Choosing the best possible Azure platform for NAV

Aleksandar Totovic, MVPERP Consulting, CEO

Speaker Introduction

• Aleksandar Totovic• Developer and Consultant with Accounting Software from 1992• ERP Consultant from 1996• NAV Consultant from 2004• Mainly Focus – Transition to the Cloud

• Awards• MVP since 2014• Community Champion – Convergence EMEA 2014

Speaker Introduction

25+ How Do I Videos aboutTechnical and Functional Features

2 Official Courses – NAV20154 Official Courses – NAV2016

NAV 2016 Exams Co-author andCommittee Member

Agenda

• Thinking about cloud and NAV• Infrastructure differences• Functional reasons• Technical reasons• How to compare infrastructures• Features, Tools, Performances• How to choose solution

Thinking about cloud

On Each Bigger Tower

Electric Generator in Each Basement

Everywhere… Anytime…

Doesn’t matter Where

Thomas Edison

Direct Current Lights

NikolaTesla

Alternating Current Lights

Part II

IT on the

Cloud

21st Century

Thinking about cloud and NAV

• Early ideas (Classic era)• NAV 2013 R2 +• Each new release – more cloud-like• Future?

What we have now - Architecture

NAV ServerNAV Web Server

SQL ServerNAV Database

Cloud Service Cloud Service

NAV ServerNAV Web Server

SQL ServerNAV Database

SQL as ServiceNAV Database

Platform as a ServiceManaging Portal

NAV ServerNAV Web Server

SaaSProject „Madeira“ – Dynamics 365

What we have now - Architecture

SaaSIaaS IaaS & DBaaS

SaaSPaaS

What we have now – Managing Responsibilities

StorageServers

Networking

Virtualization

Managed by Azure

You

scal

e, m

ake

resil

ient

, & m

anag

e

You

man

age

Scale, resilience, and m

anagement by Azure

StorageServers

Networking

O/SMiddleware

Virtualization

SQL Server

You

scal

e, m

ake

resil

ient

, and

man

age On-premises

StorageServers

Networking

O/SMiddleware

Virtualization

Applications

Database

SQL Server

Infrastructure

(as-a-Service)

O/SMiddleware

ApplicationDatabase

SQL Server

Infrastructure + DB (as-a-

Service)DatabaseApplication

DB

Scale, resilience, and m

anagement by Azure

StorageServers

Networking

O/SMiddleware

Virtualization

SQL ServerApplication

Everything managed by Azure

StorageServers

Networking

O/SMiddleware

Virtualization

SQL ServerApplicationDatabase

Software(as-a-Service)DB

You

man

age Platform

(as-a-Service)

DatabaseMS

Project “Madeira” (Dynamics 365)

NAV managed with Managed ServicesNAV managed by Partners

How to choose – Business Model

MULTI-TENANT

CLOUD

REPEATABLE

SCALE

Managed by Azure Managed by PartnersCloud as platformOpportunisticVery specific business processesInternal system administrationProject orientedHigh cost of salePossible subscription or on-premises

Cloud as platformRepeatableHighly standardized business processesNo internal system administrationVolume orientedLow cost of saleSubscription of licenses is important

PaaS

SaaS

On-premises

IaaS

IaaS + DBaaS

How to choose – Solutions Delivered

MULTI-TENANT

CLOUD

REPEATABLE

SCALE

Managed by Azure Managed by PartnersCloud as platformCustomizedNeed seriously customizationsNo product managementImplementation deadline is longerRelease is not important

Cloud as platformStandardizedApp’s are good enoughProduct managementImplementation deadline is very shortNeed the most recent release

PaaS

SaaS

On-premises

IaaS

IaaS + DBaaS

On-premises or not?

• Easy decision• Want cloud or not• Believe in cloud• Security reasons• Internal system administration

• Want subscription or not• Cost control• Cost calculation• Scalability• Long-term strategy

Cannot make price Analysis based only on comparison Subscription vs On-premises

Must include all aspect…

On-premises or not – Cost calculation

On-premises or not – Cost calculation

But what service model?

• IaaS or IaaS + DBaaS (with Azure SQL)?• IaaS + DBaaS or PaaS (Managed Services)?• PaaS or SaaS?

