Microsoft CRM 2011 How to Configure IFD Hosted Setup
Like many, we have struggled to configure Microsoft CRM 2011 as an Internet Facing Deployment. There is quite a bit of disjointed and some what typical Microsoft “junk” on how to set this up.
So after reading the White Papers, blogs and YouTube videos on the topic, I figured I would need notes for myself as much as anything. This is mostly because I am yet to find one single example that covered the setup I was after. That being:
Single Server
On an existing domain
Running true IFD ready for customer access.
The last point it telling, as all the Microsoft examples give a self generated SSL cert, that really is an example of a DEV environment only. We want to test the “real deal”, and don’t mind spending a few $ on a real Certificate to see this in a true working environment.
The Existing Setup
Because this is a test environment, we are running the server on a Hyper V server. A single VM machine, that is running a fully patched version of:
- Windows 2008 R2 SP1 64 Bit
- SQL 2008 R2 64 Bit
- Microsoft CRM 2011 64 Bit
Interesting enough, something that always takes me 15 min, it ensuring I download the correct version of the ISO files from MSDN. I get it that I am somewhat lame, but if you get a wrong version you can waste a load of time and energy later.
With a list looking like this it can be painful. Anyway, these are the files we used for install:
For those who care, the VM was set to run with 6000 MB ram, and fold out to use more.
Importantly
When we setup CRM, we selected the option to NOT use the default website, but configure a new one with the default settings of port 5555. This is necessary as you will see later.
Backup First
In all things Microsoft world, it is vital what you establish a working point to avoid unnecessarily installing things all over again. To get things working we have started fresh over 4 times.
Hyper V is great for this, as we just stopped the server, and made a copy of the VHD file. Then when it is time to start all over, it is just a matter of restoring from copy/backup.
Test First
Test that your CRM setup is working. Go to the local computer name (ours is VSERVER08) on the correct port: http://vserver08:5555
We called our Deployment of CRM – "CRM2011” So the URL redirects to: http://vserver08:5555/CRM2011/main.aspx
and after being prompted for login, we are in and testing.
Apply a Wildcard SSL Certificate
In CRM, the accessing of deployments is handled by the sub domains. So if we call a deployment “business1” we will access that as: https://business1.domain.com
For testing, we purchased a standard Wildcard SSL certificate that applied that to the IIS7 server.
We will let you work out that bundle of joy, but a few tips.
1. Godaddy was about as cheap as you find on the net.
2. Setup involves creating a certificate request from within IIS, then pasting that text into the online providers order system. They then generate the certificates that you then import back into IIS and the server.
3.
Application for a certificate
Here, I will be a wildcard certificate, for example, describes how to create a certificate:
1) Open IIS Manager
2) Click the server name in the main screen double click Server Certificates
3) In the right panel, click Create Certificate Request…
4) fill in the following diagram each column, click Next
5) Cryptographic Service Provider Properties page to keep the default, click Next.
6) In the File Name page, enter C: \ req.txt , and then click Finish.
7) Run cmd , run
certreq-submit -attrib "CertificateTemplate: WebServer" C: \ req.txt
Select the CA , click OK.
9) the certificate is stored as C: \ Wildcard.cer . ( 7-9 can also be in the CA to complete)
10) back to the IIS Manager, click No. 3) Step graph Complete Certificate Request …
11) Select the C: \ Wildcard.cer , Friendly name named *. contoso.com , of course, you can take a different name.
12) Click OK.
13) so that we completed the wildcard certificate request.
Additional SSL Certificate Imports
1) RUN MMC at the start / search
2) Select File / Add Remove Snapin – Select Certificates – ADD
Computer Account
NEXT / Finish
3) Expand the first two folders, and Right Click on the Certificates Folder and select: All Tasks / Import.
4) Browse to your wildcard SSL certificate file, and import that into the Personal and Trusted Root Certification Authorities.
Ensure that you
Binding site for the default SSL certificate
1) Open IIS Manager.
