Using NAS/CG 3.70 executables w/ 2.65c database?

We were using the 2.65c version of NAS, CG and Navision Server with BizTalk 2002 for EDI. It all worked fairly well together. Under the advice of our NSC I recently moved the 2.65 database to SQL Server so we could better access the underlying data, but we moved to using all 3.70 executables. The new 3.7 finslq.exe client seems to work ok with the 2.65 database structure in SQL, but NAS and CG no longer work at all. The message is “The database on the server cannot be opened by this version of Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision. The database has already been converted by a newer program version.” Our NSC then sent us an updated NAS and we reinstalled the whole thing. The message now is “The database on the server must be converted before you can use it with this version of Microsoft Business Solutions-Navision.” Has anyone tried to do this before and has anyone gotten NAS 3.7 to work with a 2.65 SQL database?

Syncwave, did you check if both executables (finsql.exe and nassql.exe) have the same version no. (3.70, 3.70A, 3.70B or in US sometimes 3.70.01, 3.70.02) ? When using sql these versions cann’t be mixed. Best regards, Karl

Karl, Thanks for your response. finslq.exe is 3.70.0.14555 nassql.exe is 3.70.0.13164 So that is likely to be the problem. Unfortunately the other two versions of nas that I have don’t match either. One is the feature pack update (3.70.0.14988) and the other is the service pack update (3.70.1.16172) Is there a version that matches my finsql.exe client? At least with MSDN if you need something you can just download it but with Navision unless you’re the uber reseller you can’t get what you need. The NSC is telling me that we can’t move to 3.70A yet because it requires an upgrade to the database structure and we have a ton of customizations that need to be migrated before that can happen so if there is a nas that will work with our version that’s all I need. Again, thanks very much for your help.

Syncwave, I really cann’t follow your NSC that a technical update of the client from 3.70 to 3.70A should not be possible. /Karl

To the best of my knowledge, there should be no object migration issues with using any newer version of the Navision executables with any version of the object in a “converted” database. In other words, you should not have to upgrade your objects to use a new set of executables.

See the following topic for the mapping of build numbers to release versions: http://www.mbsonline.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8787 From this, it appears that you have the RTM version of nassql.exe, but the Hotfix 10 version of finsql.exe. It is difficult (but not impossible) to get the HF10 version of nassql.exe, since this version was not a part of any ‘official’ US 3.70 update. The ‘Feature Pack 1’ update that you already have includes Hotfix 12 – highly recommended if you cannot go all the way to 3.70A/B. Is it not possible to update your finsql.exe clients to this version? Finally, your NSC may know something about the jump to 3.70A – especially when it comes to the CG code. In ‘Feature Pack 2’ (and also in 3.70A) many CG components, including the dlls were rebuilt. If you do a 3.70A NAS install, these new dlls may overwrite the stuff that your current db objects expect, and trouble may ensue…

I basically ran out of time messing with this and am in the middle of reverting back to 2.65 because I know I can get that to work with NAS and CG to get two weeks worth of overdue EDI docs out. The final word from the NSC was that they thought there were enough changes in the 3.7 executables in addition to the way the licensing was changed that prevented it from working correctly with 2.65 objects. As I mentioned, we have numerous customizations in many of our objects and they want to look at doing a full re-analysis of those to identify changes to be made for migrating to 3.70 and/or 4.0. However, I’ve been doing development for years but I’m new to this company so I need to learn this foreign language Navision goop. I’m going to try and get 3.70 to work myself by actually upgrading the objects, to 3.7 specs with a lab/test environment using a full copy of our 32Gb production database. I thought I heard at one point that there were some upgrade tools out there. If so where can I get em? Thanks to all for your help.

The Upgrade Toolkit is available to your NSC at no charge for downloading from the PartnerSource site. This toolkit helps in the Upgrade process but it does not by any means address all the issues. Especially in the case of a modified installation, the Upgrade toolkit must be both modified and augmented. The toolkit works reasonably well in an unmodified installation, but most Navision installations are modified. Is there a reason you would not consider going to V4.0 since it is out and shipping? If your reason is that it has not been out long enough to be proven, I suggest that by the time your upgrade is ready for production use, V4.0 will be proven. Finally, I would be remiss not to mention that if you do not have experience in upgrading a highly modified Navision installation, you have a significant challenge ahead. Our firm specializes in Upgrade projects and we are kept busy by NSCs who have done several upgrades and decided they are better done by specialists. We are available if you decide to outsource the task. Either way, good luck with your project.