Great news! Today we released the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 beta. The CRM Product Team just posted their blog entry that has all the great sales and marketing information.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/crm/archive/2010/09/09/microsoft-dynamics-crm-2011-global-beta-released.aspx
The Dynamics CRM Premier Field Engineering (PFE) team encourages everyone to go out and download the beta, review the documentation, install, test, and begin building on the next great version of CRM.
Important Note: DO NOT install this in production or go live on this beta version.
We recommend that you setup a new test environment and install CRM 2011 first, and then you can import your CRM 4.0 organization which will be automatically upgraded to CRM 2011.
So, in summary:
- 1. Install CRM 2011
- 2. Restore your production CRM 4.0 database to the CRM 2011 SQL instance
- 3. Open Deployment Manager and select Import Organization
- 4. Follow the steps to importupgrade your organization to CRM 2011
This will allow you to see and test CRM 2011 with your real production data instead of just creating test data and trying to see how things may look. You can also do an in place upgrade if you have an existing test environment setup that meets the hardware and software requirements below.
You can download the CRM 2011 Beta and get more information here: http://offers.crmchoice.com/CRM2011Beta-Landing
Here is the direct link to the download also: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0c7dcc45-9d41-4e2e-8126-895517b4274c
If you have any issues or questions, you can contact your Dedicated CRM Premier Field Engineer andor you can review and post them here: http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/crm2011beta/threads
Here is a brief summary of the Software and Hardware requirements from the Implementation Guide. You will notice that we are fully embracing the x64 technology and requiring that for all server components.
CRM Server(s):
- Windows Server 2008 x64 SP2 or higher
- Quad-core x64 architecture 2 GHz CPU or higher (recommended)
- 8 GB RAM or more (recommended)
SQL Server:
- SQL Server 2008 x64 SP1 or later
- Quad-core x64 architecture 2 GHz CPU or higher (recommended)
- 16 GB RAM or more (recommended)
SQL Server Reporting Services:
- SQL Server 2008 x64 SP1 or later
SharePoint Document Management:
- Microsoft SharePoint 2010 (all editions), or
- Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007
Note: SharePoint is not required to install CRM 2011
Note: If you'd prefer to see the SharePoint documents show up in CRM in a streamlined grid view, you must use SharePoint 2010. MOSS 2007 will surface your documents in an IFRAME.
CRM E-Mal Router and CRM Rule Deployment Wizard:
- Windows 7 32 and 64 bit editions
- Windows Server 2008 x64
CRM Outlook Client(s):
- Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit)
- Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit)
- Windows XP Professional SP2 or SP3
- Windows XP Professional x64 bit
- Windows XP Tablet PC Edition SP2 or SP3
- Microsoft Office 2003 w/ SP3 or later version
- Microsoft Office 2007
- Microsoft Office 2010
- Memory - 2 GB (minimum), 4 GB (recommended) or higher
- Processor - Multi-core 1.8 GHz (32 bit) or Multi-core x64 architecture 2 GHz (64 bit) or higher (recommended)
- Hard Disk - 2 GB of available hard disk space (recommended)
Note: There will be a 64 bit version of the CRM Outlook client available in 2011
Note: To install and run the 64 bit version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM for outlook, a 64 bit version of Office 2010 is required.
Note: For CRM Outlook Clients with Offline Access, SQL Server 2008 Express Edition will be installed (if not already there).
CRM Web Client:
- IE7 or later
- IE8 or later
Enjoy the beta!
Thanks!
Shawn Dieken