LS Data Director Installation

Prerequisites

There are a few things, as listed below, that you need to keep in mind before setting up the Data Director on Business Central with LS Central.

  • You should have a solid understanding of the TCP/IP networking protocol. You should know how IP addresses can be assigned and be able to use tools such as ping and tracert. You must be able to assign names to an IP number, preferably using a DNS server or the local hosts file.
  • You should know how to work with Microsoft Windows Services and view events from the Event Log.
  • Make sure that you have the necessary permissions to install programs and be able to start and stop services on the computer running the DD service.
  • You should have a working knowledge of Microsoft Business Central.
  • When using CFront, make sure that you have a Dynamics NAV License file (.flf) that allows you to access the DD application objects within Dynamics NAV.
  • The DD Web Service is a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) service that is hosted in IIS and requires IIS version 7 and above. Those who want to install DD Web Service must therefore be familiar with IIS.

Security considerations

Most data communication tools like the DD will need access to your organization’s databases in order to move data between them. For security purposes, you should restrict the DD’s access to the database tables that it needs to read or write into. This is important because, unlike regular database users, the DD can effectively access any table in your database, as it is not restricted to viewing data via a graphical user interface. By choosing not to restrict the DD’s access to your database, you risk giving users access to data that they should not have access to.

Most database systems allow database administrators to set user access permissions relatively easily. It is strongly recommended that you spend some time specifying access permissions for the user account that the DD will use to access your database. For example, the Business Central security system provides a powerful feature that limits a user’s access to database tables only, making the user account useless to regular users since they do not have access to the database’s graphic user interface. Similar features can be found in most other database systems. If this feature is available, it should preferably be used for all user accounts that the DD uses.

To install the Data Director

DD3 Runs on Framework 4.7 so you need to install it before you install DD3.

  1. Install DD3 by running LS.DataDirector.3.02.xx.Setup.exe.

  2. If you clear all check boxes, only DD Client files are installed without the Client Tools. These are the files needed for LS Nav, LS Central, or LS One to communicate with the Data Director:

    Task Description
    DD Service: DD Service that handles all the data transfer. If you are installing only client controls for LS Retail products such s LS Central or LS One, to be able to connect to DD Service on another host, then clear this check box and only the Client files will be installed.
    Client Tools: Configuration Tool and Monitoring Tools for Data Director. If you do not want the tools to be available on this host, then clear this check box. DD can be configured and monitored remotely.
    CFront Files: Files required to make a connection to the NAV Database. If you are running an upgrade and have manually updated the CFront files to match your NAV setup, then clear this check box so that the DD does not overwrite the current files.
    DD2 Client for NAV: If you are installing controls for the LS Nav host and the CodeUnits, use either CFront Controls or DD Controls from the previous version of DD (DD2), then select this option. This installs all the DD2 Client files that are needed for NAV to communicate with DD. There is no need to install LSRetailDDClient-2.28.x.exe anymore. If you already have DD2 installed on the host, there is no need to select this option.
    DD Add-ins files for NAV/BC RTC: Add DD Client files to the Add-ins folder for latest NAV/BC RTC Client. If there are more than one version of NAV/BC installed, only the newest version will get the files. You must copy the files manually to the Add-ins folder for other versions.
    DD Add-ins files for NAV/BC SRV:

    Add DD Client files to the Add-ins folder for latest NAV/BC Middle Tier Service.
    Install Incoming DD Web Service: Installs Web Service support to IIS to accept Job Requests via Web Services. (See IIS Setup and Configuration on how to prepare IIS before install.)

If the install cannot find the default install path for NAV/BC, it will bring up selection windows with the install path where NAV/BC is located, both for RTC and Service.

  • To install DD with NAV 2009 or older:
    Select DD Service, Client Tools, CFront Files and DD2 Client for NAV.

  • To install DD with NAV 2013 or newer (and not support for older NAV):
    Select DD Service, Client Tools and DD Add-ins files for NAV/BC, both for RTC and SRV.

  • To install DD with OnPrem LS Central 16.x or newer:
    Select DD Service, Client Tools and DD Add-ins files for NAV/BC SRV.

  • To install DD with Cloud LS Central 16.x or newer:
    Select DD Service, Client Tools, DD Add-ins files for NAV/BC SRV and Install Incoming DD Web Service.

  • To install DD with LS One Site Manager:
    Select DD Service and Client Tools.

  • To install DD Client files for POS that will not include DD Service:
    Clear all check boxes and only the client files will be installed.

Depending on what options you select, changes to DD Configuration will be made to match the selection if this is a new installation.

DD3 can also run with DD2 Service installed, if you want to have both DD2 & DD3 on same computer, you need make sure that either one of them is running or change the Incoming Port on DD2 to another than the Default port 16750.

No configuration is needed to start up DD3 with default settings. After install, the DD will start up with a default configuration. If DD should connect to database with a trusted connection, you need to add Login to the DD Service to log on as a user that has access to read and write the data onto the database.

Open the Configuration Tool and upload the DD license, a demo DD license is installed when the DD is installed. If the DD is connected to NAV 2009 or older, upload the NAV Licenses file also under App Config tab.

Note: At least one DD Web Service needs to be installed in a network where jobs are going to be distributed. LS Central that runs the Scheduler job has to have access to that IIS Service where DD Web Service runs. DD Web Service then has to have access to any Source DD host that jobs will be sent to. No Web Service is required on Destination hosts.

Note: When installing DD for LS Retail NAV 6.x or older you need to change the Path to CFront in the Distribution Location card to point to the new folder where CFront is installed. The path is different from the default path that comes with the NAV standard data.

For install options via command line see Install Options

To test if DD Web Service is running without error, type in a browser:

http://localhost/DDWebService/ddjson.svc/ping

If everything is working correctly, you get an OK as reply.