BizTalk - Tips and Tricks

BizTalk training labs and videos

2012-02-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

Hi,
If you are like my friends from work place... probably you are really interested in learning how to do BizTalk programming as well as BizTalk Administration.

These are the Virtual labs as well as Videos available for BizTalk 2010 ...
It's been really long since Microsoft published them but for some reason many of my friends are still not able to find them...

So here is the link for your benefit.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17956

Happy BizTalking... and if you have any question... please don't hesitate to ask me...

- Hemant

An Overview of the Microsoft Middleware Strategy

2012-02-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

This is really informative video ... for the long term vision which Microsoft has for Middleware Strategy...

Have an hour free for this....

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2011/MID201

It's worth it... !!

BizTalk - Proactive Monitoring [AIMS Innovation]

2012-01-16T09:17:00.000-08:00

Hi BizTalkers,
Happy Monday...

This is something very interesting I came across on Reuter for BizTalk from AIMS Innovation.

AIMS Innovation : launches Early Adopter Program for AIMS for Biztalk - the game changing monitoring tool

* Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release.

Fri Jan 13, 2012 8:01am EST

Oslo, Norway, January 13, 2012 - AIMS Innovation launches Early Adopter Program for AIMS for Biztalk. AIMS for Biztalk is now available to a limited number of early adopters through a structured Early Adopter Program lasting through the first quarter of 2012.

AIMS for Biztalk will be a game changer in Application Performance Management (APM) for Microsoft Biztalk.

AIMS for Biztalk provides a number of benefits for users wherein all are based on the principle that the application is self-learning and intelligent. The two primary benefits are expected to be pro-active alertingand dynamic topological map.

Pro-active alerting

AIMS for Biztalk monitors all nodes in the Biztalk system in real-time and leverages advanced proprietary algorithms to predict future errors and performance challenges. The pro-active alerting will provide service and operations departments with valuable time to solve problems before serious incidents occur and hence prevent system downtime.

Topological map

AIMS for Biztalk automatically generates a dynamic and interactive topological map of the Biztalk application. The map shows real-time traffic and status to the most granular level with ports, orchestrations and pipelines. This provides AIMS for Biztalk users an overview which most often is missing due to incomplete or unavailable documentation. The map is automatically updated with changes implemented to the Biztalk installation and enables visualization and exact location pinpointing of errors and warnings.

Daily online demonstrations are run for those that are interested and want to learn more.

Contact:

Ivar Sagemo, CEO
Phone: +47 48223424
ivar.sagemo@aimsinnovation.com

About AIMS Innovation :
AIMS Innovation is a technology software company that provides proactive monitoring solutions for organizations with complex system integrations. Our technology originates from the internationally recognized research environment at the University of Oslo. The solutions are based on advanced patent pending technology for real-time pattern recognition. A typical AIMS Innovation customer has already invested heavily in integration middleware and integration projects, and needs a proactive software solution to prevent serious events that may cause system breakdown. http://www.aimsinnovation.com

2011-11-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

BizTalk Server Documentation by Steef-Jan Wiggers

Introduction

When it comes to documentation with BizTalk it can be challenging task. What do and what do I not document and how do I document it. In my view there are three types of documentation when it comes to BizTalk in my opinion. That is:

BizTalk Environment (Design) document
Functional Design of BizTalk Solution
Technical (Design) of BizTalk Solution

BizTalk Environment

When it comes down to documenting the BizTalk environment you need to describe overall infrastructure for developer, test, acceptance and production. In this type of document you can roughly describe the following:

Purpose.
Design Decisions regarding environments.
Considerations/Issues.
Landscape (how does it fit with in IT-Landscape in Enterprise).
MS BizTalk and SQL Server editions.
SQL Server configuration (sizing disk, clustering e.a.).
ICT Policy (Back up, Anti-virus, Patching, e.a.) applied in Enterprise.
Operating Systems.
Security Setting.
Backup and Restore (procedures e.a.);
BizTalk Group Configuration (clustering, availability e.a.).
Host configuration.

To add you in documenting the environment or take into consideration (i.e. reference material) is MSDNMicrosoft BizTalk Server 2010 Operations Guide . There are Visio shapes available you can use for creating a network diagram, see this blog post for resource links.

BizTalk Functional Design

Functional Design you describe how solution will work, which service it will call, what type of message’s it excepts, processes and sends. You can use notation symbols found in EAI Patterns site and create a functional model for your BizTalk solution (see example below).

The Visio stencil that contains 51 integration pattern icons as Visio shapes can be downloaded from same site through this page . Another notation you can use in functional design is UML (see Notation). Besides diagrams, you will also document specifications for messages (data types, restrictions, e.a.), security settings, protocols, message patterns, and so on.

BizTalk Technical Design

Finally Technical (design) documentation of BizTalk solution and its configuration is can be fairly simple as you use BizTalk documenter for it. The documenter tool makes it easier for you to document BizTalk 2010 installations and compiles the following:

BizTalk Server Host Configuration
Send / Recive port configuration
Orchestration diagrams complete with any custom code
Schema and Map content
Pipeline process flow
Adapter configuration
Rule engine vocabularies and policies

The documenter can output the information in a help files or Word. You can keep this documentation easy up to date when changes are made to BizTalk solution. Versioning your solution and its documentation is very important here.

