Auditing enables you to determine which activities are occurring on your system and allows you to track access to objects, files and folders; and modifications made to the objects, files and folders. Auditing also enables you to collect information associated with resource access and usage on your system by allowing you to audit system logon, file access, and object access. Security auditing events are written to the Security log of the system and can be accessed from Event Viewer. Because event logs grow over time and typically consume valuable disk space, you have to regularly delete event log entries contained in the Security log.

The types of events which you should audit are listed below:

  • Computer logons and computer logoffs.
  • Access to objects, and files and folders.
  • System events.
  • Performance of user and computer account management activities.Troubleshooting BizTalk Server

An audit entry in Event Viewer contains the following information:

  • Event Type: Error, Warning, or Information, and Success Audit or Failure Audit.
  • Date and time when the event occurred.
  • Software or program which logged the event.
  • User which carried out the activity which caused the event being logged.
  • Computer on which the activity was done.
  • Event ID.
  • Event Description.

You can configure Event Viewer for BizTalk Server by creating a filter to view only:

  • BizTalk Server events.
  • BizTalk Server events or only XLANG Scheduler events.

How to access Event Viewer to view security log information:

  1. Click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, and then click Event Viewer.

How to view information in the security log through Event Viewer:

  1. Open Event Viewer.
  2. In the console tree in the left pane, click Security.
  3. The details pane is populated with all events that exist in the security log, together with summary information such as Date, Time, Category, Event ID, and User; on each entry.
    • A key icon is displayed alongside successful audit events.
    • A lock icon is displayed alongside unsuccessful audit events.
  4. You can double-click on an event entry to view its properties.

How to configure Event Viewer for BizTalk Server:

  1. Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.
  2. Expand Event Viewer.
  3. Right-click Application and select Properties from the shortcut menu.
  4. The Application Properties dialog box dialog box opens.
  5. Click the Filter tab.
  6. In the Event Source drop-down list, select XLANG Scheduler.
  7. Select the Warning checkbox.
  8. Select the Error checkbox.
  9. Click OK.

A few strategies for troubleshooting the general operations of BizTalk Server are listed here:

  • If you are experiencing connection problems with SQL Server, BizTalk Server will not be able to access the databases it uses. When you migrate BizTalk Server databases to a cluster, BizTalk Server must be configured as a TCP/IP client. Check that you have specified the default network library as TCP/IP.
  • If deleting documents from the Suspended queue is slow, you can purge the queue faster by using the PurgeBizTalkSuspendedQueue.vbs script.
  • If you have a problem when attempting to configure a server to use a different Messaging Management database, ensure that you have removed the server from it previous BizTalk server group. A server can be a member of only one server group.
  • If document processing stops:
    • Check whether there are any network issues.
    • Check whether there are issues with the BizTalk server.
    • Check whether the BizTalk Server databases are accessible.
    • Check Event Viewer for information on the issue.
    • Check that the correct messaging port setting is defined for the file transport.
  • If receive functions are not processing documents, check whether there are too many receive functions on the server.
  • If a receive function is not deleting a document, you should consider extending the retry interval. You should in fact double the length of the retry interval.

A few strategies for troubleshooting BizTalk Server document processing problems are listed here:

  • If document validation fails:
    • Check Event Viewer for additional information.
    • Document validation will fail if the number of characters in a field is larger than the defined size limit.
    • Check whether the document conforms to the specification. Where a discrepancy exists, you have to either change the document, or change the specification.
    • You can also use the BizTalk Editor Validate Instance tool to obtain additional information and tips on resolving the validation failure. To use the tool, open the document specification, click Tools and then select the problematic document. The Warnings tab displays all results.
  • A few typical issues that cause document parsing to fail are listed here:
    • The document is using the incorrect schema.
    • The format of a document does not match to the defined schema.
    • The document has some sort of bug.
    • There is a problem with the channel or port alias that was defined.
    • Where the document is using a custom XML format, there may be attributes missing.
    • The Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) document specification and the defined envelope are mismatched.

The best approach for resolving document parsing failures is to check the document or interchange for issues:

  • Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.
  • Expand the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 node and expand the BizTalk server group that contains the documents you want to examine.
  • Expand the Queues node.
  • Select the Suspended Queue.
  • Right-click the document and then select View Error Description from the shortcut menu.
  • The Suspended Queue Entry Error Description window opens, displaying detailed information on the error.
  • If you want to view the interchange, right-click the document and then select View Interchange from the shortcut menu. The Document Content window opens, displaying the information.

Another common issue which can cause document parsing to fail is that the default setting in the port is to append files and you are using a reliable envelope to send multiple files simultaneously to the same location.

To solve the issue, you would have to change the default setting to Overwrite File:

  • Open BizTalk Messaging Manager.
  • Double-click the channel.
  • The Channel Wizard initiates.
  • Move to the Advanced Configuration screen and then click Advanced.
  • On the Override Messaging Port Defaults dialog box, the Primary Transport tab should be active.
  • Click Properties.
  • When the BizTalk SendLocalFile Properties dialog box opens, select the Overwrite File option and click OK.
  • Click OK in the Override Messaging Port Defaults dialog box.
  • Click Finish.