Transferring GP To A New Server Without Resetting All Passwords

One of the annoyances when migrating a client’s installation of Microsoft Dynamics GP to a new server is that, unless the new server has the same name as the old one, the password of every user needs to be reset as the server name is encrypted in with the password.

The is another alternative though and that is to create a DNS CNAME Alias and use this as the server name in the SQL Server ODBC instead of the servers actual name. When GP is migrated to a new box you only need to amend the DNS CNAME Alias and users can continue logging in with the same password.

To do this you need to log onto the DNS Server and then go to (Windows Start menu >> Administrative Tools >> DNS) and into the Forward Lookup Zone for your domain and right click New Alias (CNAME). Enter an Alias name and the fully qualified domain name for the SQL server (in the example below GPTEST is configured as an alias for SQL2.azurecurve.co.uk);

Once done open the SQL Server Configuration Manager (Windows Start menu >> All Programs >> Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 >> Configuration Tools >> SQL Server Configuration Manager) and expand the SQL Server Network Configuration node and click on Protocols for MSSQLServer and ensure TCP/IP is Enabled;

Then it’s a case of modifying the SQL Server ODBC System DSN on each client to use the CNAME Alias (GPTEST) instead of the server name (SQL2);

If you’re using Management Reporter you will need to change SQL Server in (Tools >> Company) the Company Setup;

The one Dynamics GP related product I’ve had issues with this approach was FRx which did not like the use of the CNAME Alias and insisted on having the server name; however, this did not impact on the user’s password.

With the above configuration, once SQL2 is retired and a new server brought online all we need to do is update the CNAME Alias with the new server name and all users will be able to log in without the password needing to be changed.