Notation

The Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN) is a graphical notation that defines the steps in a business process. BPMN can be used to model an orchestration in Visio. BPMN is a standard set of diagramming conventions for describing business processes. It is designed to visualize a rich set of process flow semantics within a business process and the communication between independent processes.

Another notation that can be used for BizTalk documentation is UML. Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a standardized general-purpose modeling language in the field of object-oriented software engineering. You can create a sequence diagram (one of UML interaction diagrams) to depict process that is implemented in BizTalk solution.

For BPMN stencils see BPMN support in Visio 2010 .
UML for Visio, see Working with UML Model Diagram Template .

Tooling

To aid you in documenting BizTalk you can use the following tooling:

Title	Link
Introduction	http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/archive/2008/03/30/120849.aspx
Testing Schemas	http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/archive/2008/03/30/120850.aspx
Testing Maps	http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/archive/2008/03/30/120851.aspx
Testing Pipeline Components	http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/archive/2008/03/30/120852.aspx
Testing Pipelines	http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/archive/2008/03/30/120853.aspx
Testing Orchestrations	http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/archive/2008/03/30/120854.aspx
Testing .net Components	http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/archive/2008/03/30/120855.aspx
Testing Schemas with BizTalk 2009	http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/archive/2008/12/12/127825.aspx
Testing Maps with BizTalk 2009	http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/archive/2008/12/12/127826.aspx
Testing Pipelines and Pipeline Components with BizTalk 2009

2011-11-02T13:46:00.000-07:00

Using BizTalk Terminator to resolve issues identified by BizTalk MsgBoxViewer and the BizTalk 2010 Monitor BizTalk Server Job

ShaheerA

10 Feb 2011 2:58 AM

One of the primary purposes behind creating the BizTalk Terminator tool was to allow users the ability to easily resolve many of the common database integrity issues identified by the BizTalk MsgBoxViewer tool. Also, with BizTalk 2010, the BizTalk product group added a new SQL Agent Job to the product called Monitor BizTalk Server that identifies many of these same database integrity issues. The purpose of this post is to illustrate how BizTalk Terminator can be used to resolve database integrity issues identified by MBV or the BTS2010 Monitor BizTalk Server job.

Looking for info on where to download Terminator? Go here

Terminator Not Cleaning Up Caching Items? Go here

Resolving issues identified by the BTS2010 Monitor BizTalk Server Job
One of the new features introduced in BizTalk 2010 is the Monitor BizTalk Server SQL Agent job. This job was added to the product to provide an out-of-the-box way to identify database integrity issues that we previously had to use MBV or manual SQL scripts to identify. If this job identifies a database integrity issue, the job itself will fail with a custom error message that describes the problem that was identified. A database admin or a monitoring tool like SCOM can take a look at SQL Agent to identify when a problem has occurred. See the BizTalk Server Monitoring section at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa577454 (BTS.70).aspx for more information about this job.
Terminator provides the easiest way to resolve most of these issues once they have occurred. Use the steps below to resolve issues identified by the Monitor BizTalk Server Job.

1. Before running Terminator, always make sure you have a BizTalk Backup of your databases, all the BTS hosts have been stopped, BTS SQL Agent jobs have been disabled.

2. Use Table 1 below to determine the Terminator View and Resolution Tasks as well as the Terminator Task Category for the tasks associated with the issue identified by the BizTalk Monitor Job

3. Open Terminator to enter the initial screen.

4. Specify the SQL server and database information for the BizTalk Management Database.

5. Check the checkboxes to acknowledge that you have completed step #1 above and click Connect.

6. Once connected, click the appropriate button depending on the Terminator Task Category

7. Select the appropriate task from the list, click the Parameters tab and populate any parameter that needs to be set and click the Execute button.

Table 1 provides a summary of all the common database integrity issues identified by the Monitor job and the associated task in Terminator that is used to resolve or view the issue. Note that some issues do not have any resolution options and will require troubleshooting by Microsoft Support.

Issue Identified by Monitor BizTalk Server Job	Terminator Resolution Task	Terminator View Task
Messages without any references	Repair Refcounts for All Messages (in Manage task category)	No view task - rely on the Monitor job to identify these
Messages without reference counts	Repair Refcounts for All Messages (in Manage task category)	View Count of Messages Without RefCounts
Messages with reference count less than 0	Repair Refcounts for All Messages (in Manage task category)	No view task - rely on the Monitor job to identify these
Message references without spool rows	No resolution task - contact MS support	No view task - rely on the Monitor job or MBV to identify these
Message references without instances	DELETE Orphaned Messages in All Hosts DELETE Orphaned Messages in Specific Host (both in Delete task category)	View Count of Orphaned Messages by Host
Instance state without instances	No resolution task - contact MS support	No view task - rely on the Monitor job or MBV to identify these
Instance subscriptions without corresponding instances	DELETE Orphaned Instance Subscriptions(in Delete task category)	View Count of Orphaned Instance Subscriptions
Orphaned DTA service instances	Repair Orphaned DTA Service Instances (in Manage task category)	View Count of Orphaned DTA Service Instances
Orphaned DTA service instance exceptions	DELETE Orphaned DTA Service Instance Exceptions (in Delete task category)	View Count of Orphaned DTA Service Instance Exceptions
TDDS is not running on any host instance when global tracking option is enabled	No resolution task within terminator - BizTalk Administrator needs to make sure one of the hosts has Tracking enabled and there is a running host instance for that host	No view task - rely on the Monitor job or MBV to identify these

