AX2012: Service Configuration Editor

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The use of Windows Communication Foundation in Dynamics AX 2012 brings (among other things) a possibility to configure services by means of XML configuration files. An example of such configuration file can be Ax32Serv.exe.config (by default in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics AX\60\Server\MicrosoftDynamicsAX\bin\) where you can set up parameters of system services hosted on AOS (including the metadata service mentioned last time). WCF configuration allows to define service addresses, security, logging and many other settings.

It’s great that such configurations can be modified in any text editor (or more easily in an XML editor), but a specialized  “click-based” tool allows to perform changes more intuitively and effectively. Such a tool is Service Configuration Editor, installed with Visual Studio 2010 (or more precisely as a part of Windows SDK). Service Configuration Editor displays elements as a tree structure, shows available properties in a well arranged way, offers available values in combo boxes and so on.

This is a part of Ax32Serv.exe.config displayed by Service Configuration Editor:

Service Configuration Editor can be run by several means:

  • from Start menu, typically All Programs > Microsoft Visual Studio Studio 2010 > Microsoft Windows SDK Tools > Service Configuration Editor
  • from Visual Studio
    • Tools > WCF Service Configuration Editor
    • right-click a configuration file in Solution Explorer and choose Edit WCF configuration from the context menu
  • from command line
    • as SvcConfigEditor from Visual Studio Command Prompt
    • with full path from other shells (e.g. & 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bin\SvcConfigEditor' from PowerShell in Windows Server 2008 R2)
  • during configuration of Inbound ports in AX2012 client (System administration > Setup > Services and Application Integration Framework > Inbound ports, button Configure). Only deactivated ports allow configuration changes.

The last case is remarkable because XML files cannot be edited directly; Service Configuration Editor is the only possibility there (nevertheless the configuration is still saved to XML, in this case to the AX database).