CRM2011 On-Premise Installation Failure: The SQL Server ‘{0}’ is unavailable

I have been trying to install CRM2011 On-Premise on a brand new Windows2008R2 Server connecting to a brand new SQL2008R2 server and getting installation failure: The SQL Server ‘{0}’ is unavailable.  After doing some testing and troubleshooting, found out to be Firewall related and here is what I do to open up port 1433 on a Windows 2008 Server. 

To open a port in the Windows firewall for TCP access

1. On the Start menu, click Run, type WF.msc, and then click OK.

2. In the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, in the left pane, right-click Inbound Rules, and then click New Rule in the action pane.

3. In the Rule Type dialog box, select Port, and then click Next.

4. In the Protocol and Ports dialog box, select TCP. Select Specific local ports, and then type the port number of the instance of the Database Engine, such as 1433 for the default instance. Click Next.

5. In the Action dialog box, select Allow the connection, and then click Next.

6. In the Profile dialog box, select any profiles that describe the computer connection environment when you want to connect to the Database Engine, and then click Next.

7. In the Name dialog box, type a name and description for this rule, and then click Finish.

While I was troubleshooting, also found these information from CRM2011 Planning Guide to be really useful.

Network ports for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web application

The following table lists the ports used for a server that is running a Full Server installation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Moreover, except for the Microsoft SQL Server role, and the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector for SQL Server Reporting Services server role, all server roles are installed on the same computer.

Protocol	Port	Description	Explanation
TCP	80	HTTP	Default Web application port. This port may be different as it can be changed during Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server Setup. For new Web sites, the default port number is 5555.
TCP	135	MSRPC	RPC endpoint resolution.
TCP	139	NETBIOS-SSN	NETBIOS session service.
TCP	443	HTTPS	Default secure HTTP port. The port number may differ from the default port. This secure network transport must be manually configured. Although this port is not required to run Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we strongly recommend it. For information about how to configure HTTPS for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, see "Make Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 client-to-server network communications more secure" in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Installing GuideMake Microsoft Dynamics CRM client-to-server network communications more secure .
TCP	445	Microsoft-DS	Active Directory directory service required for Active Directory access and authentication.
UDP	123	NTP	Network Time Protocol.
UDP	137	NETBIOS-NS	NETBIOS name service.
UDP	138	NETBIOS-dgm	NETBIOS datagram service.
UDP	445	Microsoft-DS	Active Directory service required for Active Directory access and authentication.
UDP	1025	Blackjack	DCOM, used as an RPC listener.

Network ports that are used by the SQL Server that runs the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector for SQL Server Reporting Services server roles

The following table lists the ports that are used for a computer that is running SQL Server and has only SQL Server and the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector for SQL Server Reporting Services server roles installed.

Protocol	Port	Description	Explanation
TCP	135	MSRPC	RPC endpoint resolution.
TCP	139	NETBIOS-SSN	NETBIOS session service.
TCP	445	Microsoft-DS	Active Directory required for Active Directory access and authentication.
TCP	1433	ms-sql-s	SQL Server sockets service. This port is required for access to SQL Server.This number may be different if you have configured your default instance of SQL Server to use a different port number or you are using a named instance.
UDP	123	NTP	Network Time Protocol.
UDP	137	NETBIOS-NS	NETBIOS name service.
UDP	138	NETBIOS-dgm	NETBIOS datagram service.
UDP	445	Microsoft-DS	Active Directory service required for Active Directory access and authentication.
UDP	1025	Blackjack	DCOM, used as an RPC listener.

Buy or Build

I have been helping with a Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 tender and through the process I found a really interesting article.  Although this article is rather old (produced back to 2004), it has some really interesting statistics.  Here is the abstract of the article:

When developing software, research has shown that there is an inverse correlation between the size of a project and the probability that it will actually be completed (see fig. 1.0). It’s not uncommon to hear about a large bank that lost $7 million after pulling the plug on a $30 million project. The likelihood of success is greater for outsourced projects when compared to in-house development, most likely because software development is the core competency of third party developers. This means that projects that are larger in scope should most likely be developed by a third party developer or you should scour the landscape for COTS application that can be customized to your requirements.

Project Size	People	Time (months)	Success
<$750k	6	6	55%
$750k-$1.5M	12	9	33%
$1.5m-$3m	25	12	25%
$6m-$10m	250+	24+	8%
$10m+	500+	36+	0%

The actual source of the document is here http://www.insidus.com/BuyorBuild.pdf Hope you find this interesting too!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 installation–wrong icons

 

Today, I am going to share my CRM 2011 on-premise installation experience with wrong icons been referenced by the CRM Server..