   Table 1.  BTS Monitor job-identified Issues and Associated Terminator Tasks

Resolving issues identified by BizTalk MsgBoxViewer
First, MBV is always being improved and updated so make sure you are always running the latest version. Below are some relevant MBV links:
- MBV Blog - http://blogs.technet.com/jpierauc/
- MBV FAQ - http://blogs.technet.com/b/jpierauc/archive/2008/07/22/msgboxviewer-mbv-q-a.aspx
- MBV Download location - http://blogs.technet.com/jpierauc/pages/msgboxviewer.asp x
There are 2 ways to use Terminator to resolve issues identified by MBV.  This document will outline both options in detail:
1.       MBV Integration – With a minimum of MBV version 10.13, MBV will output MBVCleanupScripts.xml which Terminator can consume to automatically provide the user with a list of Tasks that can be used to resolve identified issues.  Not all issues identified by MBV and addressable with Terminator are supported by MBV integration.
2.       Manual Task Selection – The user can look at the MBV html output and manually select the appropriate tasks in Terminator

Table 2 provides a summary of all the common database integrity issues identified by MBV and the associated task in Terminator that used to resolve or view the issue. Note that some issues require manual integration and some do not have any integration options and will require troubleshooting by Microsoft Support.

Issue Identified by MBV	Resolution Options	Terminator Resolution Task	Terminator View Task	Root Cause
Orphaned RFRs	MBV Integration or Manual Task Selection	DELETE Orphaned RFRs in all Hosts DELETE Orphaned RFRs in Specific Host (both in Delete task category)	View Count of RFRs By Host	This is due to a known bug and there is a hotfix available. See KB 941690 for details.
Orphaned Cache Instances	MBV Integration or Manual Task Selection	Terminate Caching Instances (in Delete task category)	View Count of Cache Messages in All Host Queues View Count of Cache Instances in All Hosts	This is due to a known bug and there is a hotfix available. See KBs 944426 & 936536 for details.
Orphaned DTA Service Instances	MBV Integration or Manual Task Selection	Repair Orphaned DTA Service Instances (in Manage task category)	View Count of Orphaned DTA Service Instances	This is due to a known bug and there is a hotfix available. See KB 978796 for details. This can also be due to running a cleanup script against trackingdata_x_x or instances table.
Orphaned DTA Service Instance Exceptions	MBV Integration or Manual Task Selection	DELETE Orphaned DTA Service Instance Exceptions (in Delete task category)	View Count of Orphaned DTA Service Instance Exceptions	No known root cause
Message Refs w/out Spool rows	None	No cleanup task – contact MS support.	No view task – contact MS support.	No known root cause
Messages w/out RefCounts	MBV Integration or Manual Task Selection	Repair Refcounts for All Messages (in Manage task category)	View Count of Messages Without RefCounts	This is due to an issue in BTS reference counting logic.
Message Refs w/out Instances	MBV Integration or Manual Task Selection	DELETE Orphaned Messages in All Hosts DELETE Orphaned Messages in Specific Host (both in Delete task category)	View Count of Orphaned Messages by Host	Only known root cause are Orphaned RFRs but we have seen other types of message refs w/o instances and there is no know root cause for those
Subscriptions w/out Instances	Manual Task Selection	DELETE Orphaned Instance Subscriptions (in Delete task category)	View Count of Orphaned Instance Subscriptions	No known root cause
InstanceState w/out Instances	None	No cleanup task – contact MS support.	No view task – contact MS support.	No known root cause
Missing Control Messages	MBV Integration or Manual Task Selection	Repair Control Messages (in Manage task category)	View Missing Control Messages	No known root cause
Large number of Suspended Messages	Manual Task Selection Only	Resume Instances or Terminate Instances and select Host, Class, and Status as appropriate. (Resume in Manage task category and Terminate in Delete task category)	Count Instance (and Save Messages)	Could be due to various causes that lead instances to get suspended. BTS Admin will need to look at the error message associated with the suspended items to investigate root cause.
Large MarkLog Table	MBV Integration or Manual Task Selection	PURGE Marklog Table (in Delete task category)	View Table Row Count (No SQL Statistics)	Due BTS backup job’s backup on mark logic. Mark is created across all DBs involved in backup so restores can be done in a transactionally consistent state.