2) In the Connections panel, expand Sites , click Default Web Site.
3) In the Actions pane, click Bindings.
4) In the Site Bindings dialog box, click Add.
5) Type select HTTPS.
6) SSL Certificate , select the certificate you just created *. contoso.com , and then click OK.
Ours is interactivewebs.com
7) Click Close.
Repeat for the Personal certificate folder.
For the CRM 2011 binding site SSL certificate
1) Open IIS Manager.
2) In the Connections panel, expand Sites , click CRM Web Site.
3) In the Actions pane, click Bindings.
4) In the Site Bindings dialog box, click Add.
5) Type select HTTPS.
6) SSL Certificate , select the certificate you just created *. contoso.com .
7) Port to select a different 443 (e.g. 444 ) and port number, and then click OK
Click Close.
DNS configuration
For MS CRM 2011 configuration Claims-based authentication, you need the DNS to add some records to make CRM 2011 for each breakpoint can be resolved correctly.
There are two ways you can achieve the desired result. But first lets understand the desired result.
- We make the assumption that your server is running at least one static IP address.
- Because this is Internet Facing, that IP needs to be accessible to the world.
- That same IP can be used for access to your server both internally on the matching we are playing with, and externally form anyone on the net.
Lets Get Basic
Start a Command Prompt, and work out what your IP address of the server is.
Click START > RUN > CMD
Type IPCONFIG – Enter
Under the name: IPv4 Address is a number that looks like: 66.34.204.220
That is Your IP Address of the Server.
The DNS Goal
Make sure that when you PING xxx.domain.com that it points to that IP address. Both for the world and for you when you do that on your server.
(xxx is the sub domain that we are about to configure.)
To configure CRM, we need some sub domains to point to the server IP.
- sts.domain.com
- auth.domain.com
- dev.domain.com
- Your ORG name. org.domain.com (Where ORG is the CRM deployment name of your organization or organizations), e.g.
We have two setup here: CRM and CRM2011. So we need to configure crm.interactivewebs.com and crm2011.interactivewebs.com.
Hosting Your Own DNS
If you host your own Domain Name Server (DNS) and you host the domain name that you are using to setup IFD. Then configuring an A record for the above mentioned sub domains is easy.
START > Administrative Tools > DNS
Find your Domain Name
Right Click and select NEW HOST A
Add an A record that points to your servers IP address.
Repeat this process for all of the above mentioned sub domains. auth, sts1, dev, and your own organization names.
Test DNS
You must be able to ping all of those names and get the correct server IP address. Both from computers on the internet, and from the server.
Note: If you have added the DNS records, but still encounter name resolution problems, you can try running on the client ipconfig / flushdns to clean up the cache. You can also click the DNS server root and click CLEAR CACHE so that the server is responding with the latest updates.
Note: Don’t bother proceeding past this step if you cannot ping your sub domains internally and externally correctly.
Firewall configuration
You need to set the firewall to allow the CRM 2011 and the AD FS 2.0 port used by the incoming data stream. HTTPS (SSL) is the default port 443.
For Initial setup testing etc. We recommend just turning the thing off. Better start from a place where it does not muck you around, then turn it all back on after you are successful.
Configuration Claim-based authentication -internal access
Configure the internal access Claim-based authentication requires the following steps:
- Install and configure AD FS 2.0 .
- Set Claims-based authentication configuration CRM 2011 server.
- Set the Claims-based authentication configuration AD FS 2.0 server.
- Test claims-based authentication within the access.
Install and configure AD FS 2.0
CRM 2011 with a variety of STS provider ( STS Provider ) together. This article uses Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) 2.0 to provide a security token service (security token service ).
Note: AD FS 2.0 will be installed to the default site, so install AD FS 2.0 , you must have CRM 2011 installation in the new site. (Remember we said that earlier)
IIS Looks like this if it is correctly installed: 
If you only see the default website with CRM installed in that. Start AGAIN!
