InstallationLesson 2

Deploying Acumatica ERP on Windows Azure

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Lesson 2: Deploying Acumatica ERP on Windows Azure

Part 1: Installation

Acumatica ERP can be deployed on Windows Azure, which is a cloud services platform hosted through Microsoft data centers. The platform includes the Windows Azure operating system and a set of developer services. Also, you can access the storage services that are provided through the Windows Azure Management Portal. To use them, you must have a storage account.

System Requirements Deploying Acumatica ERP on Microsoft Azure imposes additional limitations to Acumatica ERP system requirement, described in System Requirements for Acumatica ERP 2017 R2. The performance and capabilities of Microsoft Azure SQL databases depend on the service tier you select for the database, with the performance levels expressed in database throughput units (DTUs). To successfully run Acumatica ERP on Azure, the database must have at least 50 DTUs. Taking into account the requirement for databases, you should select at least Standard S2 service tier. For more information on service tiers, see Service Tiers on Microsoft Azure.

Lesson Objectives You will learn how to do the following (you do not need to perform the steps to pass the training):

  • Download the service package file.
  • Prepare for deployment on Windows Azure.
  • Set up the database options and create an Acumatica ERP Service Package on your local computer.
  • Deploy the Acumatica ERP Service Package on Windows Azure. | Step 2.1: Creating a New Cloud Service | 28

Step 2.1: Creating a New Cloud Service Before you deploy an Acumatica ERP instance on Windows Azure, you must purchase or create an SSL certificate, purchase services on Windows Azure, and perform the installation process described below. For more information about deploying a cloud service, see How to Create and Deploy a Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure portal. To purchase Windows Azure, go to www.windowsazure.com and sign up for an account. You will need to purchase a Cloud Service on Windows Azure, a SQL database, and bandwidth to communicate with your service. With Acumatica, the size of the Web and Worker Role Instance that you select is contractually linked to the Acumatica edition that you choose. External storage is not required unless you want to store files outside the SQL database using the external file storage feature in Acumatica. To create a new cloud service on Windows Azure:

  1. In Management Portal, click New, Cloud Service, and then Quick Create.
  2. In URL, enter your company name to use in the public URL for accessing your cloud service in production deployments. The URL format for production deployments is http://myCompany.cloudapp.net, where myCompany is the company name.
  3. In Region/Affinity Group, select Acumatica Group.
  4. Click Create Cloud Service. | Step 2.2: Uploading an SSL Certificate | 29

Step 2.2: Uploading an SSL Certificate Before you can use a Windows Azure service certificate, you must upload it to a cloud service. Export a new certificate into a PFX file by using the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager or OpenSSL command-line tools, and then upload this file to Windows Azure by using the Windows Azure Management Portal or the Windows Azure Service Management API. The uploaded certificate can then be used by a service or stored in the hosted services certificate store. To add an SSL service certificate to the certificate store on Windows Azure, perform the following instructions:

  1. In Management Portal, click Cloud Services. Then click the name of the cloud service you created in Step 2.1 to open the dashboard. a. Open the Certificates page and click Add new certificate. The Add a Certificate dialog box opens. b. In Certificate file, use Browse to select the certificate (PFX file) to use. c. In Password, enter the private key for the certificate. d. Click OK. e. Copy and paste the thumbprint of the certificate into a file. You will need it during a later step, when you’re configuring database settings. | Step 2.3: Configuring Remote Access to Role Instance | 30

Step 2.3: Configuring Remote Access to Role Instance This step is optional for partners who want to make changes to web.config and modify other IIS settings directly through Windows Server To configure remote access to the role instance, perform the following instructions:

  1. In Management Portal, select Cloud Services. Then click the name of the cloud service you created in Step 2.1 to open the dashboard.
  2. Open the Configure page for the cloud service, and click Remote.
  3. On the Configure Remote Desktop Settings page, make the following changes:
  • Select the Enable remote desktop check box.
  • Create an account to use in Remote Desktop connections to the role instances.
  • In the Certificates dialog box, select the certificate you uploaded in the previous step.
  1. Click OK.
  2. Connect to a role instance as follows:
  • Click Instances to open the Instances page.
  • Click the role instance that has Remote Desktop configured to select the instance.
  • Click Connect, and follow the instructions to open the desktop of the virtual machine. | Step 2.4: Creating SQL Database | 31

Step 2.4: Creating SQL Database In this step, you will create a SQL database on Windows Azure. To create a SQL database on Windows Azure, perform the following instructions:

