How to scale out Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations on-premises

In this post I’m going to explain how to scale out Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations on-premises by adding new VMs to your instance.

Overview

The process is quite straight forward and Service Fabric is going to do the remaining jobs once a new node added to Service Fabric Cluster. In this post, I’m going to showcase it by adding a new AOS node to an existing Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations 7.3 with Platform Update 12 on-premises instance. Basically, the procedure is as follows.

Update Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations on-premises configurations for new AOS node
Setup new AOS machine for Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations on-premises
Add new AOS machine as an AOS node in Service Fabric Cluster
Verify new AOS node is functional

Prerequisites

New AOS machine must fulfill the system requirements documented in here
Basic configurations on new AOS machine like join domain, IP assignment, enable File and printer sharing… are done

Procedures

Update Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations on-premises configurations for new AOS node

Update ConfigTemplate to include new AOS node. For detailed instructions, please refer to documentation in here. a. Identify which fault and upgrade domain new AOS node will belong to b. Update AOSNodeType section to include new AOS machine
Add A record for new AOS node in DNS Zone for Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations on-premises. For detailed instructions, please refer to documentation in here.
Run cmdlet Update-D365FOGMSAAccounts to update Grouped Service Accounts. For detailed instructions, please refer to documentation in here.
Grant Modified permission of file share aos-storage to new AOS machine. For detailed instructions, please refer to documentation in here.

Setup new AOS machine for Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations on-premises

Install prerequisites. For detailed instructions, please refer to documentation in here

a. Integration Services b. SQL Client Connectivity SDK

Add gMSA svc-AXSF$ and domain user AxServiceUser to local administrators group

Setup VM. For detailed instructions, please refer to documentation in here.

a. Copy D365FFO-LBD folder from an existing AOS machine, then run below steps in powershell as an administrator from D365FFO-LBD folder NOTE: D365FFO-LBD folder is generated by cmdlet Export-Scripts.ps1 when deploy Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations on-premises per document in here b. Run Configure-PreReqs.ps1 to install pre-req softwares on new AOS machine c. Run below cmdlets to complete pre-reqs on new AOS machine .\Add-GMSAOnVM.ps1 .\Import-PfxFiles.ps1 .\Set-CertificateAcls.ps1

Run Test-D365FOConfiguration.ps1 to verify all setup is done correctly on new AOS machine
Install ADFS certificate and SQL Server certificate

a. Install ADFS SSL certificate to Trusted Root Certification Authorities of Local Machine store b. Install SQL Server (the .cer file) in Trusted Root Certification Authorities of Local Machine store

Add new AOS machine as an AOS node in Service Fabric Cluster

The full instructions about how to add or remove a node in a existing Service Fabric Cluster could be found in here. Below steps are performed in new AOS machine.
Download, unblock and unzip the same version of standalone package for Service Fabric for Window Server for existing Server Fabric Cluster
Run Powershell with elevated privileges, and navigate to the location of the unzipped package in above step
Run below cmdlet to add new AOS machine as an AOS node in Service Fabric cluster

.\AddNode.ps1 -NodeName <AOSNodeName> -NodeType AOSNodeType -NodeIPAddressorFQDN <NewNodeFQDNorIP> -ExistingClientConnectionEndpoint <ExistingNodeFQDNorIP>:19000 -UpgradeDomain <UpgradeDomain> -FaultDomain <FaultDomain> -AcceptEULA -X509Credential -ServerCertThumbprint <ServiceFabricServerSSLThumbprint> -StoreLocation LocalMachine -StoreName My -FindValueThumbprint <ServiceFabricClientThumbprint>

Note the following elements in above cmdlet AOSNodeName – Node name of a Service Fabric Cluster. Refer to configuration file or Service Fabric Cluster explorer to see how existing AOS nodes named AOSNodeType – the node type of new node is NewNodeFQDNorIP – FQDN or IP of new node ExistingNodeFQDNorIP – FQDN or IP of an existing node UpgradeDomain – upgrade domain specified in ConfigTemplate for new node FaultDomain – fault domain specified in ConfigTemplate for new node ServiceFabricServerSSLThumbprint – thumbprint of Service Fabric server certificate, star.d365ffo.onprem.contoso.com ServiceFabricClientThumbprint – thumbprint of Service Fabric client certificate, client.d365ffo.onprem.contoso.com Local Machine, My – where certificates installed NOTE: Internet access is required as AddNode.ps1 script will download Service Fabric runtime package

Once new node added, set anti-virus exclusions to exclude Service Fabric directories and processes
Get and edit existing Service Fabric Configuration once new node synced

a. Run below cmdlet to connect to Service Fabriccluster $ClusterName= "<ExistingNodeFQDNorIP>:19000" $certCN ="<ServiceFabricServerCertificateCommonName>"

Connect-serviceFabricCluster -ConnectionEndpoint $ClusterName -KeepAliveIntervalInSec 10 -X509Credential -ServerCommonName $certCN -FindType FindBySubjectName -FindValue $certCN -StoreLocation LocalMachine -StoreName My

Note the following element in above cmdlet ExistingNodeFQDNorIP – FQDN or IP of an existing node ServiceFabricServerCertificateCommonName – common name of Service Fabric Server certificate, *.d365ffo.onprem.contoso.com Local Machine, My – where certificate installed b. Run cmdlet Get-ServiceFabricClusterConfiguration and save output as a JSON file c. Update ClusterConfigurationVersion with new version number in JSON file d. Remove WindowsIdentities section from JSON file

e. Remove EnableTelemetry

f. Remove FabricClusterAutoupgradeEnabled

Start Service Fabric configuration upgrade

a. Run below cmdlet to start Service Fabric configuration upgrade Start-ServiceFabricClusterConfigurationUpgrade -ClusterConfigPath <Path to Configuration File>; b. Run below cmdlet to monitor upgrade progress Get-ServiceFabricClusterUpgrade