Problem creating middle tier

ACHolchIT

Hi,

I am trying to create a new middle tier on Nav 2015 and I keep getting this error.

Unable to locate the default ServerInstance.

This happens if I use the admin tool or if I use the powershell command.

I don't know where I would find or configure the default instance.

Can anyone advise?

Thanks

irasoelbaks

Looks like 'InstanceName' is the default one. If this server instance isn't available anymore I would suggest to recreate it by the Nav setup. Manually recreating should be possible too but is prone to errors and requires quite a lot of plumbing in my opinion. Unless someone else has a better proposal or solution I would recommend to perform a repair by starting the Nav Setup. Select Repair and now it should recreate the Server Instance which was specified during the setup which ofcourse is the default one. Remember to create a solid backup. Good luck!

irasoelbaks

The default server instance is being installed when you installed Nav from the Product DVD. This is the first Nst and is designated as the default one. Or: you removed the default instance or it's looks like it's corrupt somehow. With the Nav 2015 Administration Tool it is normally not possible to remove the default instance but there are other ways to delete the default server instance anyhow. To determine the default server instance go to the config file. Search for the key/value pair mentioned below. Remember the value could vary if you specified another value during setup.

<add key="ServerInstance" value="DynamicsNAV80"/>

in file: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\80\Service\CustomSettings.config"

ACHolchIT

Hi, I had looked at this setting and thought it might be related. It said "InstanceName" as the value which doesn't exist. I tried changing the value to one of an Instance that does exist and I when I retried to create the new instance I got this same error unfortunately. Do I need to do anything else?

irasoelbaks

Looks like 'InstanceName' is the default one. If this server instance isn't available anymore I would suggest to recreate it by the Nav setup. Manually recreating should be possible too but is prone to errors and requires quite a lot of plumbing in my opinion. Unless someone else has a better proposal or solution I would recommend to perform a repair by starting the Nav Setup. Select Repair and now it should recreate the Server Instance which was specified during the setup which ofcourse is the default one. Remember to create a solid backup. Good luck!

ACHolchIT

Many Thanks for this. As this is a production server that has been inherited I am concerned about running setup again in case it damages the running system. Ironically, the whole point of the second middle tier is to create a test platform as one doesn't exist. I'll mark your post as the answer, thanks once again.

irasoelbaks

ACHolchIT wrote: »

Many Thanks for this. As this is a production server that has been inherited I am concerned about running setup again in case it damages the running system. Ironically, the whole point of the second middle tier is to create a test platform as one doesn't exist. I'll mark your post as the answer, thanks once again.

To safeguard all your server instance settings copy the files in the Service folder that end with .config. After running the setup, recreate the original servicetier names and restore the config files (like "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics NAV\80\Service\CustomSettings.config") in order to restore the service tier configuration. Remember each server instance has its own .config file. Do not forget to specify the correct serviceaccount again and before uninstalling or repairing the service-tier(s) first manually stop them so all things are configured correctly like SPN registration for example.
If the production server is virtual maybe you can clone it or snapshot it, then perform the recovery steps needed and then if everything went okay do the exercise again and definitive.