Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 Architecture

Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 offers a three-tier application architecture as an option.

In this architecture, introduced with Dynamics NAV 2009, an installation consists of the following components:

• The RoleTailored client (top), installed on each user’s PC, which enables the user to view and edit data, run reports, and perform other enterprise resource planning (ERP) tasks implemented by the Dynamics NAV business logic
• A middle-tier server application (middle), which runs Dynamics NAV business logic and manages access to the database
• A data tier (bottom), a SQL Server database, which stores Dynamics NAV application and business data.

Microsoft also continues to support a two-tier architecture that uses the product’s previous client application, now called the “classic” client (right). The classic client runs NAV business logic, and it accesses the NAV database directly. With the classic client, the database can be managed by SQL Server or by the application-specific Dynamics NAV Database technology. The RoleTailored client and middle-tier server, in contrast, work exclusively with SQL Server and are not compatible with the Dynamics NAV Database technology.