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Initialize Commerce Scale Unit (cloud)

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This article explains how to initialize Commerce Scale Unit (CSU) (cloud) in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce.

If you're using a Tier-2 sandbox or production environment that has application version 8.1.2.x or later, you must initialize CSU (cloud) before you can use retail channel functionality either for point of sale (POS) operations or for e-commerce operations that use Retail Server in the cloud. Initialization will deploy a CSU (cloud).

Important

For existing customers using retail channel functionality in the cloud, to ensure continued and uninterrupted support for your business, we require that you update your retail channels to use CSU. New environments deployed without CSU will no longer receive quality and service updates for cloud-hosted retail channel components. There is no action required for customers who exclusively use CSU (self-hosted). Contact your Microsoft FastTrack solution architect if you require an extension.

Prerequisites

  1. Deploy a Tier-2 sandbox or production environment that has version 8.1.2.x or later.

  2. You can self-deploy up to two CSUs per environment. If you require more than two CSUs per environment, in Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS), create a support request, and enter Request for additional Commerce Scale Unit and indicate the environment ID, number of CSUs, and desired datacenter regions. The request will be completed within five business days. If you don't require more than two CSUs per environment, you don't need to create a support request.

  3. You must have project owner permissions in LCS before you can initialize CSU.

  4. Ensure that Retail license configuration keys are enabled in your environment. For more information, see License codes and configuration keys report. You must have the following keys turned on to use CSU.

    • RetailBasic
    • RetaileCommerce - If you plan to use E-Commerce for Dynamics 365 Commerce.
    • RetailGiftCard - If you plan to use gift cards.
    • RetailInvent - If you plan to use inventory.
    • RetailModernPos - If you plan to use point of sale (POS).
    • RetailReplenishment - If you plan to use replenishments.
    • RetailScheduler
    • RetailStores - If you plan to use POS.

Region availability

CSU is available for deployment in the following regions.

Global location Region Availability Comments
AMERICAS East US Generally available No comments.
AMERICAS East US 2 Generally available No comments.
AMERICAS North Central US Limited capacity No comments.
AMERICAS South Central US Limited capacity No comments.
AMERICAS Central US Generally available No comments.
AMERICAS West US Generally available No comments.
AMERICAS West US 2 Generally available No comments.
AMERICAS Canada Central Limited capacity No comments.
AMERICAS Canada East Limited capacity No comments.
AMERICAS West Central US Limited capacity No comments.
APAC Australia East Generally available No comments.
APAC Southeast Asia Capacity restricted No deployments are allowed.
APAC Japan East Generally available No comments.
APAC Japan West Generally available No comments.
APAC Australia Southeast Generally available No comments.
APAC East Asia Limited capacity No comments.
APAC India South Capacity restricted No deployments are allowed.
APAC India Central Limited capacity An approval process is required.
EMEA West Europe Generally available No comments.
EMEA North Europe Generally available No comments.
EMEA UK South Generally available No comments.
EMEA UK West Generally available No comments.
UAE UAE North Capacity restricted LCS UAE can be used to deploy CSU in UAE. CSUs in UAE only run in one region and don't have a business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) region to failover in case of Azure regional failure.

Deployment capacity in limited capacity regions is extremely constrained. Requests for deployment are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If you have a compelling business need for deployment in limited capacity regions, you can file a support request to be added to the waitlist. Capacity restricted areas currently don't allow for CSU deployment at this time.

Map showing region availability.

Initialize CSU as part of a new environment deployment

Please make sure the headquarters is available. This is required to register the scale unit with the headquarters during the initialization process. It isn't recommended to initialize a scale unit when the headquarters is under servicing, as it may become unavailable during its servicing process.

  1. Make sure the headquarters environment is available and not in Maintenance mode.
  2. In Lifecycle Services, on the environment details page, select Environment features > Commerce.
  3. On the Commerce setup deployment page, select Initialize.
  4. Select the version of the CSU to initialize.
  5. Select a region to initialize CSU in.

Configure channels to use CSU

After CSU has been deployed, you must ensure that your channels are configured to use the database for it.

To configure your channels to use the CSU database, follow these steps.

  1. In Commerce headquarters, go to Retail and commerce > Headquarters setup > Commerce Scheduler > Channel database.
  2. In the left pane, select a channel database.
  3. On the Retail channel FastTab, select Add, and then select your retail channel in the drop-down list.

When you've finished, go to Retail and Commerce > Retail and commerce IT > Distribution schedule, and run job 9999.

Note

Job 9999 syncs all new products and customers to the CSU. This process can take a long time. If the channel must be available just for e-commerce site builder configuration, you can run job 1070 instead of job 9999.

