How to Set up Popdock for Business Central On-Premise: Installation & Network Requirements

Popdock for Business Central On-Premises

Installation & Network Requirements

Important context: The on-premises Business Central (BC) setup requires manual configuration, unlike the self-service SaaS version. There are a few more steps to ensure the on-premises app is ready for a cloud tool like Popdock to access the data.

Treat the steps below as the technical prerequisites the customer’s IT team needs to have in place.

Part 1 – Installing the Popdock Extension on the Business Central Server

The Popdock extension for Business Central on-premises is not delivered through AppSource. It is an .app file that the customer downloads from eOne and publishes via PowerShell on the BC server.

Download: Popdock Extension for Dynamics 365 Business Central On-Premises (eOne Downloads page – https://www.eonesolutions.com/downloads/popdock/)

Steps (run on the Business Central application server)

1. Get the server instance name.

Open a new PowerShell terminal and run:

Get-NAVServerInstance

2. Publish the Popdock app.

Replace $serverInstance with the actual instance name. Update the .app filename to match the version downloaded.

Publish-NAVApp -ServerInstance $serverInstance `
  -Path ".\eOne Solutions_Popdock for Dynamics 365 Business Central_1.0.0.20.app" `
  -SkipVerification

3. Review the current server configuration.

Get-NAVServerConfiguration $serverInstance

4. Enable and configure OData and Developer services.

The $ODATA_PORT and $DEVELOPER_PORT values must match what gets entered later in the Popdock connector setup.

Replace both placeholders with the actual port numbers (defaults are 7048 for OData and 7049 for Developer Services).

Set-NAVServerConfiguration $serverInstance -KeyName ODataServicesEnabled -KeyValue true
Set-NAVServerConfiguration $serverInstance -KeyName ODataServicesPort -KeyValue $ODATA_PORT
Set-NAVServerConfiguration $serverInstance -KeyName ODataServicesSSLEnabled -KeyValue true
Set-NAVServerConfiguration $serverInstance -KeyName DeveloperServicesEnabled -KeyValue true
Set-NAVServerConfiguration $serverInstance -KeyName DeveloperServicesPort -KeyValue $DEVELOPER_PORT
Set-NAVServerConfiguration $serverInstance -KeyName DeveloperServicesSSLEnabled -KeyValue true

5. Restart, install, and sync

After changing the configuration, the BC Server service must be restarted for the new settings to take effect. Then, for each tenant:

• Install the app with Install-NAVApp
• Sync the app with Sync-NAVApp

Authentication choice in Popdock

When you add the Business Central connector in Popdock, you’ll pick one of these for an on-premises instance:

• On-premise: username/password authentication against the BC server
• On-premise web access token: if your BC server is configured to use a web service access key instead of a password
• Docker Basic: only if BC is hosted in a Docker container

Part 2 – Network Requirements

Inbound to the Business Central server (from Popdock cloud to customer network)

The customer’s firewall needs to allow inbound HTTPS from Popdock’s outbound IP to the BC server on the two ports configured above:

Popdock outbound IPs to allow through the firewall

Allow the appropriate region based on where the customer’s Popdock tenant is hosted:

DNS

A public DNS A record is needed for the BC server hostname, matching the SSL certificate’s CN or SAN. Popdock connects by hostname, not IP.

Permissions (inside Business Central)

The service account Popdock authenticates with needs:

• A licensed BC user (Essentials or Premium)
• Web Service Access enabled on the user, and a Web Service Access Key generated if using the token method.
• A permission set that covers the tables and pages you want to expose. The account does not need SUPER. If SUPER is used during initial setup, access can be tightened afterward with a custom permission set. eOne has documentation on building a Popdock-specific permission set in BC if you want least-privilege.

Windows Server / BC Server side

• Windows Firewall rules opened for the OData and Developer Services ports.
• BC Server service restarted after the PowerShell configuration changes.
• For each tenant: Install-NAVApp and Sync-NAVApp after Publish-NAVApp.

Verifying the connection

Once the extension is published and the firewall, DNS, and permissions are in place, confirm the setup by adding the Business Central connector in Popdock and running a test query. If the connection fails, recheck that the SSL certificate is publicly trusted, the ports match the PowerShell configuration, and the hostname resolves publicly.

Part 3 – Adding Business Central Connector in Popdock

1. Click the squares to the left of the Popdock logo at the top left to access the main menu.
2. Click on Connectors.
3. Click the + Add connector blue button at the top right.
4. Find and click on the Dynamics 365 Business Central connector.
5. Change the Connection type to On premise.
6. Continue completing the fields to make the connection.

7. Then click the Validate on the left navigation to give it a quick test. If it returns successful continue with clicking the Connect.

Please reach out to support@eonesolutions.com with any questions on how to set up Popdock for Business Central on-premise.