Download the AD FS 2.0
From the following link to download the AD FS 2.0
Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 RTW( http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=204237 ).
Install AD FS 2.0
In the installation wizard, select the federation server role installed, for more information refer to
Install the AD FS 2.0 Software( http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=192792 ).
Configure AD FS 2.0
1 in the AD FS 2.0 server, click Start , then click AD FS 2.0 Management .
2 In the AD FS 2.0 Management page , click AD FS 2.0 Federation Server Configuration Wizard .
3 In the Welcome page , select Create a new Federation Service , and then click Next.
4 In the Select Deployment Type page , select Stand-alone Federation Server , and then click Next.
5 Choose your SSL certificate (the choice of a certificate created *. contoso.com ) ,add a Federation Service name ( for example , sts1.contoso.com), and then click Next.
Note: Only you as the AD FS 2.0 sites when using the wildcard certificate, only need to add the Federation Service name.
6 Summary page, click Next.
7 Click Close to close the AD FS 2.0 Configuration Wizard.
Note: If you have not added ( sts1.contoso.com ) to add DNS records, then do it now.
Verify the AD FS 2.0 is working
Follow the steps below to verify that the AD FS 2.0 is working :
1 Open Internet Explorer.
2 Enter the federation metadata of the URL , for example:
https://sts1.contoso.com/federationmetadata/2007-06/federationmetadata.xml
3. to ensure that no certificate associated with the warning appears.
Claims-based authentication configuration CRM 2011server
After you install and configure the AD FS 2.0 , we need to configure the Claims-based authentication before setting CRM 2011 binding types ( Binding type ) and the root domain (root Domains) .
According to the following steps to set up CRM 2011 bound for the HTTPS and configure the root domain address :
1 Open the CRM Deployment Manager.
2 In the Actions pane , click Properties .
3 Click the Web Address page .
4 In the Binding Type , select HTTPS .
5. Ensure that the network address for the binding CRM 2011 site SSL certificate and SSL ports. Because you configured for internal access to Claims-based authentication, so the address of the host for the root domain name. Port number must IIS in CRM 2011 is set in the port the same site.
6 For example, *. contoso.com wildcard certificate, you can useinternalcrm.contoso.com: 444 as the network address.
7 Click OK .
Note: If the CRM Outlook client configuration using the old binding value, then the need to be updated to use the new value. + Make sure you have a DNS entry for: internalcrm.
From the CRM 2011 is passed to the AD FS 2.0 of Claims data you need to use the Claims-Based Authentication Configuration Wizard (described below) specified in the certificate for encryption. Therefore, CRM Web application CRMAppPool account must have read the certificate’s private key encryption ( Read ) permissions.According to the following steps to give this permission:
1 in CRM 2011 server , run the Microsoft Management Console (Start => Run MMC).
2 Click Files => Add / Remove Snap-in …
3 left panel, select Certificates , click Add to add to the right panel.
4 In the pop-up window, select Computer account .
5 next page, select Local Computer , click Finish .
6 Click OK .
7 Expand the Certificates ( Local Computer ) => Personal, select Certificates .
8. In the middle panel, right-click you will be in the Claims-Based Authentication Configuration Wizard to specify the encryption certificate (in this case *. contoso.com ), click All Tasks => Manage Private Keys.
9 Click Add , add CRMAppPool account (if you are using Network Service , select the account directly), and then give Read permissions.
Note: You can use IIS Manager to view CRMAppPool what account to use. In the Connections panel , click Application Pools , and then see CRMAppPool under Identity .
10 Click OK .
Configure Claims-Based Authentication
Below, we setup Claims-Based Authentication Configuration Wizard ( Configure Claims-Based Authentication Wizard ) to configure the Claims-Based Authentication. To learn how PowerShell to configure Claims-Based Authentication, refer to the English original.
1) Open the Deployment Manager.
2) on the left navigation panel, right-click Microsoft Dynamics CRM , and then click Configure Claims-Based Authentication.
