Baseline is the new old

I remember the very first time I saw the reference to a "Baseline database" in AX2012. It wasn ' t perfectly clear what is the purpose of this database was. I remember thinking it might be some kind of Foundation database or perhaps even the database holding the application code . However, the database was optional, so evidently it had to be something else.
Eventually I learned the purpose of the baseline. It was simply the replacement of ' old '. If You're sure what's "old" is, it's just that folder holding the previous version of the application layer files in PR E-AX2012 installations. This special folder makes it possible for developers to compare elements not only against other application layers, but AL So a previous version of the same application layer. This can is very helpful when upgrading Dynamics AX from a previous version.
Compare looks without Baseline (also known as "old"):

If you don't have a Baseline database, you can easily create it from scratch. It is just a database has the necessary database objects to a modelstore. If you had a Baseline database all need to do are to make sure your Server Configuration points the Baseline database option to the correct database.  after the AOS is restarted, it'll include elements in the Element Compare. So what would you to fill this Baseline with the application layers? Well, you can install Axmodels to a Baseline database, but you'll probably want to copy the entire modelstore instead. AX2012 R2 has the neat setup where the ModelStore are in a separate database making copying to ' old ' easy with regular SQL Server Backup and Restore. If you is using AX2012 RTM or prefer to use AXUtil or PowerShell, you can export the ModelStore from your AX2012 Mode Lstore database and then import it using the same tools to the Baseline database. If your Server Configuration is set toA Baseline database, you'll obviously has to shut down the AOS the minute your plan to apply the ModelStore to the Basel INE database.
So, is It-baseline are just the new "old". It is probably not ' new ' to those who has been tampering with AX2012 for a while now, but sometimes old news was also news . :-)

Baseline is the new old