What is AIF

Enhancements to Application Integration Framework (AIF) include the following:

• Create, read, update, and delete operations are now supported.
• The programming model for AIF supports document services that encapsulate business logic and are the interface between Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and external systems.
• AIF provides functionality for consuming external Web services from within X++.
• Performance improvements include the ability to scale up and handle more messages through parallel message processing and the addition of multiple AOSs.
• New document services for additional commonly-used documents. 

To configure AIF using a File System Adapter follow this sample :

http://content2.catalog.video.msn.com/e2/ds/alt-en-us/ALTENUS_MSDN/ALTENUS_MSDN_MIGRATION/06D276A9-A222-4CB7-A11B-A168709E5E2D.wmv

What is the architecture of EP

The following shows the various components and applications that make up the Enterprise Portal Architecture. Each will be described in order. Web Browser - Users access Microsoft Dynamics AX information by viewing Enterprise Portal on a Web browser.  Microsoft Active Directory domain controller - All Microsoft Dynamics AX users must be listed in Active Directory on your domain controller. For Enterprise Portal, any user accessing an intranet or extranet site must be listed in Active Directory, or those users cannot access the site. Users who connect to Enterprise Portal Internet (public) sites use the Guest account, so they do not need to be listed in Active Directory.

Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup - Enterprise Portal is installed using the Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup program on your product DVD. Run Setup on the Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server that will host Enterprise Portal. Setup automates several processes, such as verifying that IIS and Windows SharePoint Services or Office SharePoint Server are installed on the server. If these applications are not installed, Setup installs them. Setup also does the following: Creates an Enterprise Portal intranet site Extends that site in Windows SharePoint Services or Office SharePoint Server Deploys all Enterprise Portal templates, Web pages, and Web parts to the Web server Internet Information Services 6.0 (IIS) - IIS is the platform that hosts the Enterprise Portal Web site. Depending on the needs and the expected number of Enterprise Portal users, IIS can be installed and configured on the Application Object Server (AOS) or on a separate server. If large numbers of simultaneous users are expected, consider installing and configuring multiple IIS servers (called a server farm). IIS is a component of Windows Server and can be installed using the Add/Remove Windows Components feature in the Add or Remove Programs Control Panel.

ASP.NET - ASP.NET is a component of IIS, and is the Web application framework for the Enterprise Portal Web site and associated applications. Programmers can use ASP.NET to build or enhance Enterprise Portal pages, applications, and Web parts. Windows SharePoint Services or Office SharePoint Server - Enterprise Portal requires either Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (a component of Windows Server) or Office SharePoint Server, which provides the framework for your Enterprise Portal sites, as well as the Web parts, tools, and other features for customizing the sites. Enterprise Portal Web sites - When Enterprise Portal is installed using Setup, the program creates an Enterprise Portal intranet Web site in IIS. Setup configures security and application pool settings for this site. Multiple sites can be created on a server using Setup, the Microsoft Dynamics AX client, or SharePoint Central Administration. Microsoft Dynamics AX Business Connector proxy - This proxy is a Windows domain user account that enables Business Connector to act on behalf of Microsoft Dynamics AX users when user accounts are authenticated with the AOS. A proxy account must be created in Active Directory on the domain controller before Business Connector can be used to authenticate Enterprise Portal users. If the proxy account does not exist in Active Directory, users cannot log on to Enterprise Portal.

Microsoft Dynamics AX Setup automates the process of configuring the proxy in various locations on the Enterprise Portal server. Setup prompts for the proxy credentials and then configures the proxy credentials in the following locations: Windows user groups IIS Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft Dynamics AX Application Object Server (AOS) - The AOS is a part of the core Microsoft Dynamics AX installation. For Enterprise Portal, the AOS: Authenticates requests received by the Business Connector proxy account Sends these requests to the database Performs business logic on the data This is all done before sending it back to the Enterprise Portal Web server. No additional configurations on the AOS for Enterprise Portal are needed. Microsoft Dynamics AX database - The database is a part of the core Microsoft Dynamics AX installation, and it stores the data that Enterprise Portal users access from their Web browsers. No additional configurations on the database for Enterprise Portal are needed.

What is the role center in EP

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and the Enterprise Portal framework include customizable home pages called Role Centers. Role Centers display specific data, reports, alerts, and common tasks associated with a user's job and role in the organization. Users can access their assigned Role Center page from either the Microsoft Dynamics AX client or from an Enterprise Portal Web site.

How the user gets access to EP

The IIS Web server then receives the request for the Enterprise Portal page (see the arrow 2). The Web server verifies whether the user is listed in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and in Windows SharePoint Services or Office SharePoint Server to determine if the user can access the Enterprise Portal site.

• If a user is not listed in both, that user is denied access to the site.
• If the user is listed in both, that user can access the site, and the Web server sends a request to the AOS server to determine which data and content should be displayed (if any).

The AOS server then receives the request for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 data (see arrow 3).

• If the user is not listed in any Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 groups, the user sees an empty Enterprise Portal page in their Web browser.
• If the user is listed in one or more groups, the Enterprise Portal page displays content and data defined by the user group permissions.

The Enterprise Portal security components in an extranet deployment can include one or more firewall devices and multiple domain controllers, but the process of determining page access and the content shown on pages is the same.

How to guarantee security of Entreprise Portal

The Enterprise Portal allows users to access Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 over the Web. It is possible, without proper attention given to the security of the component parts of Enterprise Portal, to unintentionally give an attacker or malicious user access to Microsoft Dynamics AX data. This section discusses Enterprise Portal security, a process for securing Enterprise Portal, and some security best practices.
Enterprise Portal security uses a combination of features from:

• Microsoft Active Directory
• Windows SharePoint Services or Office SharePoint Server users and groups
• Microsoft Dynamics AX access control

When Dynamics AX comes across SharePoint

Microsoft Dynamics  AX 2009 Enterprise Portal uses Windows  SharePoint Services components such as Web Part Pages to integrate Microsoft Dynamics AX data into the Enterprise Portal Web site and the Role Center area of the pages.

An Enterprise Portal Web site uses Windows SharePoint Services components to build the Web pages. In SharePoint terminology, a Web Part page (SharePoint Web page) is assembled using Web Parts. Web Parts are the basic building blocks of a Web Part page and are easy to reuse, share, and personalize. Examples of Web parts include: Discussion lists Announcements Document workspaces In addition to the Web Parts included with Windows SharePoint Services, the Enterprise Portal includes several Web Parts that display Microsoft Dynamics AX forms, reports, and menus on the Enterprise Portal site.

The Web Parts for Microsoft Dynamics AX include the following: Web Form - Web Part that hosts a Web form for Microsoft Dynamics AX (a display web content item) on the Enterprise Portal site. Web Report - Web Part that hosts a report or Web report for Microsoft Dynamics AX (output Web content item) on the Enterprise Portal site. Web Menu - Web Part that hosts a Microsoft Dynamics AX menu on the Enterprise Portal site. Box Menu - Web Part that hosts a Microsoft Dynamics AX menu on the Enterprise Portal site. A box menu can include descriptive text for each item in the menu. Generic Web Part - Web Part that can host any Weblet for Microsoft Dynamics AX. Page Title - Web Part that hosts the page title. By default Enterprise Portal Page templates have Page Title Web Part embedded.