Using Entra Application proxy for onprem BC - seemingly works

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Posted on by peterb3

Was not possible previously, but seemingly working now (we can login into NAVBC and work there.

No more get stuck in "loading page" after login, as all other commenters reported in previous years)

Our setup:
- NAV BC v23
- NAV BC credential type: username
- Entra application proxy

More our testing to come. We will also try with NAVBC credential type AccessControlService (EntraID)

Be aware, that documentation still call this setup as not working.

version history
2021-07-26 NAV BC documentation started to warn, that Approxy is not supported because websockets issue https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/dynamics365smb-devitpro-pb/commit/eea46706ca0b977630b3c40fced5ad69…
2021-12-17 Entra Approxy documentation started stating, that it is supporting websockets, with minor problems https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/entra-docs/commit/9c11ae279c0ef5f1afdc8dfb80d8d3051376d6d1
in years later some people reported on various forums, that they cannot get past login page: loading wheel spins forever. Probably approxy websocket issue
now seemingly working, but not confirmed by MS and undocumented

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Dynamics 365 Business Central

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Rishabh Kanaskar 6,147 on at

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Using Entra Application proxy for onprem BC - seemingly works

Hi,

Historically, Entra Application Proxy was not supported for Business Central on-prem because of WebSocket limitations, which caused the “loading page” issue after login. Microsoft documentation still states it’s unsupported, but Entra Proxy added WebSocket support later, so it can now work in some scenarios.
However:

> It’s still not officially supported by Microsoft for BC on-prem.
> If it works in your setup, it’s considered an unsupported workaround.
> For production, Microsoft recommends VPN or Azure Front Door for secure remote access.

If you need an official reference, check:

> Business Central on-premises architecture
> Entra Application Proxy WebSocket support

Thanks

Rishabh

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YUN ZHU 95,307 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Using Entra Application proxy for onprem BC - seemingly works

Please note that BC v23 has stopped supporting for half a year. Please upgrade to the latest version before testing.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/dynamics-365-business-central-onpremises-modern-policy

Hope this helps.

Thanks.

ZHU

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peterb3 29 on at

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Using Entra Application proxy for onprem BC - seemingly works

We are in the process of upgrade to v27. Will test it then too.

Other alternatives are not as good - VPN (is expensive + lacks zero trust) and Azure Front Door (irrelevant for onprem)

In case we still hit roadblock with Approxy. Here are potentially interesting fallback solutions for us

1) nxing on onprem, instead of Approxy. This will hovewer add complexity and lower security (possibility to DDoS onprem nginx / backend BC)

2) Entra Private Access (It is much more expensive. But with onprem, it can do more things than Approxy, uses same infra and is more secure than 1)

Will keep you updated.

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Verified answer

peterb3 29 on at

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Using Entra Application proxy for onprem BC - seemingly works

confirming that for us, approxy is working also with BC 27.1

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