Moving changes from development to production on Dynamics CRM 2011

0
votes

I am new to CRM and have gone through OJT(On Job Training) and being assigned this project. So this question may sound too amateur.

We are using Dynamics CRM 2011. There is a customized solution that contains the custom entities used for storing the Case data. I have done a few changes for two new clients in the solution. Like adding new subjects, plugin changes, javascript changes etc. Now i want to get all these changes updated on production. There are some issues with the current production server because of update rollup not being installed correctly. I am not able to delete any user or do any settings changes. So we are planning to setup a new production server.

I have done the changes in the new production server. And the current production server has lot of new cases which are not on the new production. I tried the export functionality in Dynamics CRM, but it doesnt work. It always skips a few records(best has been 31/50 records) even when the wizard goes through without any errors and after migrating all dependent entities data.

Now there are following ways I can think of to streamline the servers without having any downtime :

  1. Migrate the data from the current production to new production. I have done my research on Instance adapter for CRM. ( http://www.powerobjects.com/2012/10/26/installing-dynamics-crm-instance-adapter/). But i got stuck as i cannot download Connector for Microsoft Dynamics.
  2. Backup current production data and create a new organization. Import the unmanaged solution from the new production. I have tried this. It doesnt import subjects, javascript changes etc. although it does import plug ins. So i am not sure till what extent it successfully imports. In that case I will need to run a complete test cycle to ensure that everything is working. It will require downtime.

Can any experts in this forum guide me in this situation please?

1
dynamics-crm-2011microsoft-dynamics
Your situation cannot be assessed and fixed via Q&A, there are too many variables. Plus, since your environment seems to somehow be "broken" you can't avoid involving a specialist. What I'd suggest would be to take the chance and upgrade to 2016. – Alex
Even an upgrade to 2016 would be difficult since OP is currently using 2011. – jasonscript

1 Answers

1
votes

We are going with option number 2. I have successfully tried to :

  1. Backup current production. Restore to a new organization.
  2. Import the unmanaged solution with changes.
  3. Create any new taxonomies, users, option set values required.

Currently it is undergoing final round of testing and has passed the first round.

The important thing to remember while importing the solution is to check the checkbox for activating all workflows and sdk message processing activities. This keeps the organisation instance in the same position as the source instance i.e. SLA clocks etc.

Also the processes changes(Pre-Post plug-ins, email notification workflows etc) are not imported through unmanaged solution as they are not attached to the solution but to the database. We are planning to carry out these changes over a weekend, so no downtime.

Hopefully very soon we are going to move on to Dynamics CRM 2013.