NAV2009 (R2), Classic Reports and WAN

AdrianAkers

Hi,

I was wondering if anybody had any answers or insights to the following questions around NAV 2009.

1) When running reports in the RTC that have not been transformed to a new layout then we are calling our good old NAV classic reports. How does this work? Is it still using the 2 tier architecture, or is it being clever and returning all of this over the 3 tier. I suppose I could test this by only installing the 3 tier components, but in the meantime does anybody have an answer? Also if it still uses the 2 tier technology then how does this impact NAV 2009 R2. Surely for this application virtulisation to work you'd want to be running everything, including your reports through the middle tier...

2) Let's say I have the 3 tiers installed across 3 machines. However I want to run this over a WAN. The middle tier and database tier are on separate machines and in the same location - let's say somewhere in the UK. However the user is connecting from the RTC on a client PC in Germany. Is this supported over a WAN or should we use Citrix/Terminal Servers to deliver the RTC as it is effectively still a thick client? (NOTE: Not talking about NAV2009 R2).

Thanks

Adrian

kine

RTC is thick client. It is not thin client. I recommend to use RDP, RemoteApp or Citrix to run the client over WAN.

Regarding the classic client under RTC - it will run finsql.exe with special URL which just hide the "main" window - it is just another application fired from RTC, it means it is running 2 tier as any other classic client, just the session is not counted and it has no main window of the application.

AdrianAkers

Hi Kine,

Thanks for the reply. Regarding the RTC over a WAN, that is exactly what I thought. Also I thought that the classic reports were running over 2 tier which is therefore quite interesting for NAV2009 R2 as I can't see how this would then work unless all your reports were actually transformed to run through the 3 tiers.

Regards

Adrian

kine

Because I do not know how exactly the App-V is working, I cannot answer that, but if the RTC and CC is in same bubble, it could work, but I do not know how the streaming is done...

clausl

I would not expect Classic fallback to be supported with App-V over the internet in R2.

But also keep in mind that the Classic Fallback for reports is only a temporally thing so eventually you will need to convert/upgrade your reports to SSRS reports. So you should plan when to upgrade. And if there is something that cannot be done in the SSRS Local (RDLC) reports in NAV 2009, this is really your time to speak up and let me know what features you are missing. It would not be optimal to wait with this feedback until the day we no longer support Classic fallback, because then you might be blocked to upgrade. I know it’s tough for you guys to upgrade your reports, but besides that, are there features missing in SSRS reports which are holding you back from upgrading to SSRS Local (RDLC) reports in NAV 2009?

Regards,
Claus

AdrianAkers

Hi Claus,

I would say the only thing holding us back is that we are still transforming Forms to Pages. We have a highly customised solution so that is our priority first. The only other downfall is the lack of good automation with the "Create Layout Suggestion" but there is no point to go on about that here.

I wonder how many NAV Solution Centres actually are converting their reports right now or are just waiting. For me the App-V over the internet in R2 is massively exciting, but I don't think it has been made clear enough that you must be fully SSRS to utilise this. From a technical point of view I thought it would be the case, and this makes sense... Just think some Partners will not realise and will think... "Oh, I didn't know/think about that...".

Cheers

Adrian