Running Dynamics CRM 4.0 with a Service Account

When I install CRM 4.0, I got the warning message "Verify Domain User account SPN for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM ASP.NET Application Pool account" in system requirements window. But it did not prevent me from installing CRM, so I proceeded.



After successfully completing other steps I couldn't browse CRM page. I was getting an error message saying "Caller does not have enough privilege to set the CallerOriginToken to the specified value.” To resolve this problem I had to follow following steps.

1. Using Setspn command line tool, setup the SPNs for the machine and service account as follows.
setspn –a HOST/servername.domainabc:5555 domainabc\serviceusername

The Setspn command line tool is included in Windows Server 2003 Support Tools and you can download it from the Microsoft Download Center in this location.
You can find "Setspn Overview" from Microsoft TechNet in this location.

2. Verify/ Add the Microsoft Dynamics CRM server to the CRM installation’s Active Directory PrivUserGroup group by following these steps.

2.1 Locate the correct security group if you have more than one deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 in the domain. Run the following SELECT statement on MSCRM_Config database using SQL Server Management Studio.
SELECT ID, DatabaseName, FriendlyName FROM Organization

2.2 Add the Microsoft Dynamics CRM server to the Active Directory PrivUserGroup group.
...1. Start -> Run -> dsa.msc, then click OK.
...2. Locate the organizational unit in which the Microsoft Dynamics CRM installed.
...3. Double click PrivUserGroup, click Members, and then click Add.
...4. Click Object Types, click Computers, and then click OK.
...5. Use Check Names option to find out Microsoft Dynamics CRM server, and then click OK.

3. Add the service account to the local machines IIS_WPG group.
4. Restart Microsoft Dynamics CRM server.
5. Restart Microsoft Dynamics CRM client for Outlook.

Issue in Embedding a Flash Image Rollup – SharePoint 2010

My goal is to embed a Flash control in a SharePoint site that displays several images iteratively. So one approach is, upload the .SWF file and the images to a web location, preferably a library in the same SharePoint site. Then can develop a custom WebPart control or use content editor WebPart to include following code segment.

<div>
 <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
  codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/ 
  cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,28,0"
  width="310" height="160">
  <param name="movie" value="/FlashImages/ControlFiles/abc.swf" />
  <param name="quality" value="high" />
  <param name="flashvars" value="configXML=/FlashImages/ControlFiles/data.xml"/>
  <embed src="/FlashImages/ControlFiles/abc.swf"
    flashvars="configXML=/FlashImages/ControlFiles/data.xml"
    width="310" height="160" quality="high"
    pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/ 
    download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"
    type="application/x-shockwave-flash">
  </embed>
 </object>
</div>

In here data.xml contains the URLs of the images to be displayed, which is taken as a parameter by the swf. Basically that is it. Flash control should work properly. But we need one more additional step in order to flash control to work as expected. That is we have to set “Browser File Handling” to “Permissive”. By default this option is set to “Strict”, which prevents flash control performing as expected.

So in SharePoint Central Administration;

• Go to “Application Management” > “Manage web applications”
• Select your Web Application and go to “General Settings” > “General Settings”

• Select “Permissive” option in the Browser File Handling section as following screen shot.

Architecture Modeling in VS 2010

Microsoft Visual Studio has now become a good Integrated Requirements, and Architecture and Modeling tool by embracing Unified Modeling Language (UML) into VS 2010, thereby making architecture, design, development, and testing seamlessly possible with its IDE. Visual Studio 2010 has support for following UML 2.1.2 diagramming types;

• Class diagram
• Sequence diagram

• Use Case diagram

• Activity diagram
• Component diagram

The "Modeling Project" type is used for the architecture modeling. Here Activity and Use case diagrams can be used for requirements modeling. Then Layer diagrams can be used to represent the layered view of the system. If the system is component oriented, subsystems or components are represented using component diagram. Note: Code generation capability is added to the sequence and class diagrams only.

Visual Studio 2010

The official Visual Studio 2010 version is now released and trial versions can be downloaded from the Microsoft site this location.
Here is a feature comparison of different VS 2010 products.

Feature Description when you install VS 2010 Ultimate:
Installs the Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate integrated environment together with modeling, development, testing, and deployment components that can simplify the entire development process and help ensure high-quality solutions. Provides tools for building solutions on Windows, the Web, Azure, the Office system, SharePoint, SQL Server, and other platforms by using Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, or Visual F#.

Includes these advanced features: Test Impact Analysis, Coded UI testing, Test Case Management, Database Development, Profiling Tools, Code Analysis Tools, IntelliTrace, Code Coverage, Modeling and Architecture Diagram Tools and Team Explorer. Also includes SQL Server Express, the Windows SDK, Sync Framework, a graphics library, and more.

Office Live Workspace

Office Live Workspace (Workspace.OfficeLive.com) is an online extension to Microsoft Office and any of Microsoft Office documents (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) can be added and accessed through the Workspace. It is a free service for storing and sharing documents online.

Office Live Workspace requires web access and a compatible browser. In order to access workspace directly from MS Office; users of Word, Excel and PowerPoint must install an Office Live Update. Then documents can be ‘checked out’, ‘checked in’ and edit in MS Office.

With Office Live Workspace users can save up to 5GB of files and can access them even if Office isn't installed. Also users can share a workspace or a single document, collaborate online as a group, all you need for that is their email address. Workspaces are password protected and owner can control who views and edits information.