Table 2. MBV-identified Issues and Associated Terminator Tasks

MBV Integration

This feature allows the user to resolve many of the common database integrity issues MBV identifies without having to analyze the MBV output or determine which task in Terminator is associated with which issue. MBV 10.13 or above is required for this functionality and will produce an MBVCleanupScripts.xml file used by Terminator for MBV integration.

How to use Terminator's MBV mode for MBV Integration:

1. Run MBV and verify that an MBVCleanupScripts.xml file has been created in the output folder.

2. Before running Terminator, always make sure you have a BizTalk Backup of your databases, all the BTS hosts have been stopped, BTS SQL Agent jobs have been disabled.

3. Open Terminator to enter the initial screen (Figure 1).

4. Specify the SQL server and database information for the BizTalk Management Database.

5. Check the checkboxes to acknowledge that you have completed step #2 above and click Connect.

6. Once connected, click the Import MBV button (Figure 2) and browse to the MBVCleanupScripts.xml file created in step #1.

7. Notice that the dropdown list says "Select a MBV task from this drop down" (Figure 3) and clicking the dropdown provides a list of all tasks that have been selected to resolve all the issues that MBV identified (and support MBV integration mode).

8. Execute each task from the list to resolve the issues identified by MBV. Note that the Parameters tab must be clicked to enable the Execute button. Make sure all params are populated correctly before executing a task. The user can re-run MBV or use the Terminator View tasks mentioned in Table 2 to verify that the issues have been resolved.

Figure 1. Initial Terminator Screen

Figure 2. Import MBV

Figure 3. MBV-identified task list

Important considerations for MBV Integration:
·         MBV only creates an MBVCleanupScripts.xml file if it identifies an issue that is addressable with Terminator using MBV Integration.
·         MBVCleanupScripts.xml will not be created if MBV only identifies issues that require manual task selection to resolve and do not support MBV Integration.
·         Once the MBV file has been imported, use the MBV Task Category button and other Task Category buttons to go in and out of MBV mode
·         There are currently 8 Terminator tasks that can be pre-selected by MBV Integration:
1.        DELETE Orphaned RFRs in all Hosts
2.        Terminate Caching Instances
3.        Repair Orphaned DTA Instances
4.        DELETE Orphaned DTA ServiceInstance Exceptions
5.        Repair Refcounts for All Messages
6.        DELETE Orphaned Messages in All Hosts
7.        Repair Control Messages
8.        PURGE Marklog Table

Manual Task Selection

In some cases, the user prefers to analyze the MBV output html and select the Terminator tasks in a manual fashion.

Manual Task Selection Steps:

1. Before running Terminator, always make sure you have a BizTalk Backup of your databases, all the BTS hosts have been stopped, BTS SQL Agent jobs have been disabled.

2. Use the below sections of this document to identify an issue mentioned in the Warnings and Summary Report section of the MBV output html and note down the Terminator View and Resolution Tasks as well as the Terminator Task Category.

3. Open Terminator to enter the initial screen.

4. Specify the SQL server and database information for the BizTalk Management Database.

5. Check the checkboxes to acknowledge that you have completed step #1 above and click Connect.

6. Once connected, click the appropriate button depending on the Terminator Task Category

7. Select the appropriate task from the list, click the Parameters tab and populate any parameter that needs to be set and click the Execute button.

Orphaned RFRs in Critical Warnings section of Warning and Summary Report:

MsgBox Database Integrity		<>
Total Orphaned 'Routing Failures' messages	10991 (Possible Known Issue in BizTalk 2006) !!		KB 941690 Get More Info on 'TERMINATOR' Tool to clean or repair this issue ,

Click Query Report button to see further details:

MsgBox Dbs : MsgBox Integrity Details (SQL Query, 4 Rules)

- Messages count with no associated instances grouped by classID

MsgBox Db	HostName	uidClassID	count
SERVER – BizTalkMsgBoxDb	My32BitHost	eaf8eea9- 366a-4cde-8dd3-57a4c39bf8e5 (Routing Failures Class)	10991
SERVER - BizTalkMsgBoxDb	My32BitHost	59f295b0- 3123-416e-966b-a2c6d65ff8e6 (Messaging Class)	10020
SERVER – BizTalkMsgBoxDb	My32BitHost	bb3a1470- f5c4-47c3-b71f-eaabc260fbd0 (Caching Class)	10033
3 Rows

Terminator View Task:

· View Count of RFRs By Host (in View category)

Terminator Resolution Tasks:

· DELETE Orphaned RFRs in all Hosts (in Delete category)

· DELETE Orphaned RFRs in specific Host (in Delete category)

Orphaned Cache Instances in Critical Warnings section of Warning and Summary Report:

Other MsgBox Checks		<>
Total active 'Cache msg' for MsgBox MSGBOX DB 1 (MASTER) "BizTalkMsgBoxDb" on SERVER	5009 (they do NOT appear in HAT or BTS MMC and large number can impact MsgBox perfs) !!		kb 944426 - Orphaned cache instances may be built in the Instances table You experience performance issues with BizTalk Server 2006 and throttling messages are logged in the performance log file ,

Click Query Report button to see further details:

MsgBox Dbs : Active Cached Msg Ref in Spool (SQL Query, 2 Rules)

- MSGBOX DB 1 (MASTER) "BizTalkMsgBoxDb" on SERVER

Host Q	count
BizTalkServerApplicationQ	0
My32BitHostQ	5009
CreateTestHostQ	0
TestJoBailQ	0
4 Rows

Terminator View Task:

· View Count of Cache Messages in all Hosts Queues (in View category).

