Managing BizTalk Servers and Server Groups

A few BizTalk Server administrative tasks that you need to perform to manage BizTalk Server are summarized below. The BizTalk Server Administration console can be used to perform most of the BizTalk Server administrative tasks listed here.

You have to be a member of the BizTalk Server Administrators group to perform BizTalk Server administrative tasks.

The BizTalk Server administrative tasks are:

  • You can use the BizTalk Server Administration console to add BizTalk server groups and remove BizTalk server groups.

  • The BizTalk Server Administration console can be used to manage the status of BizTalk server groups. A server group can be in either of the following states:

    • Connected; indicates that the server group is functioning as usual.

    • Tracking Connection Failed; indicates that the Tracking database is inaccessible.managing biztalk server

    • Shared Queue Connection Failed; indicates that the Shared Queue database is inaccessible.

    • Tracking and Shared Queue Connection Failed; indicates that both the Tracking database and Shared Queue database is inaccessible.

  • You might need to stop and start servers in a BizTalk server group. You might also need to disable BizTalk Messaging Services on the server.

  • When you disable BizTalk Messaging Services on a server, that server would no longer be part of document processing. In this case, you need to free interchanges on the server and redistribute them so that another server can process them.

  • To track and monitor the health of each server within a BizTalk server group, you have to check the status of these servers. To do this, you can use the BizTalk Server Administration console. A server is in either of these states:

    • Running; indicates that the server is running as usual.

    • Stopped; indicates that the server has been stopped.

    • Error; a server is usually in this state when BizTalk Server is uninstalled from the server but the server was not removed from the BizTalk server group.

    • Access Denied; a server is in this state when a user that has insufficient administrative privileges attempts to access it.

    • Unknown; indicates that the server is unavailable for an unknown reason, such as a network issue.

  • You might also need to add servers to a BizTalk server group and remove servers from the BizTalk server group. When you remove servers from a specific server group, the Messaging Management database is not removed. This basically allows you to recreate the server group and then easily add servers. To do this, you would need to use the BizTalk Server Database Setup Wizard and then select the existing database option.

  • For troubleshooting purposes, you might need to use Event Viewer to examine events that happened on the BizTalk server.

  • Manage and monitor the items residing in the BizTalk Server queues.

  • You can use the BizTalk Server Administration console to configure a generic receive function to process files and documents from a message queue.

  • The SQL Server Enterprise Manager console is used to configure and manage the BizTalk Server databases.

  • To enable another user to manage BizTalk Server, the user needs to be added to the BizTalk Server Administrators group. To do this, you can use:

    • Active Directory Users And Computers management console.

    • Local Users and Groups in the Computer Management console.

The BizTalk Server Administration console is the primary tool used to:

  • Configure a BizTalk server.

  • Manage a BizTalk server. You can manage all BizTalk servers that utilize the same Messaging Management database.

  • Monitor and troubleshoot a BizTalk server.

The BizTalk Server Administration snap-in is installed when you install BizTalk Server. You can also use it to remotely manage BizTalk servers.

If you have BizTalk Server Administrator privileges, you can perform the following administrative tasks:

  • View BizTalk server group properties.

  • Add and remove BizTalk server groups

  • Modify BizTalk server group properties.

  • View receive functions properties.

  • Modify receive functions properties.

  • Manage BizTalk queues.

If you have BizTalk Server Administrator privileges and Windows Server Administrator privileges, you can also perform the following administrative tasks:

  • Add and remove BizTalk servers from BizTalk server groups.

  • View server properties.

  • Modify server properties.

  • Free interchanges on a server.

Managing BizTalk Server Databases

The BizTalk Server databases that you need to manage are listed here:

  • BizTalk Messaging Management database (InterchangeBTM): The Messaging Management database does not store information on document processing – it stores information on messaging objects. While you can use multiple Tracking and Shared Queue databases, it is recommended that you have one Messaging Management database. This would enable you to centrally store information on:

    • Servers

    • Server groups

    • Messaging ports

    • Channels

    • Any other objects in the organization.

