Configuring Hosted/IFD with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 (Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011)

Configuring Hosted/IFD (Internet Facing Deployment)with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 (Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
As many of our early adopters have learned by now, configuring an Internet-facing deployment (IFD) has changed pretty drastically from Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. ((Internet Facing Deployment)with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011)
So what changed?

• First, our dependencies changed. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, we used forms-based authentication for IFD and in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 we instead take a dependency on claims-based authentication for IFD. Therefore, now it is necessary to install and configure a security token service (such as Active Directory Federation Services 2.0) and also to do more certificate management.
• Second, our configuration steps changed. In Dynamics CRM 4.0, an administrator had two options for configuring IFD. The first option was to specify the IFD settings in an XML configuration file at server installation time. The second option was to use the IFD Configuration Tool for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 which was released out of band. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, we made claims-based authentication and IFD configuration post-installation steps to obviate the need for the XML configuration file and built these wizards into our Deployment Manager tool for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. Administrators that would prefer to script IFD configuration can do so using our new Dynamics CRM PowerShell cmdlets.

These changes amount to a higher learning curve for configuring IFD for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 as we have heard in feedback from partners and customers. So to help make this configuration a little easier for folks, Henning Petersen (a Support Escalation Engineer for Dynamics CRM) created a video demonstrating how to configure IFD with AD FS 2.0. In addition to this video, we recommend that people looking to configure IFD first review the Dynamics CRM 2011 Configuring Claims-Based Authentication white paper which is posted on the same page as our Dynamics CRM 2011 Implementation Guide.

This video is  called Introducing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Claims-based Authentication and covers the end-to-end process for configuring IFD which includes:

1. Installing AD FS 2.0
2. Configuring the AD FS 2.0 federation server
3. Managing certificates
4. Configuring Dynamics CRM 2011 for claims-based authentication and IFD
5. Creating the relying party trust for CRM and configuring the claims rules on AD FS 2.0

-> In the next posts we will talk about the Configuration of Hosted/IFD with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 for Service Providers Hosters.

CRM MVP Julie Yack announces the release of her current whitepaper for tech nerds. Julie blogs regularly at The never boring life of me.
Looking for details on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and how it applies to you as an Independent Software Vendor (ISV), a technical decision-maker and/or a developer?  Are you a curious nerd looking for what’s new?  Here you go!
Ok, so here’s some of the nitty gritty details…
Paper is titled:

Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 2011
Building Business Applications with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011
A guide to Independent Software Vendors and Developers

Some details you can learn about:

• Modeling of your business data
• A better user experience
• Visualization and reporting of data
• Programmability including OData, WCF, LINQ, Dialogs, Workflows and more
• Cloud cloud cloud (CRM Online and Azure both covered)

Brought to you by a couple of your favorite (I hope) CRM nerds, David Yack and me. We were asked to write this paper to follow-up on the one we produced for the similar topics for CRM 4.0.
I hope you find something useful inside this whitepaper download.

Posted in: CRM 2011 und IFD - ADFS 2.0