Skip to content

Setting a Business Portals Portal

This article describes the detailed deployment process of a Business Portals Portal. The Portal can be deployed to either Azure via an Azure App Service or on your own Server.

Note

If you are using Business Central in the Cloud, its recommended to host the Portal via Azure, since update and deployment processes are automated.

Setting up a Portal (Hosted in Azure)"

Business Portals by Simova, offers you the possobillity to deploy Portals without leaving Business Central via an Azure Appservice. To configure a Appservice via Business Portals you have to have configured and App registration, of you dont have one configured please refer to this documentation.

To deploy a Azure Appservice via Business central, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Search for the page Business Portals - Portals, alternativly if you have the Business Portals Admin Rolecenter assigned you can open the page via the actions Portal.
  2. On the newly opened Page, execute the Create action.
  3. In the Opened wizard click on Begin
  4. On the following Page consent to, that the creation of an Azure Web Service might add cost on the selected subscription, depending on the settings choosen.
  5. Type in a Name and a Description in the next step.
  6. In the Next step, select to create a new App Service.
  7. Select the version. (Business Portals only retrieves the wersions, that are compatible with your Business Central Application version, installed in your system).
  8. After that you have to select your Azure Subscription Hosted on your Tenant, if you dont have an Azure subscription please refer to this Guide.
  9. Select your Pricing Tier and Region. For more info on Pricing tiers please refer to this documentation
  10. Finish the Wizard.

After these steps, an Azure Appservice has been deployed to Azure with your choosen parameters. The name that is used for the App Service is dynamically created und follows this pattern: SIM-APPS-DPS-000000000000000000. After the Appservice is created you still have to deploy and install all dps packages related to your choosen version, to do this click on Build or Build(Auto). The Key difference is that Build only executes one Build step at a time, while Build(Auto) runs through all processes. The Process can take a few minutes. the speed ist determined of the speed of the Scale of your choosen App Service Plan.

Setting up a Portal (Self-Hosted)

The following text provides step-by-step instructions for installing Business Portals by Simova using the Inno Setup installer. The installer will: * Install necessary dependencies such as Node.js and .NET Framework 4.8. * Configure IIS settings and create the required website. * Set up firewall rules for Node.js.

Run the Installer

  1. Double-click the installer file to start the installation.
  2. If prompted by Windows UAC, click Yes to grant administrative privileges.

Follow the Installation Wizard

  1. Welcome Screen
  2. Click Next to proceed.
  3. Select Destination Folder
  4. The default installation path is C:\inetpub\wwwroot\DPSManagement.
  5. Click Next to continue.
  6. Installation Progress
  7. The installer will copy necessary files and set up the application.

Dependencies Installation

The installer will install the following dependencies: * Node.js v21.6.1 * The installer will execute: 

msiexec /passive /i "{app}\node-v21.6.1-x64.msi"
* .NET Framework 4.8 * If not already installed, the installer will execute: 
{tmp}\dotNet48Setup.exe /passive /norestart /showrmui /showfinalerror

Configure Firewall Rules

The installer will create inbound and outbound firewall rules for Node.js: 

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Node In" program="{commonpf64}\nodejs\node.exe" dir=in action=allow enable=yes
netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="Node Out" program="{commonpf64}\nodejs\node.exe" dir=out action=allow enable=yes

Configure IIS

The installer will execute PowerShell scripts to: * Install IIS components. * Create a web application pool and a website. * Set the application pool identity. * Bind the site to port 14000.

The IIS setup process includes: 

import-module servermanager
New-WebAppPool -name "DPSManagement"
New-Website -name "DPSManagement" -ApplicationPool "DPSManagement" -PhysicalPath "{app}"
New-WebBinding -name "DPSManagement" -port 14000 -Protocol "http" -HostHeader "localhost" -IPAddress "*"
Start-WebSite DPSManagement

Final Steps

  • Once the installation completes, click Finish.
  • Open a web browser and navigate to http://localhost:14000 to access DPS Management.

Deploy Portal via DPS Management

To create a Portal after installation of the Setup, access DPS Management by default located assigned to the URI http://localhost:14000. After this follow these steps to deploy a portal on your own system:

  1. Click on Add +
  2. Fill in the newly opened form an confirm youre input with OK.
  3. Wait for the Management to Create the Site, you can view the status via the notification action on the Top right corner.
  4. After the Site has been created you can execute the Edit action.
  5. Open the Advanced section.
  6. For the Node NavisionWSURL fill in your Webservice URI. It should have the following structure https://api.businesscentral.dynamics.com/v2.0/{TENANT-ID}/{ENVRIONMENT-NAME}/ODataV4 and can be found on the webservice page of Business central.
  7. For DefaultCompany, fill in your Default Company Name.
  8. For ConnectionType, type in ODATA.
  9. For TenantID, ClientID and ClientSecret, enter the values provided of your configured App Registration. The value for Scope should be https://api.businesscentral.dynamics.com/.default. If you do not have already created an App Registration, please follow this documentation.

After these steps you should have a up and running portal that is connected to your Business central environment.

Warning

Please notice that this configuration guide do not apply, if you have a legacy Dynamics NAV System. For these types of systems you only have to provide the Webservice URL. The Service User Credentials are used to authenticate to the environment(Basic). Please Note that Dynamics NAV does NOT support OAuth2 and still relies on the older more unsafe Web Service Access Keys(Basic Auth). Microsoft has dropped the support for basic auth on October 1st, 2022 (BC21).

Troubleshooting

Missing .NET Framework

If the installation fails due to missing .NET Framework, manually download and install it from: Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8

IIS Configuration Issues

If IIS does not start correctly, manually run: 

Import-Module ServerManager
Get-WebBinding -name "DPSManagement" -port 80 | Remove-WebBinding
Start-WebSite DPSManagement

Firewall Rules Not Applied

Run the following command manually: 

netsh advfirewall reset