Database refresh and CSUs

Before you begin, make sure you're familiar with Steps to complete after a database refresh for environments that use Commerce functionality.

The scale unit channel database records (in the Channel Database form) can't be moved across environments as part of database refresh. This is because the records represent environment specific configuration.

After database refresh, you can regenerate the scale unit's channel database record by issuing a redeployment of your scale unit in Lifecycle Services. Any deployment or servicing operation in the scale unit will attempt to register the scale unit with the headquarters, if the registration is detected as missing.

You can issue a redeployment of the scale unit, without changing any components, by selecting to deploy the same version your scale unit is at already. This can be done in Lifecycle Services by the following steps:

  1. In Lifecycle Services, on the environment details page, select Environment features > Retail.
  2. On the setup deployment page, select the scale unit you would like to redeploy.
  3. On the scale unit's operation menu, select Update.
  4. On the slider, on the drop-down for Select version, pick the option Specify a version.
  5. On the text box under Specify a version, type in the version shown for your scale unit, shown beside the Current version label.
  6. Click on Update button.

You don't need to select Update extensions, even if you have applied extensions previously, since the last extension package applied to the scale unit is automatically picked when updating a scale unit.

If you have multiple scale units, you need to perform the operation above for each scale unit. You may perform these operations in parallel, if desired.

Deploy additional CSUs (optional)

After you've initialized CSU, you can self-deploy a second Scale Unit if your license entitles you to do so. To deploy more than two Scale Units, you must create a support request. In the support request, state the number of CSUs that you require, the environment name, and the desired regions. For more information about licensing, see Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide.

For each additional CSU that you deploy, we recommend that you create a separate channel database group by following these steps.

  1. In Commerce head office, go to Retail and Commerce > Retail Headquarters > Retail Scheduler setup > Channel database group.
  2. Create a new channel database group.
  3. Go to the Retail and Commerce > Retail Headquarters > Retail Scheduler setup > Channel database, and select the channel database that corresponds to the newly created CSU.
  4. Select Edit and select the new channel database group.
  5. Select Save.
  6. Select Run Full data sync for the selected channel database.

Additional considerations if you initialize cloud-hosted Commerce channel components in an existing environment

If you're already using cloud-hosted Commerce channel components in an environment, initialization of CSU will help reduce the downtime when those components are updated. Additional planning is required before initialization of CSU.

When you initialize your first CSU in an environment that uses cloud-hosted Commerce channel components, the initialization process will migrate your channels associated to the cloud-hosted channel components to the first scale unit. Channels associated with Store Scale units are unaffected.

The migration process is transparent to the channels. After the scale unit initialization starts, the following operations are automatically performed:

  1. A new CSU will be created and associated with the environment.
  2. The CSU will be registered as an available Channel Database in the headquarters.
  3. All channels mapped to the Default channel database in the headquarters will be updated to map to the new CSU.
  4. A Commerce Data Exchange (CDX) full data sync will be performed to bring the channel data to the new scale unit.

Planning and testing for CSU initialization

As a general rule, when initializing CSU, you must plan for a five-hour downtime window for store operations as well as any e-commerce channel operations that use Retail Server or Cloud Point of Sale.

  1. Perform a database refresh from your production environment to a sandbox UAT environment.
  2. Initialize CSU in the sandbox UAT environment.
  3. Note the initialization time to complete for CSU. This will be comparable to the time this operation takes in your production environment, during which store operations and e-commerce operations will be unavailable.

You must perform the following additional steps before initializing CSU.

  • Close all POS shifts - After migration, POS users will be unable to close any shifts that were active during the migration process.
  • Validate that all P-jobs have been successfully completed - It's recommended that P-jobs to synchronize pending transactions have completed before CSU is initialized.
  • Sign out of all POS device - POS operations aren't supported during migration.
  • Recall and void all suspended transactions at POS - Suspended transactions aren't preserved as part of the initialization.

Important

As part of CSU initialization, prior suspended transactions will be lost and can't be recalled.

Here's what occurs during the initialization period:

  • Cloud-hosted Commerce channels won't work, unless you turn on POS offline capability.
  • POS devices with offline capability turned on will have reduced functionality.
  • Any e-Commerce clients that depend on Retail Server will be disrupted.
  • Channels that are hosted on CSUs (self-hosted) won't be affected.
  • Head office functionality isn't affected.

Here's what occurs after initialization is completed:

  • The device activation state of all activated POS devices is preserved, which means that the devices won't have to be reactivated.
  • Stand-alone hardware station instances will continue to work.
  • POS channel–side reports will be reset and won't show data from before the initialization.
  • Show journal operation will also be reset and won't show data from before the initialization.