NAV/SQL Setup and Best Practices
Chad
moving from the native DB to SQL.
1. For the SQL Server setup we are being quoted for SQL Standard 2005 on a
Windows Server 2003 machine. Navision will be running on the same machine.
2. We are looking to have Targit Business Analytics in-house as well, and we
are being quoted as needing to have another SQL Server setup for this
application.
3. We are possibly going to be purchasing (in the future) a Forecasting
system, as well as a CRM system (whether we use Navision's inherent modules
is being discussed as an option) and possibly a CSR system.
Now my questions. One, does it make sense to have a SQL Server for each
application that we buy (which could amount to 5 in the above scenarios)?
Does this than mean we should purchase a backup server for each as well or
maybe virtualize the servers? Two, does it make more sense to have one
"powerful" SQL Server with one "powerful" backup SQL Server, with multiple
database instances that have connections for each application and that is
having the data mirrored to it for failure/cutover? I guess I am trying to
find the best scenario for this setup and any possibly expansion we may have
in the future.
Any insight and help would be much appreciated!
Daniel Rimmelzwaan (MVP - Dynamics NAV)
You should probably go with Windows Server 2003 Enterprise 64bit, with SQL
Server 2005 Standard Edition. What do you mean 'Navision will be running on
the same machine'?
2:
Depends on the size of your database, the specs of your server, the number
of users, how you use NAV, and many more. Without the details there's not
much you can say one way or another.
3:
If you're going with NAV I'd encourage you to use its proprietary CRM
modules. With 5.0 Office integration has been massively improved, so with it
being completely intergated with all other ERP functionality (i.e. you don't
have to purchase or build a connector to NAV) that makes most sense to me.
Answers:
One SQL Server can store many databases. The load that you put on those
databases (as well as a large number of other factors) dictates whether you
have to have more than one server. If you have a 15 user company with a 10GB
database on a huge storage system you may need only one machine. If you have
250 users with all bells and whistles, many add-ons, warehousing, etc you
may need a separate machine. There's not much I can say about the validity
of the proposal without knowing the details.
As a rule I would always recommend against virtualizing your production ERP
system. Now there's a lot of stuff that can go around your system. For
instance for a medium size business that wants to use Commerce Gateway for
one document type with a low transaction volumes, it might make sense to
host their Biztalk server on a virtual machine. Basically if it feels like
overkill to purchase a separate machine for all these different functions,
many times it is, and virtual machines for the peripheral functionality
might make sense. But if you're talking about full blown functionality with
large numbers of users and large transaction volumes you'll need to consider
pysical machines.
Daniel Rimmelzwaan (MVP - Microsoft Dynamics NAV)
www.risplus.com
"Chad" <Ch...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C9A384E1-3348-47BE...@microsoft.com...
Chad
I finally got the chance to see your responses. Thank you for taking the
time to look over my questions and give responses as best you could with as
broad as I left them.
Chad