3) click Next.
4) In the Specify the security token service page , enter the Federation metadata URL, such as
https://sts1.interactivewebs.com/federationmetadata/2007-06/federationmetadata.xml
Note: The data is usually in the AD FS 2.0 website. Can this URL copied into IE to seeFederation metadata , to ensure that this is the correct URL . Using IE to access the URL can not have a certificate-related warnings (Ignore that crap!)
5) Click Next .
6) In the Specify the encryption certificate page , click on Select…
7) select a certificate, where we choose *.interactivewebs.com.
This certificate is used to encrypt the transmitted AD FS 2.0 authentication security token service security token.
Note: Microsoft Dynamics CRM service account must have the private key encryption certificate Read permission.
10 Click Next . Claims-Based Authentication Configuration Wizard validates the token and certificate you specified.
11 In the System Checks page, if the test passed, click Next .
12 In the Review your selections and then click Apply page , just to confirm the input, and then click Apply .
13. On this page, note which of the URL , because then, you will use this URL to add a trusted party ( Relying Party ) to the security token service.
14 IMPORTANT – Click View Log File
15 Scroll to the end, and Copy the URL from the bottom of the file.
- This will be used in the next configuration. Note that this is different to the URL used in step 4 above, as it represents the internal URL. Subtle but vital (and the cause of frustration the first 10 times we tried this).
16 Click Finish.
17 Validate that you can browse to the URL above. If you cannot view this in a browser, then have a look again at your permissions on the certificate in relation to the account on the application pool in IIS for CRM. Read above: Claims-based authentication configuration CRM 2011server.
18. Once you can browse this URL, you are done here.
Claims-based authentication configuration AD FS 2.0server
After completion of the previous step, the next step we need AD FS 2.0 to add and configure the statement provider trust ( claims Provider trusts ) and the relying party trust ( Relying Party trusts ).
Configure claims provider trusts
You need to add a claims rule come from Active Directory to obtain user ‘s UPN (user principal name) and then as a UPN delivered to MS CRM . Follow these steps to configure the AD FS 2.0 to UPN LDAP attribute as a claim is sent to the relying party ( Relying Party ):
1 installed in the AD FS 2.0 on the server , open AD FS 2.0 Management.
2 In the Navigation Pane , expand the Trust Relationships , and then click the Claims Provider Trusts.
3 In the Claims Provider Trusts under , right-click Active Directory , and then click Edit Claims Rules.
4 in the Rules Editor , click Add Rule.
5. In Claim rule template list , select the Send LDAP Attributes as Claims template ,and then click Next.
6 Create the following rule:
- Claim rule name: UPN Claim Rule ( or other descriptive name )
· Add the following mapping:
- Attribute Store: Active Directory
- LDAP Attribute: User Principal Name
- Outgoing Claim Type: UPN
7 Click Finish , then click OK close the Rules Editor.
Configuration relying party trusts
In the open claims-based authentication, you must ensure CRM 2011 server configured as a relying party to use from the AD FS 2.0 statement to internal access claims certification.
1 Open AD FS 2.0 Management.
2 In the Actions menu, click Add Relying Party Trust.
3 In the Add Relying Party Trust Wizard , click Start.
4 In the Select Data Source page , click Import Data about the Relying Party Online or published on a local Network , enter the positioning federation metadata.xml file URL.
Federation metadata is set Claims when created. Use Claims-Based Authentication Configuration Wizard. The URL used here is IMPORTANT – Read point 14 in the above section. It is the URL retrieved from the VIEW LOG FILE That we did when from configuration of Claims Based Authentication: In this case
https://internalcrm.interactivewebs.com:444/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml
Note: Ensure that no certificate-related warnings appear when hitting the URL.
5 Click Next .
6 In the Specify Display Name page , enter a display name, such as CRM Claims Relying Party , and then click Next.
7 In the Choose Issuance Authorization Rules page , choose Permit All users to access this Relying Party , and then click Next.