· View Count of Cache Instances in all Hosts (in View category). Note that while MBV shows the number of orphaned cache messages, this Terminator task shows the number of cache instances. One cache instances can have thousands of cache messages associated with it.

Terminator Resolution Task:

· Terminate Caching Instances (in Delete category). Note that while MBV shows the number of orphaned cache messages, Terminator terminates cache instances. One cache instances can have thousands of cache messages associated with it.

Orphaned DTA Service Instances in Critical Warnings section of Warning and Summary Report:

DTA Tables		<>
DTA Orphaned Instances (Incompleted Instances in DTA but not in Msgbox)	10989 (Large number can impact DTA Size and so perfs) !!		Get More Info on 'TERMINATOR' Tool to clean or repair this issue

Click Query Report button to see further details:

DTA Db : Orphaned Svc Instances (SQL Query, 2 Rules)

Instances Start Date	Orphan Instances Count
01/15/2009	2
02/24/2009	1566
04/08/2009	9416
10/06/2008	1
10/07/2008	3
11/05/2008	1
6 Rows

Terminator View Task:

· View Count of Orphaned DTA Service Instances (in View category)

Terminator Resolution Task:

· Repair Orphaned DTA Service Instances (in Manage category)

Orphaned DTA Service Instance Exceptions in Non Critical Warnings section of Warning and Summary Report:

Other Checks		<>
"ServiceInstanceExceptions" DTA table	Some entries do not have a instance in dta_ServiceInstances : 10100 !		Get More Info on 'TERMINATOR' Tool to clean or repair this issue

Click Query Report button to see further details:

DTA Db : Orphaned serviceInstanceExceptions (SQL Query, 1 Rule)

Count

10100

1 Rows

Terminator View Task:

· View Count of Orphaned DTA Service Instance Exceptions (in View category)

Terminator Resolution Task:

· DELETE Orphaned DTA Service Instance Exceptions (in Delete category)

Messages w/out RefCounts in Non Critical Warnings section of Warning and Summary Report:

MsgBox Database Integrity		<>
Total Messages without Ref Count	11370 (Large number can impact MsgBox Dbs size and so perfs) !		Get More Info on 'TERMINATOR' Tool to clean or repair this issue

Click Query Report button to see further details:

MSGBOX DB 1 (MASTER) "BizTalkMsgBoxDb" on SERVER

Messages w/out RefCounts

11370

Terminator View Task:

· View Count of Messages Without RefCounts (in View category)

Terminator Resolution Task:

· Repair Refcounts for All Messages (in Manage category)

Message Refs w/out Instances in Non Critical Warnings section of Warning and Summary Report:

MsgBox Database Integrity		<>
Total Orphaned Messages not belonging to MSMQT or Routing Failure Svc Class	20053 (Large number can impact MsgBox Dbs size and so perfs) !		Get More Info on 'TERMINATOR' Tool to clean or repair this issue

Click Query Report button to see further details. There are 20053 messages without instances not including the 10991 orphaned RFRs:

MsgBox Dbs : MsgBox Integrity Details (SQL Query, 4 Rules)

- Messages count with no associated instances grouped by classID

MsgBox Db	HostName	uidClassID	count
SERVER - BizTalkMsgBoxDb	My32BitHost	eaf8eea9- 366a-4cde-8dd3-57a4c39bf8e5 (Routing Failures Class)	10991
SERVER – BizTalkMsgBoxDb	My32BitHost	59f295b0- 3123-416e-966b-a2c6d65ff8e6 (Messaging Class)	10020
SERVER – BizTalkMsgBoxDb	My32BitHost	bb3a1470- f5c4-47c3-b71f-eaabc260fbd0 (Caching Class)	10033

Go to MsgBox Dbs : MsgBox Integrity (SQL Query, 3 Rules) to see more details. This a total count including orphaned RFRs and orphaned MSMQT messages:

MSGBOX DB 1 (MASTER) "BizTalkMsgBoxDb3" on SERVER

Message Refs w/out Instances

31044

Terminator View Task:

· View Count of Orphaned Messages by Host (in View category)

Terminator Resolution Task:

· DELETE Orphaned Messages in All Hosts (in Delete category). Note that this task will also clean up orphaned RFRs and orphaned MSMQT messages.

· DELETE Orphaned Messages in Specific Host (in Delete category). Note that this task will also clean up orphaned RFRs and orphaned MSMQT messages.