  1. In the Management Portal, click Cloud Services. Then click the name of the cloud service you've created in step 2.1 to open the dashboard.
  2. Click +NEW at the bottom of the page.
  3. Click Data Services.
  4. Click SQL Database.
  5. Click Custom Create.
       Figure: Creating SQL database
  6. In the Name box, enter a database name for the new instance.
  7. In the Edition box, select the WEB edition.
  8. Select the Subscription box, depending on your company contract.
  9. In the Service Tiers and Performance Level boxes, choose the service tier you want to use. For running Acumatica ERP you should select at least the Standard S2 service tier.
  10. In the Collation box, specify the collation for your database. The SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS collation is selected by default.
  11. In the Server box, select New SQL Database Server.
  12. Click the check mark to go to the next page.
  13. In the Server Settings box, enter a SQL Server authentication login name and password.
  14. Click the check mark at the bottom of the page when you are finished. | Step 2.4: Creating SQL Database | 32
    Figure: SQL database server settings

. | Step 2.5: Configuring Remote Access to the Database Server | 33

Step 2.5: Configuring Remote Access to the Database Server In this step, you will configure remote access to the database server. Perform the following instructions:

  1. In the Management Portal, click SQL Databases.
  2. Click the name of your server from the list to get to your Server Dashboard.
  3. Click Configure in the top menu.
  4. Setup two rules to allow access to the database:
  • Allow access from Windows Azure Services (this should already be set to Yes if you allowed it when you set the options to create the server).
  • Allow access from the IP address of your deployment machine. This machine will be writing data to the SQL database and will therefore need access to the server. By default Windows Azure provides access from the IP address from your computer, so you will not have to add an addition IP address if you are deploying from the same machine you used to create your Windows Azure services.
    Figure: Setting remote access to database server
    Now you have created an empty database and captured the administrative login and password for accessing the server. | Step 2.6: Downloading the Azure Service Package File | 34

Step 2.6: Downloading the Azure Service Package File Before you begin installing Acumatica ERP as a service on Windows Azure, you need to get the Azure service package file that you can download on the Partner Portal. The package file should correspond to the version of Windows Azure that you purchased as shown in the following table.

Configuration package options

Azure Deployment Acumatica ERP Edition Configuration Package Small Standard SmallService.cspkg Medium Advanced MediumService.cspkg Large Enterprise LargeService.cspkg 90 day free trial Unlicensed SmallService.cspkg

To download the configuration package:

  1. Open the Acumatica Partner Portal. You will need your partner user name and password to access the site.
  2. Under Product Links in the left pane, click Download Acumatica.
  3. Under Current Products in the left pane, click Acumatica 2017 R2. The page where you can download the selected version and Azure configuration packages is displayed, as shown in the screenshot below.
        Figure: Page where you download Acumatica Partner Portal
  4. Click the service package you plan to use and download the Azure service package file (.cspkg) to your computer. | Step 2.7: Creating an Acumatica ERP Service Package | 35

Step 2.7: Creating an Acumatica ERP Service Package You install the Acumatica ERP Tools on the local computer and use the Acumatica ERP Configuration Wizard to set up database options and create an Acumatica ERP Service package. To Set Up Database Options and Create an Acumatica ERP Service Package, perform the following instructions:

