MSDYN365BC - How Do I Replicate Data From on-Prem to SaaS?

Hi Readers,

As Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central on-prem being in the market for quite a while, some customers started requesting switching to SaaS.

With this being said, I Heard rumors in the community like -

• There is no way to upgrade data to SaaS from on-Prem.
• The only way that customers can move to SaaS is via Re-implementation.
• Replication Tool never works. These Replication tools look good in Microsoft  Slides but they never work.

Customer & Partners - I am not against Re-implementation but I want this decision from customer to Re-implement or Upgrade. I am writing this article to break the myth that no upgrade path to Business Central SaaS.

So let's start steps for Replication to Business Central SaaS.

** Screenshot used in this article is from an Actual Customer Data Replication Process so Company names and other details are highlighted in Black. These Screenshots are from the Business central 14 Version.

Maybe there are you have questions while reading this article. In the end there are some questions are answered.

Pre-Requisites - 

• You can replicate data to SaaS from Business Central 15 as of today 11/04/2019. 
• There should not be any changes in Base AL Code while trying to Replicate to SaaS.
• All Customization should be as AL Extensions.
• Log in to Business central SaaS Tenant, and install all extensions that you have in on-prem.

1. Navigate to Assisted Setup and Set up Intelligent Cloud.

2. Accept warning and privacy notice and Click Next.

3. Choose Product from where you want to replicate "Dynamics 365 Business Central".

4. Define your on-prem SQL Environment and Specify SQL connection String and Click Next.

5. Next Download the Self Hosted Integration Runtime (SHIR).

6. Install Microsoft Integration Runtime Setup.

7. Register Integration using Authentication key, Do not use Proxy and New Integration Runtime.

8. Once the setup is completed system will show all details as shown below.

9. Next is to select Companies on-prem which you want to replicate to SaaS.

10. Next is to schedule Data Replication. You can schedule Recurrence and time when replication should start.

11. Once Done Click Finish.

12. Next Search for Intelligent Cloud Management using Tell me feature.

13. The window should us that replication is scheduled.

14. It will run as scheduled. If you want to run replication now Select Run Replication Now.

15. The system will confirm the Replication is triggered.

16. You can check replication progress on the same page.

17. Factbox on-page will also show how may Tables are successfully Replicated and how many failed.

18. You can select Table Failed Factbox and see the cause of issues. 

19. It will show all warnings that are causing table replication failures as shown above.

20. Based on Database Size Replication can be completed anytime between 30 minutes to Days or weeks.

Q&A?

If you have more questions other than listed below, please specify them as a comment to this article. I will try to answer all these questions to the best of my knowledge.

Question 1 - Can users work in on-prem and SaaS at the same time?

No, and you as partners should not share SaaS Login details to end-users until the replication process is complete. Any data changes done in SaaS will not be replicated data to on-prem. Replication is one way to keep users out until the Replication process is complete.

Question 2 - Why Replication Tables Failed?

The Only reason that Replication Table failure is because there is a mismatch in extension installed is different in on-prem and on-SaaS. But no worries if there is a table on-saas but not on-prem that means there will be no data on-prem which will not require replication. 

The other reason (if you see the base table being failed) that means Intelligent cloud is not set up properly. Refer to the FAQ reference article below.

Question 3 - How to Resolve Replication Table Failed?

Check Extension are the same in on-prem and on-SaaS. If there is an Intelligent cloud setup refer to the article below.

Question 4 - What is not Replicated To SaaS?

During the data replication process, Business Central does not replicate most system tables, users, and permissions. Users need to be created again, Permission need to re-setup and custom object permission should be part of the extension.

Question 5 -  How much database size is supported for the Replication Process?

Data replication for the initial release will have a limit of 150GB. There are no restrictions on the type of data that can be replicated.

Reference Articles- 

1. Connect to the Intelligent Cloud.
2. Replicating On-Premises Data to Business Central.
3. Managing your intelligent cloud environment.
4. FAQ about Connecting to the Intelligent Cloud from On-Premises Solutions.

I hope this article helps you to clear out confusion about moving to SaaS. I would be waiting to hear your feedback as comments to this article.

Stay Tuned for more.

Regards,

Saurav Dhyani

www.sauravdhyani.com