How to: Mount or Dismount a Tenant on a Microsoft Dynamics Server Instance

If a Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance is configured for multitenancy, then you can mount and dismount tenant databases by using the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server Administration tool or Mount-NAVTenant or Dismount-NAVTenant cmdlets in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 Administration Shell.

Mounting a tenant by using the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server Administration tool requires that you have a running Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance. This is not required when you use the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 Administration Shell. With the Mount-NAVTenant, you can mount a tenant by either specifying the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance, if it is running, or the application database.

This topic describes how to use the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server Administration tool to mount or dismount a tenant. For more information about how to use the Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2016 Administration Shell, see Mount-NAVTenant and Dismount-NAVTenant.

To mount or dismount a tenant

  1. Open the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server Administration tool.

    1. Choose Start, and in the Search programs and files box, type Microsoft Dynamics NAV Administration, and then choose the related link.
  2. Verify that the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server that you want to mount the tenant on is running, and if not, then start it:

    1. In the left pane of Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server Administration tool, choose a Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server computer. Unless you are administering a remote computer, this is Microsoft Dynamics NAV (local).

    2. In the center pane, if the Status of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance is Stopped, then right-click it, and then choose Start.

  3. In the left pane, expand item for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance on which you want to mount the tenant, and then choose the Tenants item.

  4. To mount a tenant, in the Actions pane, choose Mount Tenant, fill in the parameters on the Mount Tenant dialog box, and then choose the OK button.

    The following table describes the parameters on the Mount Tenant dialog box.

    Setting Description Required

    ID

    Specifies the ID of the tenant to mount. If the tenant database has not been mounted on a Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance before, then you can specify any ID that you want that is not being used. This ID is then assigned to the database. The ID cannot be used by another tenant database and must comply with the following rules:

    • Contains only letters (Aa-Zz), numbers (0-9), or dashes (-).

      Dn414580.note(en-us,NAV.90).gifNote
      The ID is not case sensitive.
    • Does not start or end with a dash (-).

    • Less than 63 characters.

    Dn414580.Important(en-us,NAV.90).gifImportant
    If the database is the first tenant database ever to be mounted on the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance, then you must set the value to default or select the Overwrite Tenant ID in the Database check box, and then specify an ID according to the previous rules.

    If the tenant database has been mounted in a Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance before, then you must specify the tenant ID that is assigned to that database or specify another ID and select the Overwrite Tenant ID in the Database check box.

    Yes

    Database Name

    Specifies the name of the Microsoft Dynamics NAV database that you want to mount on the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance. For example, to mount the CRONUS International Ltd. demonstration database, specify Demo Database NAV (9-0).

    Yes

    Database Server

    Specifies the network name of the computer that is running SQL Server and the SQL Server database instance to connect to. You specify the value by using the format ComputerName\SQLServerInstance. The default database instance for Microsoft Dynamics NAV is NAVDEMO.

    No

    Alternate Tenant IDs

    Specifies the alternative IDs for the tenant, such as host names for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Web client, SOAP web services, OData web services, or the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Windows client.

    If you use alternative IDs for tenant resolution in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Web client, you must also enable some of the UrlRewrite rules in the web.config file for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Web Server components.

    No

    Allow Application Database Writes

    Specifies whether the tenant can write to the application database.

    You must create at least one tenant that has write access to the application database.

    No

    Enable NAS Services

    Specifies whether NAV Application Server services are enabled for the tenant. For more information about NAS, see Configuring NAS Services.

    No

    Run NAS Services with Admin Rights

    Specifies whether NAS services run operations with administrator rights instead of the rights that are granted to the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server service account.

    • If you select this setting, NAS services will have full permissions in Microsoft Dynamics NAV, similar to the permissions that are granted by the SUPER permission set. The Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server service account is not required to be set up as a user in Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

    • If you clear this setting, the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server service account must be added as a user in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and assigned the permissions that are required to perform the operations.

    No

    Default Company

    Specifies the default Microsoft Dynamics NAV company for the tenant. A tenant can contain several companies. This is the company that opens by default in Microsoft Dynamics NAV client.

    No

    Default Time Zone

    Specifies the default time zone in which web service and NAS services calls on the tenant are run. You can specify the following values:

    • UTC - All business logic for web services and NAS services on the server instance runs in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). This is how all web services business logic was handled in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 SP1.

    • Server Time Zone - Services use the time zone of the computer that is running Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server.

    • <ID of any time zone recognized by the current version of Windows> - Specifies any Windows time zone as defined in the system registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Time Zones. For example, Romance Standard Time.

    No

    DatabaseUserName

    You use this setting, together with the ProtectedDatabasePassword setting, to configure SQL Server authentication with the tenant database in SQL Server.

    This setting specifies the login name of the user account in the database that you want to use for authentication.

    No

    ProtectedDatabasePassword

    You use this setting, together with the DatabaseUserName setting, to configure SQL Server authentication with the tenant database in SQL Server.

    This setting specifies the login password of the user account in the database that you want to use for authentication.

    No

    Overwrite Tenant ID in Database

    Specifies whether to overwrite the tenant ID in the database if the database has been mounted as a tenant earlier. Select this check box if you want to use the tenant ID that is specified in the ID parameter instead of the tenant ID in the database that you are mounting to the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance. If you clear this check box, and the tenant database has previously been mounted with a different tenant ID, an error will occur.

    No

    Synchronization Mode

    Specifies how the database schema for the tenant database is synchronized with the database schema that the mounted application database defines. The default value is Synchronize. You can select one of the following values.

    • Synchronize without confirmation - The database schema in the tenant database is updated with the application database schema even if data is lost. For example, if a table or a field has been deleted in the current application, the table or field is removed from the tenant database even if it contains data.

    • Do not allow changes - If the database schema in the tenant database differs from the current application, the tenant cannot be mounted against the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance.

    • Synchronize - The database schema in the tenant database will be updated unless data is lost. For example, if a table or a field has been deleted in the current application, and it contains data in the tenant database, the tenant cannot be mounted against the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance.

    • Check only - Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server tests if a change in the current application will cause data loss in the tenant database if the tenant is mounted with Synchronization Mode set to ForceSync. For example, if a table or a field has been deleted in the current application and it contains data in the tenant database.

    No

  5. To save the changes, choose the OK button.

    If you specified the DatabaseUserName and ProtectedDatabasePassword settings for SQL Server authentication, on the Enable Encryption on SQL Server Connections dialog box, choose the OK button.

    Encryption keys are to secure the login credentials over the connection between the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server instance and the Microsoft Dynamics NAV database in SQL Server.

  6. Choose the OK button to save the changes.

To dismount a tenant

  • In the center pane, right-click the tenant, and then choose Dismount Tenant.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Start, Stop, Restart, or Remove a Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server Instance

Concepts

Microsoft Dynamics NAV Server Administration Tool
Multitenant Deployment Architecture