  1. Install the Acumatica ERP Tools on the local computer.
  2. Open the Acumatica ERP Configuration Wizard.
  3. On the Welcome page of the Acumatica ERP Configuration Wizard, click Generate Azure Configuration File.
  4. On the Database Server Connection page, enter the host name of the Microsoft Azure SQL server and the administrator account credentials.
  5. Click Next.
  6. On the Database Configuration page, do one of the following:
  • To create a new database, click Create a new database and then type the name in the New database’s name box.
  • To connect to an existing database, do the following:
  1. Click Connect to an existing database.
  2. In the Available databases on server list, select a database name.
  3. Depending on the schema of the database you have selected, select the relevant check box to update, repair, or set up the database.
  4. If you want to shrink data after the database maintenance, select the Shrink data check box.
  5. On the Company Setup page, do the following: a. Do the following to configure the new company (named Company) that the Acumatica ERP Configuration Wizard created by default: a. To rename the company, double-click the company name in the Login Company Name column, type a new company name, and press Enter. b. If you want to fill the database with demo data or template data, select Demo or Template in the Insert Data column. b. Optional: If you want to create a multi-company Acumatica ERP instance, add more companies. For more information about company setup, see Managing Companies. c. Optional: For a multi-company Acumatica ERP instance, if you want to restrict the list of companies a user can see only to the companies the user has access to, select the Secure Company on Login Form check box. In this case, the Company box does not appear on the Welcome screen by default and all users first authenticate themselves by entering their login and password. d. Optional: For a multi-company Acumatica ERP instance, if you want to configure data sharing between companies, select the Advanced Settings check box. For more information, see Multi-Company Instances
  6. Click Next.
  7. Optional: On the Tables Configuration page, you can specify whether you want the database tables to be shared by different companies, and then click Next. This page is displayed only if you have selected the Advanced Settings check box on the previous page.
  8. On the Instance Configuration page, specify the following options: a. Instance Name: Type a name for this Self-Service Portal instance. | Step 2.7: Creating an Acumatica ERP Service Package | 36
    b. Create Portal: Select this check box. c. Local Path to the Instance: Enter the path on the local computer to this application instance. d. Select an account to access ASP.NET application: Select one of the following accounts to be used to access the ASP.NET application:
  • Default (anonymous user): To use the user account that IIS uses by default.
  • Specify: To use another user account. Specify the login and password of the user account.
  1. On the Instance Configuration page, specify the following options: a. Instance Name: Enter a name for this application instance of Acumatica ERP. b. Local Path to the Instance: Enter the local path to the configuration files folder. c. Select an account to access ASP.NET application: Select one of the following accounts to be used to access the ASP.NET application:
  • Default (anonymous user): The user account that IIS uses by default.
  • Specify: Another user account. Specify the login and password of the user account. d. SSL Certificate Thumbprint: Enter the thumbprint of the SSL service certificate that you saved to a text file in To Prepare for Deployment on Windows Azure.
  1. Click Next.
  2. On the Confirm Configuration page, verify the configuration settings, and then click Finish.
  3. On the Confirm Configuration page, do the following: a. Check the configuration settings you have specified. b. Optional. To make any changes, click Back to return to the required wizard page, and then make necessary changes. c. Click Finish. The service package (.cspkg) file is generated and stored on your computer. | Step 2.8: Deploying the Acumatica ERP Service on Windows Azure | 37

Step 2.8: Deploying the Acumatica ERP Service on Windows

Azure

To deploy the Acumatica ERP Service on Windows Azure, use the Windows Azure Management Portal to upload the following files:

  • The service package file (.cspkg) that you downloaded from the Partner Portal.
  • The service configuration file (.cscfg) you created in Step 2.7. To deploy the packaged Acumatica ERP Service on Windows Azure, perform the following instructions:
  1. In the Management Portal, click Cloud Services. Then click the name of the cloud service to open the dashboard.
  2. Click Quick Start to open the Quick Start page.
  3. Click New Production Deployment or New Staging Deployment.
  4. In Upload a Package, make the following changes: a. In Deployment name, enter a name for the new deployment. b. In Package, use Browse to select the service package file (.cspkg) to use. c. In Configuration, use Browse to select the service configuration file (.cscfg) to use.
  5. Click OK (check mark) to begin the cloud service deployment. Uploading the service package file and the service configuration file may take several minutes. You can track the upload progress on the Azure Management Portal. When you create an application in Windows Azure, Windows Azure provides a friendly subdomain on the cloudapp.net domain so your users can access your application by using a URL such as http://.cloudapp.net. However, you can also expose your application and data on your own domain name. For more information, see Configuring a custom domain name for a Windows Azure cloud service or storage account on Microsoft Azure portal. | Additional Information | 38

Additional Information

The following concept is outside of the scope of this course but may be useful to some readers. You can use the link below to get additional information.

Configuring Domain Name for Your Application When you create an application in Windows Azure, Windows Azure provides a friendly subdomain on the cloudapp.net domain so your users can access your application by using a URL such as http:// .cloudapp.net. However, you can also expose your application and data on your own domain name. For more information, see Configuring a custom domain name for a Windows Azure cloud service or storage account on Microsoft Azure portal. | Lesson Summary | 39

Lesson Summary

In this lesson, you have learned how to deploy Acumatica ERP on Windows Azure Review Questions:

  • Compare and contrast deployment of Acumatica ERP on Windows Azure over local installation.
  • How are web.config settings are accessed in Windows Azure?
  • Discuss optimal configuration for Acumatica ERP on Windows Azure.
  • Why would you deploy a customer on Azure using this process instead of purchasing the Acumatica SaaS solution? | Lesson 3: Deploying Acumatica ERP on AWS | 40