8 In the Ready to Add Trust page , click Next , then click Close .
9. When the Rule Editor appears , click Add Rule . Otherwise , the Relying Party Trusts list , right-click you create a relying party objects, click the Edit Claims Rules , and then click Add Rule.
10. In Claim rule template list , select the Pass Through or Filter an Incoming Claim template, and then click Next.
11 create the following rule:
· Claim rule name: Pass Through UPN ( or other descriptive name )
· Add the following mapping:
- Incoming claim type: UPN
- Pass through All claim values
12 Click Finish .
13 In the Rule Editor , click Add Rule , in Claim rule template list , select the Pass Through or Filter an Incoming Claim template , and then click Next :
· Claim rule name: Pass Through Primary SID ( or other descriptive name )
· Add the following mapping:
- Incoming claim type: Primary SID
- Pass through All claim values
14 Click Finish .
15 In the Rule Editor , click Add Rule
16. In Claim rule template list , select the Transform an Incoming Claim template , and then click Next.
17 create the following rule:
· Claim rule name: Transform Windows Account Name to Name ( or other descriptive name )
- Incoming claim type: Windows account name
- Outgoing claim type: Name
- Pass through All claim values
18 Click Finish , to create a good three rule later , click OK close the Rule Editor
Test claims-based authentication within the access
You should now be able to use the claims certified to the internal access CRM 2011 a
1 Open the Deployment Manager.
2 Expand the Deployment Manager node , and then click on Organizations .
3 Right-click your organization , and then click Browse . so you can open the CRM web page of ( for example: https://internalcrm.contoso.com:444 ).
Trouble Shooting
If the CRM web page can not be displayed, then run the following iisreset and then try again.
If the CRM web page still does not show, then you may need to setup AD FS 2.0 server setup a SPN (Service Principal Name) . Re-run the Claims-Based Authentication Wizard, and then browse to the Specify the security token service page, note the AD FS 2.0 server in the Federation metadata URL in the name. (In this case sts1.interactivewebs.com )
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2009/08/06/configuring-service-principal-names.aspx
1 Open a command line tool .
2 Enter the following command : ( application, in your own environment, substitute the name of the name of the command line )
c: \> setspn -a http/sts1.interactivewebs.com fserver4\VSERVER08$
fserver4\VSERVER08 = the domain and machine name of the server.
c: \> iisreset
3 and then re-access the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011 site, so you should be able to successfully access to the CRM 2011 Web page.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg188614.aspx
If you receive ADFS – sts1 errors.
There was a problem accessing the site. Try to browse to the site again.
If the problem persists, contact the administrator of this site and provide the reference number to identify the problem.
Reference number: xxx
And or if you look in your log files under ADFS 2.0 You will see errors like this.
In our case, this was because we used the external Metadata URL and not the Internal URL that we should have copied from the “View Log File” When configuring the Claims Based Authentication. Step 14 in the section above.
Note the difference between this:
https://internalcrm.interactivewebs.com:444/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml
and the original meta data check we did with:
https://sts1.interactivewebs.com/federationmetadata/2007-06/federationmetadata.xml
We incorrectly figured it would be pulling the same XML data. It does NOT!
Configuration Claim-based authentication -external access
Open to the CRM 2011 Data Claims-based authentication of external access, you need to do the following steps:
1 complete contents of the previous section: Configuring Claim-based authentication- internal access.
2 for the IFD configuration CRM 2011 server.
3 for the IFD configuration AD FS 2.0 server.
4 Test claims-based authentication external access.
The IFD configuration CRM 2011 server
When opening Claims certified internal access, you can open by IFD external claims visited. The following describes using the IFD Configuration Wizard to configure, if you want to learn how to use PowerShell to be configured, refer to the English original.