Missing Control Messages in Critical Warnings section of Warning and Summary Report:

MsgBox Database Integrity		<>
'Control Messages' Check	Missing Restart Msg in Spool table (can prevent some svc instances to be resumed, terminated or suspended) !!		Get More Info on 'TERMINATOR' Tool to clean or repair this issue
'Control Messages' Check	Missing Suspend Msg in Spool table (can prevent some svc instances to be resumed, terminated or suspended) !!		Get More Info on 'TERMINATOR' Tool to clean or repair this issue
'Control Messages' Check	Missing Terminate Msg in Spool table (can prevent some svc instances to be resumed, terminated or suspended) !!		Get More Info on 'TERMINATOR' Tool to clean or repair this issue
'Control Messages' Check	Missing ResumeInDebugMode Msg in Spool table (can prevent some svc instances to be resumed, terminated or suspended) !!		Get More Info on 'TERMINATOR' Tool to clean or repair this issue

Terminator View Task:

·View Missing Control Messages (in View category)

Terminator Resolution Task:

· Repair Control Messages (in Manage category).

Large Number of Suspended Messages in Non Critical Warnings section of Warning and Summary Report:

MsgBox Queues		<>
Total Suspended Messages for BizTalkMsgBoxDb3	48926 - Large number can impact MsgBox db Perfs !		BizTalk Server : Monitoring and Troubleshooting BizTalk Operation Guide - p388 ,

Click Query Report button to see further details:

MsgBox Dbs : BizTalk Queues (SQL Query, 4 Rules)

- MSGBOX DB 1 (MASTER) "BizTalkMsgBoxDb3" on SERVER

Queue	Count	Resumables
My32BitHostQ	10224
My32BitHostQ_Suspended	48926	48926
InstanceStateMessageReferences_My32BitHost	0
TestJoBailQ	0
TestJoBailQ_Suspended	0	0
InstanceStateMessageReferences_TestJoBail	0
CreateTestHostQ	0
CreateTestHostQ_Suspended	0	0
InstanceStateMessageReferences_CreateTestHost	0
BizTalkServerApplicationQ	0
BizTalkServerApplicationQ_Suspended	0	0
InstanceStateMessageReferences_BizTalkServerApplication	0
12 Rows

Terminator View Task:

· Count Instances (and Save Messages) (in View category)

Terminator Resolution Task:

· Resume Instances (in Manage category). User must verify suspended items need to be resumed before executing.

· Terminate Instances (in Delete category). User must verify suspended items need to be terminated before executing.

Large MarkLog Table in Non Critical Warnings section of Warning and Summary Report:

MsgBox Tables		<>
MarkLog Table Rows in BizTalkMsgBoxDb3	150000 starts to be a large number - Known issue caused by BackupJob !		Contact CSS to get 'TERMINATOR' Tool to clean or repair this

Terminator View Task:

·View Table Row Count (No SQL Statistics) (in View category). Find MarkLog table in the output list.

Terminator Resolution Task:

·PURGE Marklog Table (in View category)

"How Do I?" Videos for BizTalk Server

2011-10-31T11:08:00.000-07:00

"How Do I?" Videos for BizTalk Server

Good tutorials for BizTalk Server Developers

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/biztalk/dd849956

BizTalk environment config loader

2011-10-31T10:41:00.000-07:00

While working with many "BizTalk Servers and Host Instances" found this incredible tool.

Project Description
BizTalk tool to automate the configuration of hosts, hosts instances, adapters and adapter handlers. This helps to configure the BizTalk environment quickly without all the manual steps usually needed. Also great to set up multiple environments with the same settings.

Purpose

When managing multiple BizTalk environments it is often a headache to keep them in sync. This tool was created to automate the set up of a BizTalk environment after the initial install and configuration (the normal configuration wizard provided by Microsoft). This way you can ensure that development and testing environments are the same as the production environment.

BizTalk version support

This tool has been tested against BizTalk 2006, 2006R2, 2009 and even 2010!

Very useful tool... find more details here...
http://biztalkconfigloader.codeplex.com/

BizTalk Server 2010 Documenter

2011-09-24T10:02:00.000-07:00

Just saw the RedEyeMonster's update on CodePlex.
BizTalk Server 2010 documenter is now available on Codeplex for download.

http://biztalk2010autodc.codeplex.com/

Overview (from Codeplex)

Having recently become involved in BizTalk I was happy to find the BizTalk Server 2006 Documenter but unfortunately it did not run correctly in the environment that I was using. I have spent some time modifying, fixing and enhancing the application for use in the environment I use in my work. The project now includes modified files from the BizTalk OM project and the SSO Config project. It has been compiled in Visual Studio 2010 and tested on BizTalk 2010 running on Windows Server 2008 R2. Having now used it to successfully document the environments in my workplace I thought I should offer the installation files and source code to those who may find it useful as I found the original BizTalk Server 2006 Documenter.

