Compatibility Testing for Microsoft Dynamics AX

[Updated for SQL Server 2012 and SharePoint 2013]

When reviewing the Dynamics AX environment on customer site, we are often been asked question such as: “Do you know if this version of the product is officially supported by Microsoft”?

This is quite natural because Microsoft products don’t have the exact roadmap and General Availability on the market. So for example, when Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 was released in October 2008 (RTM version Build 5.0.593.0), Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or Microsoft Windows Server 2008 were not yet available.

This explains why the System Requirement of the product Microsoft Dynamics AX is updated through the lifecycle of the product to include new supported version of other products.

The goal of Compatibility Testing conducted by the Product Group and Sustained Engineering team is to validate new version of Microsoft products against in-market releases of Dynamics AX. As of today, the current in-market releases are Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 Service Pack 1 and Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Obviously the objective is to proactively detect the potential blocking issues and provide the Hot Fixes to the customers. The Compatibility Testing is actually a complex process that requires deep understanding of the new Microsoft product impact against Dynamics AX. Functional Testing, Regression Testing, Upgrade Testing and Performance Testing are just example of what can be in scope of the Testing strategy.

Once the Sustained Engineering validates the compatibility, the announcement is being published directly on the Sustained Engineering blog and the System Requirements document is updated.

Another question I will like to answer here is regarding the compatibility of the product Dynamics AX with new Cumulative Update of Microsoft SQL Server and Windows Update of Microsoft Windows Server. Cumulative Update of SQL Server is typically not tested because of low risk and impact: every CU scope is proactively communicated by the Sustained Engineering team of Microsoft SQL Server to validate this. Regarding the Microsoft Windows, every Update package is tested by the Dynamics AX Sustained Engineering team every 8 weeks.

To improve the readiness of the all the previous Compatibility results, I have compiled the announcements in the following matrix: [Please note - these announcements only highlight those times when an additional technology has been tested for a currently-supported product.  For example, SQL 2008 R2 is supported for AX 2012, but that was the case as of AX 2012's release, so it's not listed here.]