Azure | Generate a certificate for Azure Automation

If you need a certificate for automation with Azure Runbooks you just have to execute MakeCert which is part of the Windows Software Development Kit for Windows 8. If not already installed just download it and install at least the certification part.

SDK 8.0

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\bin\x64\makecert.exe" -sky exchange -r -n "CN=MyCert" -pe -a sha256 -len 2048 -ss My "MyCert.cer" 

SDK 8.1
 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\bin\x64\makecert.exe" -sky exchange -r -n "CN=MyCert" -pe -a sha256 -len 2048 -ss My "MyCert.cer"

If you are not on a 64 Bit machine the folder is x86 instead of x64. But I guess this is obviouse.

If this runs correctly, you will see the message “Succeeded”. The certificate will be created as MyCert.cer file in the current directory, and the certificate will be saved to the machine’s certificate store.

After that start a PowerShell as administrator and type in the following commands:

$MyPwd = ConvertTo-SecureString -String "GEHEIM" -Force –AsPlainText 
(choose whatever password you like)

$AzureCert = Get-ChildItem -Path Cert:\CurrentUser\My | where {$_.Subject -match "MyCert”} 
(replace MyCert with the name you gave your certificate with MakeCert)

Export-PfxCertificate -FilePath C:\MyCert.pfx -Password $MyPwd -Cert $AzureCert

The last command will create the MyCert.pfx in the c:\ drive of your computer. Which than can be used to upload to Azure Automation.

AX 2012 R3 CU8 with TFS 2013 and VS 2013 requires TeamExplorer 2010

I just installed a new DEV environment for AX 2012 R3 CU8 with VS 2013 and TFS 2013 and was a bit confused when i tried to connect AX to the TFS Server because of the infolog that told me that AX can not find the TFS client assembly in Version 10.0.0.0. Yes that's true I just installed VS 2013 with TeamExplorer 2013 because I thought AX 2012 R3 CU8 is compatible with it. But TFS integration is not :)

Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client, Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

To solve this issue install Team Explorer for TFS2010. In some cases it could also be required to installe the compatibility package called: Visual Studio 2010 SP1 Team Foundation Server Compatibility GDR

Warehouse Mobile Device Portal - HTTP Error 503: The service is unavailable

After the installation of the Warehouse Mobile Device Portal I tried to open it and got the follwoing error:

Service Unavailbale - HTTP Error 503: The service is unavailable 

 

After some checks in the IIS Manager I found out that the site was started but the application pool was not. So I tried to start it which didn't work due to the fact that the user that was provided during the setup of the portal was not added in the application pool. After adding the user information the service could be started without any problems and the Warehouse Mobile Device Portal is working as expected.

SharePoint 2013 - Secure Store Service creation of new key

If you create a new key for the secure store service in sharepoint central administration and you get an error when you try to create it.
Keep in mind that this only works with the SharePoint pool admin. So start an instance of internet explorer with the admin user and try again.

AX - Client and Server Configuration - Registry

Sometimes you need to modify client or server configuration directly within the registry. Therfor you need to navigate to the following nodes:

AX Server Configuation:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dynamics Server\"Ax Version"\Configuration

AX Cleint Configuration:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dynamics\6.0\Configuration

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dynamics\6.0\Configuration

Deutsche E-Bilanz - XBRL Germany

While searching for some informations about the german "E-Bilanz" electronical Balance I stumbled across the series of these four Videos. I think they are quite interessting.

XBRL Germany - Part 1: Create an XBRL Entity
XBRL Germany - Part 2: Create reports with XBRL elements

XBRL Germany - Part 3: Populate Global Common Data

XBRL Germany - Part 4: Filing the XBRL instance document

New X++ Blog out there

Yes, I know there are a lot of AX Blogs out there and several of them describe the challanges that an AX developer meets in his daily work. Lately I found this new and quite interessting blog from a colleague:

http://robscode.onl/