SQL Server requirements and recommendations for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises)

The following requirements and recommendations apply to new and existing installations of SQL Server.

General requirements and recommendations

• Dynamics 365 Server requires an instance of SQL Server Reporting Services be installed, running, and available. All installations of the supported SQL Server editions can be used as the reporting server. However, the Reporting Services edition must match the SQL Server edition.

• For a list of supported SQL Server editions, see SQL Server editions.

• When Dynamics 365 Server and SQL Server are installed on different computers, they must be in the same Active Directory domain.

• Dynamics 365 Server Setup, Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) PowerShell cmdlets, and Deployment Manager support the default instance or a named instance of SQL Server.

• Although you can install SQL Server by using either Windows Authentication or mixed-mode authentication, Windows Authentication is a prerequisite for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises).

• The service account that SQL Server uses to log on to the network must be either a domain user account (recommended) or the Network Service account (you can’t use a local user account on the server). Using a low-privilege account strategy is recommended to help avoid compromising the security of the server.

• The SQL Server service must be started. This service should be configured to automatically start when the computer is started.

• SQL Server Agent must be started. This service should be configured to automatically start when the computer is started.

• SQL Server Full-Text Search must be installed and started. This service should be configured to automatically start when the computer is started.

• Dynamics 365 Server Setup requires a network library to authenticate SQL Server. By default, TCP/IP network libraries are enabled when you install SQL Server. SQL Server can use both TCP/IP or Named Pipes for authentication. However, the computer that is running SQL Server must be configured for at least one of the two network libraries.

• We recommend that the computer that is running SQL Server be located on the same local area network (LAN) as the computer that is running the Dynamics 365 Server Back End Server roles.

• The computer that is running SQL Server must be configured to have sufficient disk space, memory, and processing power to support the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) environment. For more information, see Microsoft Dynamics 365 Server hardware requirements.

• Although it’s optional, consider accepting the SQL Server default settings for Collation Designator, Sort Order, and SQL Collation. Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) supports the following collation orders:

  • Case-sensitive

  • Case-insensitive

  • Accent-sensitive

  • Accent-insensitive

  • Binary sort order (such as Latin1_General_100_BIN)

  Note

  Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) sets the collation order at the database level. This setting might differ from that set at the SQL Server level.

• Review all SQL Server installation options and be prepared to make the needed selections when you run Setup. For more information, see SQL Server Installation.

• If you plan to install SQL Server in a location other than the default file location, see File Locations for Default and Named Instances of SQL Server.

  You should also consider where the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) databases are located on the server, and the hard-disk configuration that will support them.

  Note

  To achieve the best combination of disk fault tolerance and performance, consider the many specifications for redundant array of independent disks (RAID) available from hardware vendors. Format the disks where the SQL Server database files reside for the fault-tolerance requirements of the application and performance parameters for the I/O activity occurring on that partition.

• We recommend that common language runtime (CLR) be enabled on the SQL Server that hosts the Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) organization database. CLR can show a significant improvement in performance for some features such as time zone conversions when you run dashboards, charts, advanced finds, and Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) interactive service hub experience. More information: CLR Integration - Enabling

See also

Microsoft SQL Server hardware requirements for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Server