1 Open the Deployment Manager.
2 In the tree structure , right-click Microsoft Dynamics CRM , and then click Configure Internet-Facing Deployment.
3 Click Next.
4 Fill in the correct domain information for the Web Application, Org, and Discovery Web services. Remembering here that in our case: *.interactivewebs.com was the name of the wildcard certificate used, and that PORT 444 was the port we configured for the CRM Web Instance in the bindings for IIS.
Thus we use:
- Web Application Server Domain: interactivewebs.com:444
- Organization Web Service Domain: interactivewebs.com:444
- Web Service Discovery Domain: dev.interactivewebs.com:444
Note – Enter the domain name, rather than the server name .
- If the CRM installed on the same server or servers are installed in the same domain, then the Web Application Server Domain and Organization Web Service Domain should be the same .
- Web Service Discovery Domain must be a Web Application Server Domain as a subdomain like the "dev." that we setup in DNS earlier.
- domain name must be on the SSL certificate name
Domain examples :
- Web Application Server Domain: contoso.com: 444
- Organization Web Service Domain: contoso.com: 444
- Web Service Discovery Domain: dev.contoso.com: 444
For more information on the website, please refer to Install Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011 on multiple computers( http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=199532 )
5 In the Enter the external domain where your Internet-facing servers are located input box , enter for your internet to CRM 2011 server located outside the domain of information, and then click Next .
You must specify the domain specified in the previous step Web Application Server Domain sub-domains . default , will be "auth." added to the Web Application Server Domain before.
Domain examples :
- External Domain: auth.contoso.com: 444
6 In the System Checks page , if there is no problem, click Next.
7 In Review your selections and then click Apply page , confirm your input , and then click Apply.
8 Click Finish .
9. Open a command line tool, run: iisreset
The IFD configuration AD FS 2.0 server
To open CRM 2011 on the IFD , you need to add AD FS 2.0 server for the IFD to create a relying party endpoints. Follow these steps:
1 open AD FS 2.0 Management .
2 In the Actions menu, click Add Relying Party Trust.
3 In the Add Relying Party Trust Wizard , click Start .
4 In the Select Data Source page , click Import Data about the Relying Party Online or published on a local Network , enter the positioning federation metadata.xml file URL.
Note – This is almost the same URL as we used previously, but has the .auth sub domain that we used in point 4 above. For use the Federation metadata is configured IFD when created. In this case https://auth.interactivewebs.com:444/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml .
Check in your browser the URL, to ensure that no certificate-related warnings appear.
5 Click Next.
6 In the Specify Display Name page , enter the display name , such as CRM IFD Relying Party , and then click Next.
7 In the Choose Issuance Authorization Rules page , select the Permit all users to access this relying party options , and then click Next.
8 In the Ready to Add Trust page , click Next , then click Close .
9. If the Rule Editor appears , click Add Rule. Otherwise , the Relying Party Trusts list ,right-click you create a relying party objects, click the Edit Claims Rules, and then click Add Rule.
10. In Claim rule template list , select the Pass Through or Filter an Incoming Claim template, and then click Next.
11 create the following rule:
· Claim rule name: Pass Through UPN ( or other descriptive name )
· Add the following mapping:
- Incoming claim type: UPN
- Pass through All claim values
12 Click Finish .
13 In the Rule Editor , click Add Rule , in Claim rule template list , select the Pass Through or Filter an Incoming Claim template , and then click Next :
· Claim rule name: Pass Through Primary SID ( or other descriptive name )
· Add the following mapping:
- Incoming claim type: Primary SID
- Pass through All claim values
14 Click Finish .
15 in the Rules Editor , click Add Rule ,
16. In Claim rule template list , select the Transform an Incoming Claim template , and then click Next .
17 create the following rule:
· Claim rule name: Transform Windows Account Name to Name ( or other descriptive name )
- Incoming claim type: Windows account name
- Outgoing claim type: Name
- Pass through All claim values
18 Click Finish , you have created three rule later , click OK close the Rule Editor .
Test claims-based authentication to access external
Now, you should use the claims certified external access CRM 2011 a. In IE the browser CRM 2011 external address (for example: https://org.contoso.com:444 ), you will see the following pages:
Enter the user name password, log CRM 2011.
