NAV 2013 - External Connector License

In connection with NAV 2013 license configuration, the setup has been changed so that there now is only a Full User CAL and a Limited User CAL (Client access license).

There is no longer an External Connector nor any of the other user types in the price list!

Does this mean that no external connector is required with NAV 2013 and that only users who access Dynamics NAV directly is required to have a direct license? And users who doesn’t access NAV directly using the clients (like webshop users) will not need a license?

And how about other applications integrated into NAV? Like I have developed an interface between NAV and the mobile field service application WPA Mobile. Previously we were told that they had to use the Light User, not because the users were logged into NAV, the integration was actually not direct, but via exchange of XML files.

Are we now only to buy a license for users who uses NAV directly through the client or?

No real answer has come up to this question, but Microsoft told me to re-read the new Microsoft ERP Perpetual Licensing Guide and especially the section about External Users.

Here it says:

ACCESS BY EXTERNAL USERS FOR MICROSOFT DYNAMICS NAV
External users are customers of organizations licensing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013. External users are defined in the security table by assigning named customer users an External User designation. External users do not consume concurrent users for access. External users must not be used to perform business processes on the customer’s behalf.

So based on this, then the answer to my above question is that no license is required for External Users as long as these external users are Customers. Everybody else who accesses your system need either a Full User or a Limited User. No matter if this access is directly or indirectly.

In regards to the last part of my question, like other users accessing NAV through a 3rd party application, then this is defined as “Multiplexing”:

For the purpose of this Licensing Guide, multiplexing is defined as the use of hardware or software (including manual procedures) to reduce the number of devices or individuals that access or use the Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution by pooling connections. Multiplexing does not reduce the number of user licenses required to access the Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution. Any user that accesses the Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution—even when accessing indirectly—must be properly licensed.
When connecting to Microsoft Dynamics through a pooling resource, users must be licensed with Full User or Limited User licenses in compliance with the software license terms and the pooling resource must limit the number of simultaneous users to match the number concurrent users licenses acquired specifically for the pooling resource.

So the final answer to my question is: Every user who accesses NAV, who is not a customer, needs either a Full User or Limited User license. No matter if they accesses the system directly or indirectly (ie. through a 3rd party application/multiplexer).

And if I read this correctly then even Excel is considered such an application, and unless data is manually re-keyed then it requires a user license. So if you have a “manual” solution where your employees fills out an Excel based Time/Expense Sheet and this spreadsheet then is imported into NAV, then it requires at least a Limited User for everybody using the spreadsheet, not just for those importing it!

Hi Ernst,

If you have an external system that uses webservices to update NAV2013, then this will need one “Full User CAL” , or ?

What will happen if the customer has 20 Full users in the licens, and there are 20 concurrent users using NAV2013 and an external system try to update NAV2013 with a webservice call ?

/Sven

Hi Sven,

that is exactly what microsoft describes as “Multiplexing” or “Pooling”.

If customers access the external system that uses the web service - no additional users are needed.
If the users of the external system are NOT customers - you will have to purchase a license for EACH user accessing the external system. Depending on the number of tables that are WRITTEN by the web service (most likely including the tables that are updated by “validates”) you will be able to run with a limited user - else you need a full user.

Hi Sven,

Thomas is correct. It You need as many additional user licenses (either full or limited depending on how many tables are being updated) as you have users (who are not customers) in your external system!

I don’t think that anything will happen if you do this. At least not technically! I cannot see how NAV can see how many users is behind your external system. But if Microsoft is doing a license review/audit then it will show up and depending on the legislation in your country, then you will either have to pay for the licenses (back to when the system was implemented) or for the licenses plus a fine. Plus I think that your company as a Microsoft partner will risk getting to pay it all, if you didn’t make the customer 100% aware of this issue.

But one more thing that is not very clear in the licensing descriptions. When we talk about “normal” Dynamics NAV 2013 users, then it’s always CONCURRENT USERS. I assume that this is the same when we talk about external systems.

But what if you have an external system which is used by 200 users updating timesheets once per week. The data is stored in their own database.

Once a week a user extracts all the data into Excel and then imports this data into the NAV database.

In this situation Excel is sort of the Multiplexer/Pooling tool. But how many concurrent users should be included in the NAV license for doing this?

I can think of many similar situations, where the rules are equally unclear.

Hi Ernst,

If all 20 user liceneces are “used” by normal users. Will this stopp the webservice call ? this will be the 21 user that tries to acces NAV2013.

If you have one machine in your factory (a press for example), and you have an integration aganst this machine and NAV2013, would it be possible to only give access to 19 normal users aganst NAV2013 and delegate 1 user only to this machine :slight_smile: ?

Also what will happen with your “Mobile field service application WPA Mobile” if you have 200 technicans using the the mobile device? the cost for this will be very high if you instead of 200 light webusers(NAV2009) need 200 Full Users in NAV2013

Hi Lindbäck,

As I wrote then technically it will not stop (as far as I know) when you call it with the 21st user.

As to your other questions, then I really don’t know the correct answer right now and would love to hear if anyone can help.

Even if I have 200 technicians who are using WPA Mobile, then it doesn’t mean they are concurrent. Not even if they are “online” in their mobile application, then they are not online in the normal NAV way of thinking. The application just keeps running on their PDA or subnotebook and they are only updating the main database at the end of the day (or when finish a job).

So the question is really: How to calculate the number of concurrent NAV users in multiplexer setups?

Can anyone tell if BI4Dynamics or Data Warehousing in general is considered to be a Multiplexing in terms of NAV/AX licensing?
Does a user who have access to published BI4Dynamics Excel (OLAP)reports require NAV/AX CAL?