• Costs• Platform Features• Performances• Functionalities

Cost Analysis – IaaS vs IaaS + DBaaS

Cost Analysis – IaaS vs IaaS + DBaaS

Total Cost of Azure SQL Server: 901,80Total Cost of SQL Server on Azure VM: 1.458,25

Cost Analysis – IaaS + DBaaS vs PaaS

• Model 5 new clients - databases• Each client with 3 users

Cost Analysis – PaaS vs SaaS

• PaaS Costs – well known• SaaS Costs

Cost Analysis – PaaS vs SaaS

Platform Features (Tools)

• IaaS and IaaS + DBaaS (with Azure SQL)• We don’t have platform• Microsoft Azure Portal• PowerShell• Manually work

• PaaS• Managed Services Portal• Microsoft Azure Portal• PowerShell

IaaS and IaaS + DBaaS – Tools

PaaS – ToolsCloud infrastructure

• Auto-scale and Load-balanced

• VM’s & Azure SQL databases, with built-in security features andgeo-replication

• Backup support and Point-In-Time Restore

• Datacenters worldwide

Monitoring & maintenance

• 365/24x7 monitoring and maintenance w/ 99.9% financially-backed SLA

• World-class security and privacy standards

Tooling

• Management Portal• Deploy solutions• Manage tenants &

users• Available via web

services API

SaaS – Tools

Tools Comparison

Azure andAzure Active Directory

Single sign-on

Upgrade

Load balancing

Monitoring

PowerShell

Virtual machines

Networking Backup

High availability

Tenant provisioning

Billing

IISCertificates

Virtual networks

Your intellectual property: Application database (your solution)Tenant template (initial data for each customer)

Help data (help content you want to provide to your customers)

Recovery

TenantTemplate

Applicationdatabase

Help data Apps

Basic setup (standard solution)Choosing Apps

• IaaS• PaaS• SaaS

Your Team Tasks

Azure Team Tasks

MS

Performances

• How we can choose performances• Virtual Machines• Azure SQL

• Better performances = more money• Choose the optimal performances

Virtual Machines – ScalingVirtual Machine CPU

CoresRAM Disk Max data

disksMax NICs / Network bandwidth

A series (0-11) 1 – 16 0,75 – 112 GB 20 – 605 GB 1 – 16 ..4 / Very high

D series (1-14) 1 – 16 3,5 – 112 GB 50 – 800 GB SSD 2 – 32 ..8 / Very high

Dv2 series (1-15) 1 – 20 3,5 – 140 GB 50 – 1000 GB SSD 2 – 40 ..8 / Extremely high

F series (1-16) 1 – 16 2 – 32 GB 16 – 256 GB 2 – 32 ..8 / Extremely high

G series (1-5) 2 – 32 28 – 448 GB 324 – 6144 GB SSD 4 – 64 ..8 / Extremely high

A – standard D – Faster CPU’s (60 % faster than A), SSD, Higher Memory-to-core ratio

Dv2 – 35% faster CPU’s than D, RAM and Disk as D

F – CPU’s as Dv2, RAM & Disk lower performance G – The best Intel Xeon E5 v3 CPU’s

Azure SQL – Scaling

• Basic, Standard, and Premium• Standard service tier use cases:• Database with multiple concurrent requests

• Premium service tier use cases:• High Peak Load• Many Concurrent Requests• Low Latency

• Minimum required for Dynamics NAV

Azure SQL – Scaling

DTU = database throughput units

Load Tests

• We have the basic performance information• How to choose what we need?• Load Tests• Performance tests• Concurrency tests

Load Tests

• How we can run Load Test• Visual Studio Ultimate• GitHub: https://github.com/wortho/NAVLoadTest• Clone the repository in VS• Open & build the solution• Adjust the basic information• Run tests• Customize tests

Performance – Examples (VMs vs Azure SQL)

Performance – Examples (VMs vs Azure SQL)

Performance – Conclusion

• SQL on VM is faster than Azure SQL• Azure SQL is cheaper than SQL on VM• Azure SQL is good enough• Azure SQL is designed for massive workload with many concurrent

users• For very complex processing, SQL on VM is better• Performances in Azure SQL are very stable with number of users

increasing

Performance – Conclusion

• Premium tiers are not always better than Standard on Azure SQL• DTU’s don’t necessarily mean higher performance• DTU’s are not important if process highly asks NST• DTU’s are very important when we have clear SQL tasks

• Azure SQL performances are better if we use Managed Services as PaaS

Performance – Target

Traditional NAV market:Companies with 25 to 250 employees

Largely unaddressed segment of small companies:Companies with 1 to 25 employees

Number of Companies

Com

pany

Size

Dynamics NAV

Solution Functionalities and Features

IaaS

IaaS + DBaaS

PaaS

Project “Madeira”

SaaS

Standard partner customizationsAdd-Ons (CfMD or not)

Singletenant or MultitenantSubscription or On-premises

License per ClientNAV 2013 R2 + versionIaaS

IaaS + DBaaS

Customizations: Only Add-OnsOnly Multitenant and Subscription

One license per ServiceNew versions with 3-month platform upgrade

cadence

PaaS SaaS Customizations: Only AppsOnly Subscription

Always Current version

Solution Functionalities and Features

• Dynamics NAV• Starter Pack• Extended Pack• Integrations• Customizations

• Project “Madeira”• Reduced NAV Starter Pack• For small companies• Apps!

Final Decision

Thank You!Please remember to fill out your session survey using

the Directions 2016 Mobile App!

Blog: totovic.comTwitter: @atotovicMail: aleksandar@totovic.com