Use of NAVDEMO Instance in Development Environment

Hi all,

This post is only for the Development Environment where we NAV Technical and Functional Consultants works on Multiple Versions.

Till NAV 2009 R2 there was no issues that we have all the version running without installing even RTC (with some tweaks).

But Let's See what is the issue we faced when NAV 2013 have launched. Below are some facts which I hope you all will agree.



1) We had seen in earlier post how to run multiple RTC (2013/R2/SP1/2009) on same machine.

2) Before RTC Client was launched we had option to save license into the database which will get automatically sets when we open the database.

3) RTC Take License Information from the SQL server. So the license that have been uploaded on server will be used by all RTC Version we will be using.

4) With NAV 2013 License uploaded on SQL Server, we were getting below listed error which working on RTC R2 & SP1.

5) With NAV 2009 R2 License on SQL Server, we were getting below listed error while using NAV 2013.

5) Resolution was Change the license and restart the service when we switch to R2/SP1/2009 to 2013 or vice versa.

Introduction to NAVDEMO Instance -

If we install NAV 2013 a Demo Installation a new instance in SQL Server that is NAVDEMO is created and the NAV 2013 demo database is created under that domain.

We can change to install the database into the Existing SQL Server Instance by selecting the customize option as shown below.

During installation if we leave SQL Server Instance as Blank, then the database get restored on the standard instance of SQL Server.

USE of NAVDEMO Instance in Development Environment -

1) NAVDEMO is a seprate Instance of SQL.

2) The standard Instance is MSSQLSERVER.

My all old Database i.e before NAV 2013 are lying under the standard Instance.
My all NAV 2013 Databases lies under NAVDEMO Instance.

Licence in Standard Instance is of NAV 2009 R2 (Developer License .
*Supported by all NAV Versions expect 2013.

License in NAVDEMO Instance is of NAV 2013 (Developer License).

I never require to change license while starting the service or switching from RTC R2/SP1/2009 to 2013.

I hope the information can be used in developer environment by all.

Please put comment if you like this article.

Regards,
Saurav Dhyani
http://saurav-nav.blogspot.in/