How to Configure the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter

Posted on October 26, 2012 by JoeCRM

Pre-Configuration

This document makes some assumptions about the current state of your environment, they are:

  • The Microsoft Connector for Microsoft Dynamics is installed.
  • The CRM Instance Adapter is installed.
  • You have opened the Connector for Microsoft Dynamics.

Configuring the Adapter

Once the adapter has been installed, it’s time to start up the Microsoft Connector. Once it opens, you should see the connector window in the background and the Adapter Settings window should be open on top of it:

Configure the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter

When new adapters are installed, this is the default behavior of the connector.  If for any reason you do not see this screen or accidentally closed it, simply close and restart the connector or if available, click on the Adapter Settings button in the Connector application window.

The two adapter endpoints that we’re interested in configuration are the Source and Destination of the Dynamic CRM 2011 Adapter:

When configuring the source or destination adapter endpoint, the settings should look like something similar to the following if you’re hosted on-premise:

And like the following for CRM online:

You should be able to find the Discovery Service URL by going to Settings->Customizations->Developer Resources in your CRM organization instance.

Click the Test Settings button below the configured items to verify that your credentials are working.  You should receive a message showing the credentials have succeeded:

After verifying the validity of the credentials for the adapter, click Apply to save your adapter settings to the configuration database. Now click the Configure Microsoft Dynamics CRM link:

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Instance Adapter Configuration tool will pop up and allow you to start configuring the available entities in your endpoint organizations.  Now that you’ve set your configured your adapter endpoints, see our blog on the Configuration Utility to create your Object Provider configuration files.

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JoeCRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Expert at PowerObjects
Joe CRM is a CRM superhero who runs on pure Microsoft Dynamics CRM adrenaline. As the face of PowerObjects, Joe CRM’s mission is to reveal innovative ways to use Dynamics CRM and bring the application to more business and organizations around the world.
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  • pmdci

    Hi Joe.

    Perhaps you can give me a hand here. I extracted the files into my Connector installation directory the same way as you did (I also ensured that the all files are unblocked under properties -> security). However when I start the connector I can’t see the CRM Source and Destination adapters… Any ideas?

    UPDATE: Clicking on unblock was having no effect (it wasn’t unblocking the files). I have to move the files back to my desktop and then unblock them there. Then I moved them back to the Connector folder. It worked :)

    • rbell@PowerObjects

      Great to hear, we were actually just starting to test this and see what the issue was. Glad you were able to resolve it.

  • Danyag

    Hi Joe,

    I am using CRM 2011 Online and looking to use the adapter to link my development, test and live environments. How are users handled for this scenario? would i look at subscribing one user license and be able to use it in the three orgs? or would i have to subscribe a user per org?i

    • alexfagundes

      Hi Danyag – if you have an office 365 tenant with your crm online orgs you can now get additional crm orgs there. THe price is a flat $540 ?? per organization, but you do not need to re-license the users. THis is only available via office 365 tenants so if your org is using live ids you need to wait until it is migrated to o365.