I have been tasked with the 2nd attempt at deploying AX for my current employer. The 1st attempt was with AX 2012 and ended in a complete teardown before going live.
This new install is a fresh server build and install of AX 2012 R2 with three environments: PROD, LAB and DEV. We are not yet live but users started their initial set up work in PROD. We then rolled the complete DBs from PROD to LAB and DEV. Users have been working in LAB, training and entering test transactions. All custom code work is being done in DEV. We are now ready to deploy some of the DEV code to LAB.
Initially, we did a complete modelstore export from DEV and import into LAB. Which was successful. However, custom security roles had been defined in LAB which are part of hte USR layer. When we rolled from DEV to LAB, those changes were lost. So we restored the LAB DBs from prior to the roll and are rethinking the process.
We want to follow the recommended process of exporting/importing the modelstore file when moving changes from DEV to LAB and LAB to PROD, but we cannot lose any customizations that may be in the USR layer in any of the higher environments.
Our proposed solution is that when we need to deploy new code, we export the USR layer from LAB (or PROD once live), import it into DEV, run a full compile in DEV, export the modelstore from DEV, then import the modelstore to LAB and eventually from LAB to PROD.
My concern is that based on the MS whitepaper and the information on this blog post:
axwonders.blogspot.com/.../deploying-customizations-between-ax.html
We might be setting ourselves up for future problems due to possible ID conflicts by importing the single USR layer from LAB/PROD to DEV.
Will the proposed solution cause us problems?
It seems that the recommended solution from MS for our environment would be that when new code needs to be deployed, we should start with a fresh DB in DEV, export the complete modelstore from PROD to DEV. Make our customizations in DEV and then export the complete modelstore from DEV to LAB and then LAB to PROD. But that would still leave us with the possibility of losing any customizations done to LAB or PROD while the work was being done in DEV, correct?
I appreciate any help anyone can provide. I am still trying to wrap my head around AX. :)