Project Description
I have not removed any of the functionality of the original project. In this edition I have concentrated on the GUI and the compiled help functionality. So the description remains the same as it did for the BizTalk Server 2006 Documenter, with the following fixes/enhancements:

GUI modified to resemble more of a wizard, step by step style.
Fixed, click through functionality on Orchestration diagram
Transformations added to Orchestration Code Elements page including input and output message(s).
New click through functionality on above transformations
Fixed, object descriptions pulled through into documentation (Code Elements page)
Added, SSO integration. Will now document SSO applications
Fixed, Documents exported BizTalk configuration file (xml)
Enhanced, can now include additional HTML documentation by selecting folder it is held in. These documents appear under 'Additional Notes'. Any file called titlePage.htm will replace the default title page.

Known Issues

Will not run successfully if a .chm file is open of the same name and path of the one you are trying to create.
Needs to be run on the actual server you are documenting.
Word documentation is incomplete (I have not done any work on this side of things yet).
Rules Engine documentation not tried or tested.
See BizTalk Server 2006 Documenter for other issues.

DebugView for Windows v4.76

2011-07-29T08:57:00.000-07:00

I was reading few interesting post on MSDN and noticed very interesting post reply by
He mentioned using DebugView for tracing... thought I will retweet / reblog it.

Debug BizTalk Orchestration using DebugView (tracing). The latter is detailed in these posts (part 1, part 2)

So, Please go ahead and get more details on it, share it. It's really helpful.

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio - Error while create or edit job steps

2011-07-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

Error :-
TITLE: Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
------------------------------

Creating an instance of the COM component with CLSID {AA40D1D6-CAEF-4A56-B9BB-D0D3DC976BA2} from the IClassFactory failed due to the following error: c001f011. (Microsoft.SqlServer.ManagedDTS)

------------------------------
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Creating an instance of the COM component with CLSID {AA40D1D6-CAEF-4A56-B9BB-D0D3DC976BA2} from the IClassFactory failed due to the following error: c001f011. (Microsoft.SqlServer.ManagedDTS)

------------------------------
BUTTONS:

OK
------------------------------

http://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/557402/ssms-can-no-longer-create-or-edit-job-steps

Posted by Ewan on 5/10/2010 at 3:59 AM

I registered the DTS.dll (using regsvr32) in \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Binn and restarted SSMS and the problem has gone away

Posted by Ewan on 5/26/2010 at 1:20 AM

As Aaron points out, this workaround is invalid - it's the SSMS restart which fixes the bug temporarily. No way to delete the workaround entry, so thought I'd post a correction.

Posted by lex3001 on 11/22/2010 at 11:28 AM

I didn't see this at first but this is fixed in Cumulative Update 3. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2315727

Posted by subha.mcts2005 on 1/3/2011 at 5:59 AM

Hi ,

iam getting same the problem in my SQL server 2008 R2 EE.

plz help me

Posted by Kastanjehoeve on 3/10/2011 at 3:03 AM

Solved the issue by setup/repair (shared features only). No need to reboot.

CodePlex - BizTalk Backup Tool

2011-06-27T16:04:00.000-07:00

First of all,
I have not yet tested this tool and I can't officially recommend this tool as of yet...
Note:- I will be very soon testing this tool and will be recommending it to you and your company. Till then if you have any experience with it... let me know.

http://biztalkbackup.codeplex.com/

Download

Project Description

This tool backs up the configuration of the BizTalk 'application' servers (not databases). It copies/export settings so the BizTalk app (front-end) servers can be rebuild quickly. This includes config files, application MSIs, binding files, pipeline components etc.

Goal of this tool

This tool was created to ease the process of backing up and restoring a BizTalk group or even to just add a new node to a group.

Latest version

Version 1.0.2 now supports BizTalk 2010

How does it work?

The tool is simply a command line utility that takes several parameters depending on what you want to back up. It utilize both WMI and the BizTalk
ExplorerOM library to do its work. The following things are 'backed up':

BTSNTSvc.exe.config files (both 32 and 64-bit if present)
Messaging and Pipeline Component directories
Generates a BtsAdminConfiguration.xml file with which hosts, instances, adapters and handlers can be recreated (see http://biztalkconfigloader.codeplex.com
Export all current applications to MSIs so they can be restored as needed
Export all current application binding files
Tracking directory (only custom files like xls, xml, btt etc.

Command line parameters

The following is an explanation of the parameters.

Usage: BTSBackup.exe [-config:path] [-comp:path] [-envconfig:path] [-apps:path] [-bind:path] [-track:path] [-log] [-btsdir:installdir]
  Where
    config    - Back up BTSNTSvc.exe.config files to path
    comp      - Back up components (pipeline and messaging)
    envconfig - Generate BtsAdminConfiguration.xml file to path
    apps      - Export all application MSI's to path
    bind      - Export all application binding files to path
    track     - Back up custom tracking(BAM) related files to path
    log       -  Write outout to log file (BTSBackup.log)
    btsdir    - Installation directory of BizTalk
  Path details
    path      - May contain macros like {yyyy-MM-dd}
    Allowed macros
      yyyy-MM-dd
      dd-MM-yyyy
      MM-dd-yyyy
      yyyyMMdd
      ddMMyyyy
      MMddyyyy
 Sample usage: BTSBackup.exe "-config:c:\backups\{yyyy-MM-dd}\config"

.Net framework

The tool is compiled to use only .Net 2.0 framework so it can still work on old BizTalk 2006 servers. It also works fine against BizTalk 2006R2, 2009 and 2010 servers.

