AX2012 R2 hotfix available to improve compile speed

As you probably know, we've been working on providing a hotfix to cut the overhead in compile time experienced between AX2012 RTM and R2. For some of the systems where the issue was reported, the fix improved performance by as much as 50% - quite visible when comparing to previous compile times achieved with AX 2012. Not all installations will benefit equally from this tuning due to vast differences in performance characteristics as covered in earlier blog post.

At the time of blogging this, the hotfix is so hot off the press and freshly published that the KB information isn't fully available yet, however the testing is completed, the hotfix is final and can be downloaded/requested from the following link:

https://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=2844240

Like all the other hotfixes to the product binaries, it's a full service roll up of hotfixes to all the binaries.

The core of the fix is in the Model Store schema managed by axutil and, if you don't rely on SQL replication for your model store, you can get a very similar effect by deleting the Primary Key index defined for the table ModelSecurityPermission (DISCLAIMER: This requires tinkering directly with the SQL schema, so it's only advised for experimental use. For all production scenarios, please apply the hotfix in completeness.) The hotfix is different and a little bit more involved since it redefines a PK for the table, to ensure that replication is still possible, while maintaining the best possible query plan. The hotfix will be part of the upcoming CU6 release for AX2012 R2.

Note: when you've applied the hotfix, you need to run "axutil schema" against the model stores you want updated.

With this fix, we're addressing the loss in compile speed that surfaced with the R2 release, relative to AX2012 RTM. With that one done, we're continuing the pursuit of other improvements. Stay tuned...