Sunday, 25 November 2018

Dynamics 365 Attachments in Azure Blob

Recently we have implemented the attachments management for Dynamics 365 CRM online using Azure Blob storage. Its easy to implement and saves a lot of costs ( Dynamics CRM storage costs Vs Azure Blob storage)

I have also blogged an issue we had while trying install here

http://crmdm.blogspot.com/2018/10/sorry-we-couldnt-find-dynamics-365.html

Steps are given below. I would recommend to try this in sandbox first.

Settings -> Micorsoft AppSource and search for Attachment management solution

 Click on the Get it Now button as shown below.

This will install solution in the selected CRM enviroment. Refresh the page a bit later and check for the installed status.


After the solution is installed, you could see a tile for the Azure Attachment Storage.



The solution has mainly 4 tasks to be done.

1. Azure Blob storage Setup

Azure blob storage details should be provided here.


How to find organisatin ID in Dynamics CRM?

Settings->Customizations->Developer Resources-> Instance Reference Information->ID

2. Notes Attachment Entity Settting

Separate entities are defined here. This attachment solution would only move attachments configured here. Container name should be specified



3. Reports and Admin

Yes, its just a button after configurations are done. As you could see here just the move to blob button. This would move all the existing attachments. You could see how many are moved and how many to be moved. The newly created ones would be stored in blob from now on.

I would recommed DB back to be taken before this step ( just in case scenario).




4. Users should have security role against the 'Azure Blob storage settings' entity

After implementing this solution we found that users need to have security role for azure blob storage settings entity in CRM. So in our case we created a new security role for this. Alternatively you could include this privilege in one of the existing security roles.

We also used a tool to assign this security role to everyone.

 Xrm Toolbox-> Users, Team, Security role report plugin --> Connected to CRM ->selected organisation -> Selected users on the left hand side and role needed on the right hand side and then choose the action 'Add roles'