Notes

As with all other tools that use the BizTalk ExplorerOM library this tool must be compiled to x86 code. It will run on a 64-bit OS but in 32-bit mode.
Also, it needs to run under an account that has the proper privileges.

Unable to get binding type for binding extension sqlBinding

2011-06-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

Unable to get binding type for binding extension sqlBinding

While promoting code from one 64 bit environment to another, I can across the following error while changing the configuration

Unable to get binding type for binding extension "sqlBinding".

Verify the binding extension is registered in machine.config."

Since I have come across this a couple of times, I might as well put a reminder out for myself:

The SQL adapter is a WCF custom binding, which is registered under System.ServiceModel in the machine.config file. A 64-bit platform has two machine.config files, one used by the 32-bit applications and the other used by the 64-bit applications. So, when you install the 64-bit version of the BizTalk Adapter Pack, the setup wizard registers the bindings in the 64-bit version of the machine.config file. However, BizTalk Server Administration console runs as a 32-bit process and hence when you configure a port for the adapter, it checks for the bindings in the 32-bit version of the machine.config file and fails giving an error.

Resolution

Install both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the BizTalk Adapter Pack on a 64-bit WCF LOB Adapter SDK installation.

More details:-
1. Install WCF LOB Adapter SDK 2010.. [AdapterFramework64.msi] (It prompts for 3.0.5005.0 & above) .... go for SDK 2010 if you are using BTS 2010.
2. Then goto BizTalk installation files... and install both 64 bit as well as 32 bit AdapterPacks...

Thanks Eric

Visio shapes for BizTalk Server

2011-05-31T16:23:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Harold Hoffman

I was tasked to create a visio diagram of all our BizTalk servers and related servers (SQL Server etc..) in their respective environments. (DEV, QA, Staging and Production)

Figure 1 is an image of the visio diagram for the production environment.

Production

Figure 1.

Figure 2 shows a BizTalk Server with IIS shape.

Figure 2.

Visio can retrieve the server data from a sharepoint list and link the data to the server shapes by a simple drag and drop process. You can manually refresh the data from the sharepoint site or schedule an automatic update.

I created 2 visio shapes, one for BizTalk Server and one for BizTalk Server with IIS, to more quickly convey the server landscape for each environment.

You can download these 2 shapes from here. The download file is a .vss file but for some reason it appears as a .vsd file in the download dialog box. Just change it to .vss before saving it to your hard disk.

BizTalk Talk (Speech) Adapter - Screencast and download

2011-05-30T23:37:00.000-07:00

BizTalk Talk (Speech) Adapter - Screencast and download

Thanks to ... Mikael... wow... worth trying...

So BizTalk can walk the walk, -but can it TALK the TALK?

I sincerely hope this adapter will come to the rescue, upon deploying your mission critical solution.

Yes I know, I got to much spare time...but here is the download.

BizTalk 360 - Awesome Product

2011-05-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

http://biztalk360.com/Default.aspx
I am going to post more details and reviews on this soon... for now... have a look at this awesome Silverlight Admin Console for our dear BizTalk :)

BizTalk Backup and Recovery - Microsoft Recommendations

2011-05-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

Checklist: Monitoring BizTalk Server with Operations Manager 2007
Checklist: Monitoring SQL Servers
Checklist: Increasing Availability with Disaster Recovery

Backing Up and Restoring BizTalk Server Databases

How to Configure the Backup BizTalk Server Job
How to Configure the Destination System for Log Shipping
How to Restore Your Databases
Backing Up and Restoring BAM [For future reference only]

BizTalk - Tips and Tricks

BizTalk training labs and videos

An Overview of the Microsoft Middleware Strategy

BizTalk - Proactive Monitoring [AIMS Innovation]

BizTalk Server Documentation by Steef-Jan Wiggers

Table of Contents

Introduction

BizTalk Environment

BizTalk Functional Design

BizTalk Technical Design

Notation

Tooling

See Also

BizTalk Testing Guidance - Revisited

Using BizTalk Terminator to resolve issues identified by BizTalk MsgBoxViewer and the BizTalk 2010 Monitor BizTalk Server Job

"How Do I?" Videos for BizTalk Server

"How Do I?" Videos for BizTalk Server

BizTalk environment config loader

Purpose

BizTalk version support

BizTalk Server 2010 Documenter

DebugView for Windows v4.76

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio - Error while create or edit job steps

CodePlex - BizTalk Backup Tool

Goal of this tool

Latest version

How does it work?

Command line parameters

.Net framework

Notes

Unable to get binding type for binding extension sqlBinding

Unable to get binding type for binding extension sqlBinding

Visio shapes for BizTalk Server

Thanks to Harold Hoffman

BizTalk Talk (Speech) Adapter - Screencast and download

BizTalk Talk (Speech) Adapter - Screencast and download

BizTalk 360 - Awesome Product

BizTalk Backup and Recovery - Microsoft Recommendations