Final Notes
Like anything Microsoft, this was not easy. It took us over 10 attempts drawing on over a dozen resources to get this worked out. For us, the main tripping points related the the meta data URL’s used in configuring the endpoints. Our fault, but it also appears to be a common error to other administrators on the net.
To Microsoft – you documentation sucks badly! If I never read another White Paper it will be too soon!
Thanks to – Jackie Chen (Chen Pan) Your blog was GOLD!
Look for our other posts on Email Router Configurations. “is a fickle bitch!”
“If you host your own Domain Name Server (DNS) and you host the domain name that you are using to setup IFD. Then configuring an A record for the above mentioned sub domains is easy.”
What if not?
Do I have to create a second DNS forward zone (besides mydom.local) for mydom.com? That would mean to “replicate” every HOST/CNAME currently existing in external DNS and keep both up to date.
The Claims Based Auth whitepaper does mention a “Subject Alternative Name” certificate. Would that kind of cert do the trick (and replacing any internalcrm.contoso.com with internalcrm.contoso.local)?
Thank you!
I’m kind of confused at that? The point of IFD is for it to be external facing, not an internal thing. For internal connections you can probably fudge it with the Windows HOST record, but you will not be able to get authenticated certificate on a domain name that is .local. That would need to be handled by a self signed cert.
Probably easier to register a domain for like $11 a year or less and use the services of the registration services to setup DNS services that are then going to fit into the model we have described.
This is the best article I’ve seen for IFD deployment and it helped me FINALLY get it working. Appreciate the good work!
No problemo.
Great article, first one I found that actually got me up and running in a few hours after spending weeks trying to figure this out.
Hi,
Thanks for providing such a detailed insight of the installing and configuration process!
I’m trying to configure “Claims-Based Authentication in Dynamics CRM 2011″.
During the system checks, CRM Deployment Manager throws the below error
“The federation metadata URL is not available”
I tried to access the federation metadata URL and was able to access the .xml file without any issue.
Kindly help me with a solution.
Thanks,
Kruba
You can get this is the URL is protected with an unsigned certificate. One way to test this is to go to another computer, and hit the URL, and check that the HTTPS path does not throw a certificate error.
Also, you should be sure that the post is specified in the path, so that the return is running on the correct port.
@InteractiveWebs
Thanks for your reply!
I tried to hit the URL from another computer; though I was able to access the .xml file, the browser threw a certificate error.
Can you kindly let me know, whether there are any free Certificate Issuing Authorities? And will the certificate error get resolved if I can get a certificate from them?
Thanks,
Kruba
Hi. Thanks for this good posting.
In addition I wonder if someone is used to do this behind a firewall with port mapping.
I have the problem, that 443 is already used on the external domain and we will have to come through a different port. This seems to be pretty straight forward, but what else has to be mapped form external point of view?
We map e.g. 40400 to 444 for crm like contoso.com, but then it seems that also the sts1 site will have to be reachable from outside. It provides the login page when I am right.
So I will need a mapping from 40401 to 443. Right?
But how to tell this the IFD configuration? So that it will use the external port 40401?
I hope you all got my point and can give me some hints.
Kind regards
Alex
Hi, Great article! But I am confuse, i have few question here.
1. How if I want to implement ADFS and CRM with seperate server for IFD? I’ve read Microsoft guide did mentioned the following.
“Note: Setting the port number to a port other than 443 is not needed if your AD FS server and your Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server 2011 are separate servers.”
2. Which IP should I point to if my ADFS and CRM are seperate server?
sts.domain.com > CRM or ADFS ???????
auth.domain.com > CRM or ADFS ????
dev.domain.com > CRM or ADFS
3. If i register a public cert. can i just register under *.domain.com ? Or sts, auth, dev each subdomain require dedicated certficate?
