Re: AX 2012 R2 Service Pack 2 I am looking for options in copying Business Setup data (eg Companies, Chart of Accounts, Location, etc) from one AX instance to another instance. The instances are currently in development so we don't have to worry about wiping out data. As of now one single instance has a master copy of all Business Setup information. What I want to do is copy that data to multiple development instances.
I can refresh the Model Store and Business Data with no problem. But the Business Setup data is a different beast entirely. In AX 2009, there was a feature to copy this information, but it has since been removed in AX 2012. I've read multiple articles on this but each one warns that it's either not recommended or only for testing. I need something that is safe to use.
Has anyone found a clean process to copy business setups from one instance to another in AX 2012?
The really simple solution is to have an AX setup database/environment without any transactions.
To deploy do a SQL Server, do a backup of the setup database and restore to the target database followed by a full AX dictionary synchronize in the target application.
This will of cause wipe out any transactions, setup etc. done in the target database.
After import a script is run to change file locations not to point to setup locations etc. You may need to save some data beforehand using the Administration, Periodic, Data Export/Import, Export then import after the wipe.
Below is the actual procedure used by one of my customers. The setup is done in the production environment and the target may be the flow testing environment.
Sketch list:
This procedure is also great for making a test environment of a production environment.