Immediately after a fresh installation, CRM sitemap is referring to different icon sets. Both for the default organisation and all other sub-sequent imported or upgraded organisations.  For example: The expand icon - instead of using the standard black triangle, it is using a yellow arrow as shown here.

After researching and found limited information on this issue, I decided to run a repair and it is not showing the right icon sets.

How strange!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Keyboard Shortcuts

Today I read the Quick Start Guide for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and found the top keyboard shortcuts are very handy, so want to re-quote and also add a few others that I often use.

Top keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

To do this	Press
Select all text in the current field or current list	CTRL+A
Close an active form	ALT+F4
Move forward through a form's fields	TAB
Move backward through a form's fields	SHIFT+TAB
Save a form	CTRL+S or SHIFT+F12
Save and New	CTRL + SHIFT + S
Open the Lookup Window through a form’s lookup field	Enter
Wildcard character to search on partial text on a form’s lookup field	*text
Through a form’s picklist field, if you have a very long picklist and just want to go straight to the picklist item without seeing the entire list	Type the first few letters of the picklist item

Enjoy!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online Change User License Step by Step

 

From time to time, organisations may have staff change over.  In this case, you want to transfer the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online license from the departed user to a new user.  In summary, it involves 2 main steps.

1) Disable the exited user in CRM Online

2) Add new user to CRM Online

Disable the exited user in CRM Online

You must have System Administrator role to disable other users in CRM Online.  To disable a user (not yourself) in CRM, follow steps below:

Step 1) Log onto to CRM Online.  Go to Settings – Administration – Users

Step 2) Highlight the user and click Disable.  You have now successfully disabled an existing user from CRM Online and spared 1 user license for reallocation.

Add New User to CRM Online

There must be at least 1 spare user license before you can add a new user to CRM Online. 

Step 1) Log onto CRM Online.  Go to Settings – Administration – User

Step 2) Click New button to add a new user.  You will see a new user screen pops- up.

Step 3) Assign the appropriate role( s )  and click Next.

Step 4) Populate the new user form (First Name, Last Name, Email Address) and click Add to New users pane.  Click Next to continue.

Step 5) Check Add new users and send invitations now, then click Create New Users

Step 6) Click Close to complete the add user wizard.

You have now successfully change the CRM Online user license from 1 user to another.

Sharepoint 2007 URL referencing Lotus Note database

 

With one of the recent projects, I got the chance to experience Lotus Note.  To a everyday Outlook user like myself, I have certainly found lost of productivity at the beginning.  However, I must admit Lotus Note impressed me with what it can do.

Back to my subject, a user was asking me about an error they experienced with Sharepoint 2007 Summary Link web part.  “invalid hyperlink” when they use note:/servername/databasename.nfs . 

Sharepoint 2007 accepts url in the following format by default.
-http://
-https://
-mailto://
-file://

To workaround the error, I’ve asked the user to use Sharepoint 2007 Content Editor web part instead. 

Step 1): Add a web part –  Content Editor web part

Step 2): Modify Shared Web Part

Step 3) Rich Text Editor, add the text, highlight the text, use the hyperlink button to insert http://tempurl.  Save

  Step 4) Click on the Source Editor – replace http://tempurl with your note url note:/servername/databasename.nfs

Save and publish.  It should work now.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online Localisation Info

Country/Region:

The country or region of your subscription determines the offers and pricing for which your organization is eligible, if you decide to activate your subscription after the trial period. The country/region must match the billing address of the credit card or invoice. You cannot complete setup without setting this option and you cannot change it after it has been set.

Base language:

The base language determines default settings for regional and language options in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. The base language for your subscription is determined by the language you select here. It cannot be changed after the sign-up process is complete, but you will be able to install additional languages from within the application.

Base Currency:

Selecting the base currency for your organization is a one-time decision that sets the primary or default currency that is most used by your organization and the currency in which your organization does its financial reporting. You cannot complete setup without setting this option and you cannot change it after it has been set.

If your organization records transactions in other currencies, you can add records using that currency, including the currency symbol and the exchange rate. When you save financial information in a record, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online converts the monetary values to the base currency. This conversion ensures that all financial information is available in one currency for data analysis and reporting.

Setting the base currency

To set the base currency, you may either select a currency by country or specify a custom currency.

