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Moving from Dynamics NAV On-premises to Business Central Online

This article describes you can move your on-premise Business Central solution, including the application and its tenants, to Business Central online.

Prerequisites

To complete the tasks in this article, you need the following:

  • The installation media (DVD) for the latest Business Central version.

    Download the version from Microsoft Collaborate.

  • A Business Central license.

  • A working environment of your current Business Central application, including the following tools:

    • Dynamics NAV Development Environment
    • Microsoft Dynamics NAV Development Shell
    • Dynamics NAV Administration Shell
    • Dynamics NAV Server Administration tool

  • Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio installed.

    You must use SQL Server Management Studio 2012 Service Pack 1 or later. To download the latest version, see Download SQL Server Management Studio.

  • A Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS) subscription.

    You use LCS to upload your solution for deployment. To get a subscription, follow the step in Sign up for a preview subscription.

Upgrade your application

  1. Complete a technical upgrade of your current application to the Business Central version.

    This converts your application database so that is runs on the new Business Central platform. For more information, see Converting a Database - Technical Upgrade.

    Important

    Be sure to upload your Business Central to converted database.

    After the technical upgrade, make sure that all the components are compiled successfully.

  2. Optionally, upgrade your application to the new Business Central application.

    You only have to complete this step if you want any new application features that are part of the latest Business Central version.

    For more information, see Upgrading the Application Code in Dynamics NAV.

  3. Complete the following steps as needed:

    1. Import any new control add-ins that you want to use into the application database.

      Import any client-side and server-side add-ins (such as control add-ins and .NET Framework Interoperability objects) which aren't included by default into the old application database.

      For more information, see To import the control add-in to the database.

    2. Import test automation objects.

    3. Publish and synchronize any new V2 extensions that you want in application that aren't already published.

      For more information, see Publishing and Installing an Extension v2.0.

  4. Test and validate the upgraded application on-premise.

Prepare the application and tenant databases

  1. Separate the old database into two databases: the application database and the tenant database.

    This step is only necessary if your database isn't already separated into an application database and tenant database.

    You do this by using the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Development Shell. For more information, see How to: Export the Application Tables to a Dedicated Database.

  2. For application and tenant database, remove all users except the default users like, dbo, guest, INFORMATION, SCHEMA, and sys.

    Use SQL Server Management Studio to remove any previous database users that are assigned to these databases. This includes the service account that was used by the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server to connect to the database (for example, the [NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE] account).

  3. Clean up the system tables in the application and tenant databases.

    You must clean up certain system tables in these databases to ensure that they don't contain any records that are related to the previous deployment environment or activities.

    The following table lists the system tables in the application and tenant databases from which you must clear data.

    Database Table Remarks
    Application dbo.Server Instance
    dbo.$ndo$tenants Note This table is only available if the original database was used in a multitenant environment.
    dbo.Object Tracking
    Tenant dbo.Access Control
    dbo.Active Session
    dbo.Session Event
    dbo.User
    dbo.User Default Style Sheet
    dbo.User Metadata
    dbo.User Personalization
    dbo.User Property

    You can perform this work manually by using SQL Server Management Studio to connect to the databases and make the modifications directly. Or, you can use Windows PowerShell.

    To use Windows Powershell, you can run the following cmdlets:

    $DBServerInstance = ‘[YOUR SQL SERVER INSTANCE NAME]’  
$DatabaseName = ‘[YOUR DB NAME]’

Invoke-Sqlcmd –ServerInstance $DBServerInstance –Query “USE [$DatabaseName] DELETE FROM dbo.[Server Instance]” –Verbose | Write
Invoke-Sqlcmd –ServerInstance $DBServerInstance –Query “USE [$DatabaseName] DELETE FROM dbo.[$(“$”)ndo$(“$”)cachesync]” –Verbose | Write

Create the deployable package (.zip file)

When you deploy your application online, you must provide a compressed .zip file that contains the application and tenant databases as data-tier application files, known as BACPAC (.bacpac) files. This article describes how you to create the BACPAC files and zip. You can do this using SQL Server Management Studio.

  1. In SQL Server Management Studio, connect to the server instance that hosts the application and tenant databases.

  2. In Object Explorer, right-click either the application or tenant database, choose Task, and then choose Export Data-tier Application.

  3. Follow the steps in the Export Data-tier Application wizard to export the database to a .bacpac file on your computer or network.

    You can use any name for the .bacpac file.

  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the other database.

    For more information about exporting databases to .bacpac format, see Export a Data-tier Application.

  5. Create a single ZIP (compressed) file that contains the application and tenant database BACPAC files.

Upload the deployable package to the Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS)

To upload your deployable package, you'll create a project in LCS.

  1. Sign-in to LCS from https://lcs.dynamics.com/v2.

  2. On the Getting Started page, under Recent Projects or All Projects, select +.

    Shows the Getting Started page in the LCS portal.

  3. In the What is this project for? box, select Migrate, create solutions, and learn.

  4. Enter a name and description for your project, and then the remaining fields accordingly:

    Field Value
    Product name Business Central
    Country Set this to the country where your solution will be published.
    Import roles and users from existing LCS project No

  5. Select Create.

    Your project is created and its home page opens.

  6. Select Asset Library.

  7. On the Asset library page, select Software deployable package, and then select +.

    Shows the Asset Library in the LCS portal.

  8. In the Upload Software deployable package file box, enter a name, select Add a file.

  9. In the Upload file asset box, select Browse > select your deployable package > Open > Upload.

    Once the file is uploaded, go to the next step to assign the project to a Business Central user for processing.

  10. Go back to your project home page, and select Project users.

  11. On the Project user management page, select +.

    Shows the users assigned to a project in the LCS portal.

  12. In the Invite user box, use the User lookup field to find the Business Central user or enter the email address directly in the Email field, and then select Invite.