Sorry that I’m really noob with ADFS.. appreaciate someone can help me with a guide.. thanks in advanced!!!
1. Actually the ports don’t matter a whole lot, which is why they say “another port” Typically 444 is used, bur really the important thing is not 443.
2. sts = ADFS
auth=ADFS (from memory)
dev.= CRM
3. *.domain.com is ok, and I think we mentioned this in our post, but should be fine.
Don’t feel bad that Microsoft make this hard. It is a reflection on them not you! They like to build little clubs of acronym dropping “tossers” who have experienced pain before you have. They call these people server administrators… (alas I am in the club)
Hi
Great article and thank you.
I’ve one question, Is it possible to have one url htts://crm.domain.com and when user login CRM will redirect user to default organzation?
I don’t want to use org.domain.com as url if it is possible!
If you are suggesting this for a multi-tenant setup (more than one org) then I think the answer is no. If you would like to use a URL redirect for one instance to one org, then that could be done with an IIS redirect or a web page that redirects. Then end URL will be the crm.domain.com though.
Hi
Do you know if it is possible to have Claims auth only for external and IFD?
To Microsoft – you documentation sucks badly! If I never read another White Paper it will be too soon!
I am kind of new at this so I thought I was just having a hard time following along, but the more I learn and the more I read and the more products I learn to install and configure, like SharePoint and CRM, the more I think that there really isnt one single person who really knows how to install or configure any of these products. There are mistakes all through the code and the instructions…maybe they should make it all open source and let the people sort it all out..? That’s what ends up happening in the end anyway. When you read the instructions and nothing works, we all end up doing an internet search for a post like the one above from someone, or usually a combination of some extremely smart people who have cracked the mystery of how to install these products.
The good part is that once they are up and running, we have some of the best tools available. But the more I learn, the more worried I am getting that there is total confusion at the other end of all this code..?
Thanks alot for your post here. Every step worked perfectly!
Thanks for the Kudos. I totally agree with your comments. My BIG BIG suggestion is that for first time Administrators. Do it all on virtual machines, with restore points before each step. Don’t accept failure / hacks to make things work, but do it step by step getting it all correct. Basically the MS stuff will work way more reliably when you do this. I would have done around 10 complete start overs to get things all humming nicely.
Good post for CRM URL Rewriting.
Thanks for the extensive information,We followed all the above mentioned steps and we face the following two issues. Any valuable suggestions appreciated.
1. After IFD configuration , our outlook client still communicates to AD and this is not desired in IFD as web/adfs server is responsible for communication with AD. This looks to be an ugly issue
2.Internal URL is not accessible and only external URL is accessible. Any clues ?
Really hard to guess, but I would always suggest a step by step approach with testing at every stage.
Hi,
Thanks for the guide. I configured IFD right to the end , but when i try to acces the system, the following error i receive from AD FS 2.0 event viewer
The Federation Service encountered an error while processing the WS-Trust request.
Request type: http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/02/trust/RST/Issue
Additional Data
Exception details:
System.ArgumentException: ID4216: The ClaimType ‘Name’ must be of format ‘namespace’/'name’.
Parameter name: claimType
at Microsoft.IdentityModel.Threading.AsyncResult.End(IAsyncResult result)
at Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.WSTrust.WSTrustServiceContract.ProcessCoreAsyncResult.End(IAsyncResult ar)
at Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.WSTrust.WSTrustServiceContract.EndProcessCore(IAsyncResult ar, String requestAction, String responseAction, String trustNamespace)
Any ideas?
Thank You
There is a blog here talking about this: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/eu/winserverDS/thread/291a97a1-65f9-4125-9bd8-5071b29bd5ec
I setup IFD, thanks for the nice instruction. However now the sts keeps asking for username password. Do you know of any way to do a real single signon using Kerberos with IFD?
Apparently the latest version of STS supports single sign on with IFD, however we have not had the need yet to work all this out. Sorry. Google would be your friend here.