RSMUS.comMicrosoft Dynamics GP 2013 now comes with tenant functionality. This enhancement lets you have more than one instance of Dynamics GP in a single instance of SQL. To use this functionality all you need to do is install Dynamics GP two or more times, each time specifying a different name for the Dynamics GP system database. For example, you may let the system database name be the default “DYNAMICS” on the first install and then name the system database “DYNAMICS01” on a second install. Each system database can have it own independent set of company databases and users.
The question arose recently about how the local application knows which Dynamics GP system database to use during the application launch? The answer is in the dex.ini file.
The dex.ini file contains a Pathname setting. In the past, this setting defaulted to “Pathname=DYNAMICS/dbo/”. Now, the pathname is set to the name of the system database you specified during the installation (i.e. “Pathname=DYNAMICS01/dbo/”).
In practice, this means that you can control which instance of Dynamics GP 2013 a workstation uses by changing the pathname in the Dex.ini file. You do not have to install a second instance of GP 2013 on the client machines and the local ODBCs do not have to be adjusted. You can simply change the dex.ini Pathname setting to connect to the tenant system database and its associated company databases.
If you are looking to learn more about tenant functionality, contact our professionals at erp@rsmus.com. You can also learn other valuable tips through our Dynamics Community Newsletter.
By Claude Frymark and Dave Funk – Pennsylvania Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner
