1 Introduction

Microsoft Dynamics AX is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software package developed for businesses. It aims to drive sales, productivity and marketing effectiveness through social insights, business intelligence and campaign management in the cloud, on-premises or with a hybrid combination of both.

Such a powerful tool requires reliable and powerful support. The Kemp LoadMaster delivers an exceptional, cost-effective and easy to use solution which, by employing Adaptive Load Balancing, balances requests across Microsoft Dynamics.

When deployed as a pair, two LoadMasters give the security of High Availability (HA). HA allows two physical or virtual machines to become one logical device. Only one of these units is ever handling traffic at any particular moment. One unit is active and the other is a hot standby (passive). This provides redundancy and resiliency, meaning if one LoadMaster goes down for any reason, the hot standby can become active, therefore avoiding any downtime. For more information on HA please refer to: High Availability (HA), Feature Description.

1.1 Document Purpose

This document is intended to provide guidance on how to deploy Microsoft Dynamics AX with a Kemp LoadMaster. The Kemp Support Team is available to provide solutions for scenarios not explicitly defined.

The Kemp support site can be found at: https://support.kemptechnologies.com.

1.2 Intended Audience

This document is intended to be used by anyone deploying Microsoft Dynamics AX with a Kemp LoadMaster.

2 Microsoft Dynamics Template

Kemp has developed a template containing our recommended settings for Microsoft Dynamics AX. This template can be installed on the LoadMaster and used when creating Virtual Services. Using a template automatically populates the settings in the Virtual Services. This is quicker and easier than manually configuring each Virtual Service. If needed, changes can be made to any of the Virtual Service settings after using the template.

Download released templates from the following page: LoadMaster Templates.

For more information and steps on how to import and use templates, refer to the Virtual Services and Templates, Feature Description.

For steps on how to manually add and configure each of the Virtual Services, refer to the Configure Microsoft Dynamics Virtual Services section of this document.

3 Architecture

4 Configure Microsoft Dynamics Virtual Services

The environment in which Microsoft Dynamics AX is deployed determines which of the following set-ups should be used.

4.1 Enable Subnet Originating Requests Globally

It is best practice to enable the Subnet Originating Requests option globally.

In a one-armed setup (where the Virtual Service and Real Servers are on the same network/subnet) Subnet Originating Requests is usually not needed. However, enabling Subnet Originating Requests should not affect the routing in a one-armed setup.

In a two-armed setup where the Virtual Service is on network/subnet A, for example, and the Real Servers are on network B, Subnet Originating Requests should be enabled on LoadMasters with firmware version 7.1-16 and above.

When Subnet Originating Requests is enabled, the LoadMaster routes traffic so that the Real Server sees traffic arriving from the LoadMaster interface that is in that network/subnet.

When Subnet Originating Requests is enabled globally, it is automatically enabled on all Virtual Services. If the Subnet Originating Requests option is disabled globally, you can choose whether to enable Subnet Originating Requests on a per-Virtual Service basis.

To enable Subnet Originating Requests globally, follow the steps below:

1. In the main menu of the LoadMaster Web User Interface (WUI), go to System Configuration > Miscellaneous Options > Network Options.

2. Select the Subnet Originating Requests check box.

4.2 Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP Portal Virtual Service

The following are the steps involved and the recommended settings to configure the Microsoft Dynamics HTTPS Virtual Service:

1. In the main menu of the LoadMaster Web User Interface (WUI), go to Virtual Services > Add New.

2. Enter a valid IP address in the Virtual Address text box.

3. Enter 443 in the Port text box.

4. Enter a recognizable Service Name, for example MS Dynamic AX.

5. Ensure tcp is selected as the Protocol.

6. Click Add this Virtual Service.

7. Enter the details shown in the following table:

Section	Option	Value	Comment
Standard Options	Transparency	Disabled
	Persistence Mode	Source IP Address
	Persistence Timeout	30 Minutes
	Scheduling Method	least connection
	Idle Connection Timeout	660
SSL Properties	SSL Acceleration	Enabled Reencrypt	A wildcard certificate allows secure connections to be established with a request URL in the format of *.example.com. With this approach, a single certificate secures traffic for all clients in a multi-tenant environment.
	Supported Protocols	TLS1.0 TLS1.1 TLS1.2 TLS1.3	While this workload may not support TLS1.3 yet, Kemp recommend enabling it for future proofing.
	Cipher Set	Best Practices	For further information on cipher sets, please refer to the SSL Accelerated Services, Feature Description.
Advanced Properties	Content Switching	Disabled
	Add HTTP Headers	Legacy Operation (X-ClientSide)
	Redirection URL	https://%h%s	Click Add HTTP Redirector. This option will only appear if port 80 is free.
Real Servers	Real Server Check Method	HTTPS Protocol
	Checked Port	443
	Use HTTP/1.1	Selected
	HTTP/1.1 Host	ax.example.com
	HTTP Method	GET

Users should note that clicking the Add HTTP Redirector button, automatically creates a redirect Virtual Service on Port 80. This option will only appear if a port HTTP redirect does not already exist:

8. Add the Real Servers:

a) Click the Add New button.

b) Enter the IP address of the AX Server.

c) Enter 443 as the Port.

d) Click Add this Real Server. Click OK to the pop-up message.

e) Repeat the steps above to add more Real Servers as needed, based on the environment.

4.3 Microsoft Dynamics AX HTTP (Redirect) Virtual Service

This Virtual Service is automatically created when users click the Add HTTP Redirector button while configuring the Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP Portal Virtual Service in the Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP Portal Virtual Service section.

4.4 Microsoft Dynamics AX AOS Virtual Service

The following are the steps involved and the values required to configure the Microsoft Dynamics AX AOS Virtual Service:

1. In the main menu of the LoadMaster Web User Interface (WUI), go to Virtual Services > Add New.

2. Enter a valid IP address in the Virtual Address text box.

3. Enter 2712 in the Port text box.

4. Enter a recognizable Service Name, for example MS Dynamic AX AOS.

5. Ensure tcp is selected as the Protocol.

6. Click Add this Virtual Service.

7. Enter the details shown in the following table:

Section	Option	Value	Comment
Standard Options	Transparency	Deselected
	Extra Ports	1433,1812,1814,8101,8201,8202	Click Set Extra Ports
	Persistence Mode	Source IP Address
	Persistence Timeout	30 Minutes
	Scheduling Method	least connection
	Idle Connection Timeout	660
Real Servers	Real Server Check Method	TCP Connection Only
	Checked Port	2712

8. Add the Real Servers:

a) Click the Add New button.

b) Enter the IP address of the AX Server.

c) Enter 2712 as the Port.

d) Click Add this Real Server. Click OK to the pop-up message.

e) Repeat the steps above to add more Real Servers as needed, based on the environment.

References

Unless otherwise specified, the following documents can be found at: http://kemptechnologies.com/documentation.

Virtual Services and Templates, Feature Description.

High Availability (HA), Feature Description

SSL Accelerated Services, Feature Description

Last Updated Date

This document was last updated on 10 March 2022.