Business Notification - Installation

business notification is an NAS application created to give a notification to every business events (so obvious eh, as the name sounds :D).
so, user who subscribe to a specific rules on BN can get a notification (by email) to every event occurred.

today i learned how to install the BN using NAV 4 SP 3 (SQL) (of course with huge amount trial and error :P) and wish to share it here :

this application involved many application. so make sure you've able to do some basics administration for :

• SQL2005
• IIS
• SMTP
• Navision (of courseee)
• Windows services
• Windows Event Viewer
• Windows User and Security

this is the pre-requisites (based on my learning environment) :

1. WINXP SP 2
   
2. SQL 2005
3. NAV 4 SP3 installer
4. NET framework 2.0
5. NET framework 1.1
   
6. Internet Information Services + ASP.NET (from Add/Remove Windows Components, Application Server, ASP.NET)
7. SMTP Server (windows default)

i read the MS blog for the complete requirements, seems like i skip 2 components :
1. SQLXML 3.0 SP2 (from Microsoft Download Center). i'm not sure whether this components is already installed in my environment through other updates, or maybe it is needed for some specific BN operation. but so far, my BN works OK
2. Domain created. i don't use Active Directory, just a single machine and workgroup. but seems like it affects for using internal user subscription. my BN still don't work for internal users. not really sure.

the installation steps is :

1. install NAV Client (NAV Client Only)
2. Start your SQL and restore CRONUS database it (i named it CRONUS4)
3. replace the default cronus.flf on NAV client folder (default path : C:\Program Files\Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision\Client) with your license (of course you need to rename it to cronus.flf) make sure your license have the BN granule. i dont know the granule ID for BN, but since i have a developer license, i think it must be covered :)
4. add XML config on your client folder (i get this step from here), here is the substeps :
   
   
1. Open Notepad.
2. Copy and paste following into the text file:
   <?xml version ="1.0"?>
   <configuration>
   <startup>
   <supportedRuntime version="v1.1.4322" />
   </startup>
   </configuration>
   
3. Save the text file with the following filename:
   a. fin.exe.config - if you are using the Native Database
   b. finsql.exe.config - if you are using the SQL Server option
   
   
5. open your NAV Client and register your windows login to CRONUS database.
   you need to determine which windows user assigned for BN. make sure the windows user have the administrator permission. (assigning windows login using SQL need a bit of further work - instaling xp_ndo something on the stored procedure. but it wouldn't be covered here)
   
6. assign your windows login with roles super.
7. populate Table 9801 (Property Store) with the following values:
   BN_MessageBusUrl_0 = http://IMELPC/BusinessNotificationMessageBus/MessageBusService.asmx
   BN_PublishRetryTime_0 = 1000
   IMELPC is my machine name, change it with your own machine name
   
8. install BN Manager
   
9. install BN Server. assign the windows user (the one you register at step 4) and the CRONUS database (i'm using my CRONUS4).
   if the installation success, you should see this new services on your services list :
   - Notification Service Deployment Manager
   - NS$BusinessNotificationInstance
10. locate your NAS for BN installation folder (the default path is : C:\Program Files\Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision\Business Notification\NAS) and replace the default cronus.flf with your license.
11. Make sure your SMTP is enabled for relaying email.
    

OK, now your BN is already installed and good to go (hopefully). let us do the clean start and test the BN Manager :

1. close all programs (or maybe restart your PC)
   
2. restart SQL
   
3. restart IIS
   
4. restart both BN services (Notification Service Deployment Manager and NS$BusinessNotificationInstance)
   
5. open NAV Client and connect to testing database (my CRONUS4)
6. open BN Manager.
7. select tools>>Connect To Server
8. put your server name (i'm using my IMELPC) and click button connect. now your BN should be connected to BN Server
   
9. click button new from template. template rules windows will opened
   
10. select one of the template and click new from template.

if you get the Notification scheme windows, it means your BN Manager worked.

this installation is involved many technology thus, there is so many things to consider for troubleshooting the installation. mostly, i'm doing a full cleanup for NAV (NAV Client, BN Server, Manager and install it all over again (but not restoring database). you can contact me for discussion (not consult since i'm not the master), but only if i have time.

here is the link that i find it useful :

http://navtechapac.spaces.live.com/?_c11_BlogPart_BlogPart=blogview&_c=BlogPart&partqs=cat%3DNav%2BBusiness%2BNotifications
http://www.mibuso.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28800&view=previous
http://www.mibuso.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7578&p=141597
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.navision&tid=16810b5f-1cbd-4eb4-8b40-8453d5ffb287
http://www.mail-archive.com/navision-knowledge-village@yahoogroups.com/msg01599.html
http://dynamicsuser.net/forums/t/10985.aspx

do not forget also to consult the default manual from the CD

this tutorial ends here. for how to use BN, you can consult the default manual available on the BN, or maybe i'm gonna post one, when i get more time.

happy notification-ing (aww that's lame) :D