To select a currency by country

1. Choose Select currency by country.
2. Select the Country/region that you wish to base your currency on from the list.
3. Select the Currency from the list.
4. Click OK.

To specify a custom currency

1. Choose Specify custom currency.
2. Specify the Currency Code. The code must be three letters, for example, USD, JMD, or CAD. Do not add spaces between the letters.
3. Specify the Currency Symbol. The symbol must be between one and four characters, for example: $, J$, or €.
4. Specify the Currency Name. The name must be between 1 and 100 characters, for example, United States Dollar, Jamaican Dollar, or Euro.
5. Select the Currency Precision from the drop-down list. Currency precision determines the number of decimals to display after the currency’s decimal separator.
6. Click OK.

Should you don’t want to have CRM Contacts synchronised with Outlook…

Microsoft Dynamics CRM users sometimes face the following situation when it comes to CRM Contacts and Outlook Contacts:

• The CRM Contact and Outlook Contact synchronisation logic and local data group can be challenging for all CRM Outlook users to understand
• Employees working in the office do not need CRM contacts to be copied down to their Outlook contact folder
• Employees having their mobile phone synchronised with their business Outlook may not want to have CRM Contacts on their mobile phone
• Employees work outside the office would have access to CRM mobile express in case they need to access CRM Contact information
• There are too many local copies of contacts in users Outlook contact folder and employees track lots of duplicate Contacts in CRM
• Only the CRM Contact email address is relevant when it comes to Outlook contact or emailing
• When we record or tack communications in CRM, we should always refer to a Contact

In summary, organisations does not necessarily want to have CRM Contact synchronised with users’ Outlook, but having all CRM Contacts’ email in Outlook for emailing is handy.

In this particular situation, we have suggested CRM users to setup their CRM and Outlook personal options this way:

• In CRM for Outlook Option settings, leave Contact synchronisation unchecked.
• In CRM for Outlook Option settings, check ‘Match all contacts in Microsoft Dynamics CRM’ under Contacts
• Set CRM Contact address book to be the default Outlook address book

For more information on how to update your CRM for Outlook Options and setting default Outlook Address Book list, please refer to my other post here.

Set Microsoft Dynamics CRM address book as the default Outlook address book in Outlook 2010

 

Since CRM would probably capture all of your business contacts information and will possibly be the database has the latest and up to date contact email addresses, you may just want to download all CRM contacts address book and use it as your default Outlook address book.

To update your CRM for Outlook Options:

1. From Outlook menu bar (2003/ 2007), locate the and click the CRM menu button. Usually it located next to the Help button. Then from the CRM drop down list, select Options to bring up your personal settings for CRM
   For Outlook 2010 users, your CRM Options is located in the CRM ribbons, More dropdown list.
2. From the CRM Options page, go to Address Book tab, check "Match all contacts in Microsoft Dynamics CRM” for Contacts

To setup default Outlook Address Book in Outlook 2010:

1. From Outlook, make sure you are on Home ribbon
2. From the Find group, click Address Book to open Address Book settings
3. From the Address Book setting page, click Tools
4. Under When sending e-mail, check address lists in this order, setup your perferences
5. Under When opening the address book, show this address list first to be CRM Contacts
6. Click OK
7. Exit

To find out more about how to setup default Outlook Address Book for other Outlook versions, please visit
http://msmvps.com/blogs/kwsupport/archive/2004/05/10/6198.aspx .

Now you would have access to all CRM Contact email address and have it listed as the first address book for emailing within Outlook.

Security prompt “The current webpage is trying to open a site in your Trusted site list…” when launching CRM2011 Online

After you have installed and configured Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Outlook client, you may experience multiple login prompts when accessing CRM records.  To resolve this multiple login prompts, add the following urls into your Internet Explorer Trusted site list. 

1. https://login.live.com  
2. https://signin.crm.dynamics.com
3. https://*.crm.dynamics.com

Sometimes, after you added the above urls to the trusted site list, you may find you still can’t open up a CRM record from Outlook successfully.  Internet Explorer is now prompting you for the following message.

The current webpage is trying to open a site in your Trusted Sites list. Do you want to allow this?"

To remove this security prompt, enable the “Websites in less privileged web content zone can navigate into this zone” option as shown below.

CRM2011 “The requested record was not found or you don’t have permission to view it” when tracking an email

 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM users often like to create a separate Contact record for each CRM users in order to track and view tracked communications between crm users.  Although users can retrieve communication information via “Activity” views, advance find or reports, it is not as handy as just open up a Contact card and see it from there. 

