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Dynamics 365 Community / Forums / Finance | Project Operations, Human Resources, ... / Restoring the SQL AxDB...
Finance | Project Operations, Human Resources, ...
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Restoring the SQL AxDB database while migrating to unified development.

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Posted on by John Bright 145
Hi experts! 
 
We are moving from on-prem D365FO environments to unified development environment. We have created and configured our environment. The only roadblock for us to restore the database. Right now we aren't able to find a way to restore it. The reason we need a restore is, we can get the use of all millions of test data for unit testing and end to end testing. 
 
I have database from On-prem environment and database of tier 2 environment. Any inputs could help. 
 
Regards, John
Categories:
Dynamics 365 Finance
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  • Suggested answer
    Holly Huffman Profile Picture
    Holly Huffman 6,554 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at
    Good morning, afternoon, or evening :) depending on your location!
     
    Restoring the SQL AxDB database while migrating to a unified development environment in Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (D365FO) can be a bit tricky, but here are some suggestions:
     
    1. Export the Database from On-Prem or Tier 2 Environment:
      • Use the Export Database option in Lifecycle Services (LCS) for your Tier 2 environment. This will generate a .bacpac file.
      • For the on-premises database, you can use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) to export the database as a .bacpac file.
    2. Prepare the Unified Development Environment:
      • Ensure that your unified development environment is properly configured and has SQL Server installed.
      • Stop all relevant services, such as the Batch Management Service, DMF Service, and World Wide Web Publishing Service, to avoid conflicts during the restore process.
    3. Restore the Database:
      • Copy the .bacpac file to the development environment.
      • Use the SqlPackage.exe tool to import the .bacpac file into the SQL Server instance. The command will look something like this:
        SqlPackage.exe /Action:Import /SourceFile:"C:\Path\To\YourDatabase.bacpac" /TargetServerName:"YourServerName" /TargetDatabaseName:"AxDB"
      • Replace YourServerName and YourDatabaseName with the appropriate values for your environment.
    4. Update the AxDB Configuration:
      • After restoring the database, update the configuration in the web.config file and the Dynamics AX Configuration Utility to point to the restored database.
    5. Synchronize the Database:
      • Open Visual Studio in the development environment and run a full database synchronization to ensure that the restored database schema matches the current application version.
    6. Validate the Data:
      • Verify that the test data is accessible and that the environment is functioning as expected.
     
    Hope this helps!
  • Verified answer
    André Arnaud de Calavon Profile Picture
    André Arnaud de Cal... 303,706 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at
    Hi John,
     
    Copying a database only is not supported on UDE environments. Please ignore the reply from Holly as it doesn't make sense for environments deployed in PPAC.
     
    You can only copy a full environment, including the apps and database. In case you have a UAT environment on LCS, you can prepare this environment to have the Dynamics 365 application version and database as you need in your UDE environment. This sandbox is also visible on PPAC and can be used as source for copying the environment to a UDE environment. 
     
    Note that PPAC UDE environments are subject to the capacity based licensing. In case you have an overrun on the storage entitlements, you will be blocked for several admin tasks such as copying an environment or creating a new one.
  • Rishi Koushik Profile Picture
    Rishi Koushik 12 on at

    Hello Andre,

    We are using a UDE environment with Dynamics 365 MCP ERP Copilot and would like to restore our demo database into it. However, we understand that restoring a database is not supported in UDE and that only a full environment copy is possible.

    We are an ISV and do not maintain any Tier 2+ environments (UAT/Production) in LCS, so we do not have a source environment to copy from.

    Currently, the only option available to us is importing data using Data Management.

    Could you please advise if there is any other supported way to restore or bring a demo database into a UDE environment in this scenario?

    Thank you for your support.

    Best regards,
    Rishi

  • Anton Venter Profile Picture
    Anton Venter 20,656 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at
     
    This is an old post from April 2025. Please create a new post.

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