  • Tracking database (InterchangeDTA): When BizTalk Server sends a document, or a document is submitted to the BizTalk Server, the information within the Tracking database is updated. The Tracking database collects metadata on documents when document tracking is enabled. Documents stored in the Tracking database are not automatically removed.

  • Shared Queue database (InterchangeSQ): The Shared Queue database also stores information when BizTalk Server sends a document, or a document is submitted to the BizTalk Server, but on a more temporary basis. A document is noted in the Shared Queue database once. Documents that are processed do not remain on the Shared Queue database.

Managing BizTalk Server Queues

BizTalk Server uses a number of queues in its document processing process. Thequeues used by BizTalk Server are:

  • Work queue: Contains documents which are being processed.

  • Scheduled queue: Contains processed documents that can only be sent at a specific time. This makes it possible to process any other documents.

  • Retry queue: Contains documents that has a transmission failure as well as documents that still need receipts.

  • Suspended queue: Contains documents that had a processing failure.

To stop a document from moving through the processing procedure, you can move the document from its current queue to the Suspended queue.

The Suspended queue differs from the other queues, in that there is no certainty that a document will be removed from this queue. You can though remove a document from the Suspended queue by:

  • Resubmitting the document. This is done by moving the document to the Work queue. From here, the document will be processed as normal.

  • Deleting the document.

You can use the BizTalk Server Administration console to view information on a document or interchange, to determine what issue is preventing the document from being processed.

The information displayed on the document or interchange includes the following:

  • Timestamp; informs you when the document was submitted.

  • State; indicates the state which the document was in when the specific error occurred.

  • Error Description; is a summarized description on the problem. If you want to view more detailed information, right-click the document and then select View Error Description from the shortcut menu.

  • Source; indicates the source of the document or interchange.

  • Destination; indicates the destination of the document or interchange.

  • Document/Interchange; indicates the name of the document definition.

  • Interchange ID; indicates the globally unique identifier (GUID) for an interchange.

How to start BizTalk Server Administration console

  1. Click Start, Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000, and then click BizTalk Server Administration.

How to administer BizTalk Server using the BizTalk Server Administration console

  1. Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.

  2. Expand the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 node and expand the BizTalk Server Group node.

  3. Select the BizTalk Server Group that you want to manage.

  4. The state of the BizTalk server group is displayed in the right pane. Verify that the status of the BizTalk server group is Connected. To change the state of the BizTalk server group, right-click it and select the desired state from the shortcut menu.

  5. Select a BizTalk server in the BizTalk server group.

  6. The state of the BizTalk server is displayed in the right pane. Verify that the status of the BizTalk server is Running.

  7. To change the state of the BizTalk server, right-click it and select the desired state from the shortcut menu.

  8. Expand the Queues node. The four BizTalk Server queues are displayed.

  9. Select Receive Functions to view the receive functions that have been configured.

  10. Expand Event Viewer to display the event logs:

    • Application

    • Directory Service

    • DNS Service

    • File Replication Service

    • Security

    • System

    Select either of the above to display the associated events.

How to add a server to a BizTalk server group

  1. Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.

  2. Expand the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 node and expand the BizTalk Server Group node.

  3. Right-click BizTalk Server Group and select New and then Server from the shortcut menu.

  4. The Add A BizTalk Server dialog box opens.

  5. Enter a name for the BizTalk server.

  6. Click OK.

How to configure database connection properties

  1. Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.