For CRM2011, especially with CRM2011 Online, users uses LiveID to authenticate.  But CRM2011 does not like LiveID being duplicate across the database.  In the above scenario, there is a very high potential same LiveID being reference in the User table as well as Contact table.  If this happens, then you may see “The requested record was not found or you do not have sufficient permissions to view it” when you track emails to CRM2011 if one of the email parties (such as sender) is a Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 user.  Especially with the Setup User’s liveid, do not reference it outside the setup user user form. 

To overcome the error, remove or replace the email address which is used by the CRM2011 Setup user found in the other area of the database and you will be able to track the email into CRM2011 Online.

CRM 4.0 Outlook Client Error: access is denied

Lately, I have been to a site where almost all Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Outlook users could not access CRM via their desktop/ Outlook.  Everyone is getting “Access is denied” or “An error has occurred” generic error message when clicking any CRM folder in Outlook. 

After evaluation, I found IE is continuously giving some error similar to this one.

Message: Access is denied.

Line: 49

Char: 1

Code: 0

URI: http://crm/_static/_controls/notes/notectrl.htc

Message: Unspecified error.

Line: 421

Char: 1

Code: 0

URI: http://crm/_static/_forms/controls/img.lu.htc

This error message could be caused by the relocation of CRM Server, SQL Server, Database location, or adjustments to the host header.  The solution to the error is to delete your internet temp files and/or reconfigure your CRM Outlook client.

An error occurred while calling the callback: "HrGroupGetVisible”

Every now and then, some CRM users around the office complain about seeing the following error message when working with Microsoft Office Outlook where Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Outlook client is installed.

Custom UI Runtime Error in Microsoft Dynamics CRM: An error occurred while calling the callback: “HrGroupGetVisible” . 

After a few research and goggling, I found this KB article seems to be quite helpful.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2494581 

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require you to reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be resolved. Change the registry at your own risk.
To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Exit Outlook.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate the following registry subkey:

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\TypeLib\{2DF8D04C-5BFA-101B-BDE5-00AA0044DE52}

4. Right-click the 2.4 registry key, and then select Export. Save the export to your desktop to create a backup.
5. Right-click the 2.4 key again, and then select delete.
6. Start Outlook.

This same KB is also relevant to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Outlook client for a similar error message.

Custom UI Runtime Error in Microsoft Dynamics CRM:  An error occurred while calling the callback: "HrExplorerGroupGetVisible"

Hope this helps you, too!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online Outlook Client failed to installed on Windows 2008 Server

Today I was playing with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online Outlook Client installation.  Since it is only a demo environment, I decided to go to Microsoft VHD program site to download a pre-configured VHD to kick start building the test and demo.  You will be able to find a list of pre-configured VHD here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/bb738372.aspx 

I was initially hoping to get a copy of Windows7 or WindowsVista VHD, but failed to find one. So I decided to download a copy of the Windows2008 Std server for the demo building.  Downloaded and started up the 32 bit  virtual image with Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, all went well.  Downloaded and installed a copy of 32 bit Office 2010, all went well.  Configured Outlook 2010, all went well.  Then downloaded and attempted to install Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online Outlook Client, failed with error message “The installation has failed.  The computer is running an operating system that Microsoft Dynamics CRM does not support…”

If you click on View the Log File on the error page, then you will see it is suggesting Windows 2008 SP2 is required.  Ran the Windows Update and spent 2 hours to download and install over 60+ updates, re-ran the CRM Outlook client file, still no go.  Decided to manually download and install KB948465. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=a4dd31d5-f907-4406-9012-a5c3199ea2b3&displaylang=en

Windows 2008 SP2 installation went well.  Re-ran the CRM Outlook client, finally the install went well.

During the configuration of the Online client, it always prompt for minimum 3 times for user LiveID  and password, which I found to be a bit annoying.  Otherwise, all went well.  Loving CRM2011 with Outlook 2010.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and Form Assistance

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4, there is a feature called "Form Assistant". "Form Assistant" in CRM4 allows users to populate lookup fields on the form quickly and create follow up activities without additional pop up window. Users usually find it really handy. However, "Form Assistance" also introduced additional layer of technical difficulties when filtered lookup is required. Due to the common requirement of filtered lookup requirement, consultants and developers usually disable "Form Assistant" on the form to ensure consistent user experience is acheived effectively.

In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, the "Form Assistant" has been removed from most entities but Case and Service Activity. The Form Assistant on the Case and Service Activity form does not work with Customer field anymore.