Dynamics 365 Business Central 2023 Wave 1 and the new CRONUS license: what you need to know.

Dynamics 365 Business central 2023 Wave 1 release (version 22) comes out with the first version of a totally renewed and super-powered CRONUS license.

The new CRONUS license was born with ISVs and DevOps practices in minds and it will be available in the Docker artifacts and in the Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises download package.

What features the new CRONUS license have?

The new CRONUS license have the following capabilities:

• RIMDX permissions on all objects in 1-99.999.999 range which includes all MS and AppSource ranges + the system tables: this will permit you to publish, install and run any app source app with the demo license in an on-premises environment.
• The new license is still be limited to accounting periods from November – February only and all other application’s restrictions like in the past (see here for details).
• The new license will only be shipped in .bclicense format and will not be possible to use with older versions of Business Central or NAV.
• Valid for 10 years from now (no need to update it frequently).
• You can run automated tests in any period of the year (only the UI has limits on periods).
• All ranges in the demo license are now open. The new license does allow partners to create an app with IDs in number ranges they don’t have license to in a container or in a development environment. In this case, you can only publish this app to your production environment if you either create a runtime package or you import the CRONUS license to your production environment.
• The new license will allow you to create a runtime package from a container or an on-premises development environment.

Why this change?

Using this new license, all partners will be able to perform the same DevOps tasks in their on-premises or containerized environments as they can do with Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS sandboxes today (within the limits of other restrictions specific to CRONUS license).

This will enable partners to run automated tests which include 3rd party AppSource apps they depend on, without having to constantly update their own license with new and updated ISV objects. This will also enable ISVs (included Microsoft) open up for easier Open Source contributions from partners.

Please note that these modifications applies only to the CRONUS license, not to the partner’s developer license.

The new license also doesn’t change anything about code protection for ISVs.

With the old CRONUS license:

• If you have a runtime package for an app, you can publish it but not install and execute the app
• If you have a .app file, you can not publish it

With the new CRONUS license:

• If you have a runtime package for an app, you can publish, install and execute the app.
• If you have a .app file, you can publish, install and execute the app.