  2. Expand the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 node and expand the BizTalk Server Group node.

  3. Right-click the BizTalk server group that you want to configure and select Properties from the shortcut menu.

  4. The BizTalk Server Group Properties dialog box opens.

  5. Click the Connection tab.

  6. For the Tracking and Shared Queue databases for this server group, specify the appropriate password.

  7. Click OK.

How to configure Messaging Management database properties

  1. Click Start, Programs, Microsoft SQL Server, and then click Enterprise Manager to open SQL Server Enterprise Manager.

  2. Expand Microsoft SQL Servers, expand SQL Server Group, expand the server, and expand Databases.

  3. Right-click InterchangeBTM and select Properties from the shortcut menu.

  4. Click the Data Files tab.

  5. Select the Automatically Grow File checkbox, and select By Percent.

  6. Select the Unrestricted File Growth option.

  7. Click the Transaction Log tab.

  8. Select the Automatically Grow File checkbox, and select By Percent.

  9. Select the Unrestricted File Growth option.

  10. Click the Options tab.

  11. Select the Auto Shrink option.

  12. Click OK.

How to configure Tracking database properties

  1. Open SQL Server Enterprise Manager.

  2. Expand Microsoft SQL Servers, expand SQL Server Group, expand the server, and expand Databases.

  3. Right-click InterchangeDTA and select Properties from the shortcut menu.

  4. Click the Data Files tab.

  5. Select the Automatically Grow File checkbox, and select By Percent.

  6. Select the Unrestricted File Growth option.

  7. Click the Transaction Log tab.

  8. Select the Automatically Grow File checkbox, and select By Percent.

  9. Select the Unrestricted File Growth option.

  10. Click the Options tab.

  11. Select the Auto Shrink option.

  12. Click OK.

How to configure Shared Queuedatabase properties

  1. Open SQL Server Enterprise Manager.

  2. Expand Microsoft SQL Servers, expand SQL Server Group, expand the server, and expand Databases.

  3. Right-click InterchangeSQ and select Properties from the shortcut menu.

  4. Click the Data Files tab.

  5. Select the Automatically Grow File checkbox, and select By Percent.

  6. Select the Unrestricted File Growth option.

  7. Click the Transaction Log tab.

  8. Select the Automatically Grow File checkbox, and select By Percent.

  9. Select the Unrestricted File Growth option.

  10. Click the Options tab.

  11. Select the Auto Shrink option.

  12. Click OK.

How to remove the Tracking database or Shared Queue database

  1. Open SQL Server Enterprise Manager.

  2. Expand Microsoft SQL Servers, expand SQL Server Group, expand the server, and expand Databases.

  3. Right-click the database that you want to remove and select Delete from the shortcut menu.

  4. When the Delete Database dialog box opens, click Yes to delete the database.

How to move a document to the Suspended queue

  1. Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.

  2. Expand the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 node and expand the BizTalk server group that contains the document you want to move.

  3. Expand the Queues node.

  4. Expand the specific queue that contains the document you want to move.

  5. Right-click the document and select All Tasks and then select Move To Suspended Queue from the shortcut menu.

How to manage the Suspended queue

  1. Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.

  2. Expand the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 node and expand the BizTalk server group that contains the documents you want to manage.

  3. Expand the Queues node.

  4. Select the Suspended Queue. Information on the Suspended queue is displayed in the right pane of the console.

  5. If you want to view information on a document, right-click the document and then select View Error Description from the shortcut menu.

  6. The Suspended Queue Entry Error Description window opens, displaying detailed information on the error.

  7. Click OK to close the Suspended Queue Entry Error Description window.

  8. If you want to view the interchange, right-click the document and then select View Interchange from the shortcut menu.

  9. The Document Content window opens, displaying the information.

  10. Click OK to Cloe the Document Content window.

How to resubmit a document in the Suspended queue

  1. Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.

  2. Expand the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 node and expand the BizTalk server group that contains the document you want to resubmit.

  3. Expand the Queues node.

  4. Select the Suspended Queue. Information on the Suspended queue is displayed in the right pane of the console.

  5. Right-click the document, select All Tasks, and then select Resubmit from the shortcut menu.

  6. The document is moved to the Work queue.

How to delete a document from the Suspended queue

  1. Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.

  2. Expand the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 node and expand the BizTalk server group that contains the document you want to delete.

  3. Expand the Queues node.

  4. Select the Suspended Queue. Information on the Suspended queue is displayed in the right pane of the console.

  5. Right-click the document you want to delete and select Delete from the shortcut menu.

  6. Click Yes on the User Action Confirmation dialog box.

  7. The document is removed from the Suspended Queue.