and edition of the instance on the advanced tab.

Or you can perform the same check if you connect to the SQL server with management studio

and execute the following query (convert results to text for easier reading):

SELECT @@VERSION

4 NAV DATABASE

4.1 Requirement: The license should be uploaded to the database (NAV) or

to the server (NAV)

You can check if the NAV license is uploaded to the server by executing one of the following

queries in management studio on the NAV server:

/****** Check for NAV license in the master database on the SQL server ******/

SELECT [license]

FROM [master].[dbo].[$ndo$srvproperty]

/****** Check for NAV license in the NAV database ******/


SELECT [license]

FROM [dbo].[$ndo$dbproperty]