Ricardo TorreHead of Technical Pre-Sales

& Product Strategist

30 USEFULBIZTALKSERVERTIPS

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Take advantageof Multi MessageBox

Configuration

EfficientHost

Separation

Chooserobust

adapters

Monitorperformance

SLAs withBAM

Reviewthe

performanceofyour

environmentregularly

BAMlightweight

tracking

PerformanceTesting is key

Clusterhost

instanceswith

adapterlike

FTPorPOP3

Use theBusiness Rule

EnginetoimplementBusinessLogic

Minimizepersistence

points Health

Checkwith

MessageBox

Viewer

Createsecurity

boundaries

Packageallyour

resourcesinto MSI

Buildyourcustompipelines

withcomponentsusingdefaultproperties

Splitbigmessagesinthereceivepipeline

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17 Use

VisualStudioforfunctionalandloadtesting

Use fastdisksforyour

BizTalkDatabasesubsystem

ClustertheMaster

SecretServer Purge

BAMData

Use SSOastheapplicationconfigurationstore

ConfigureandactivatetheDTA

PurgeandArchiveJob

UseWebgarden

forIISscalability

Planyour

BackupandDRstrategy

Maintain youMessageBoxefficiently

Considertoprefer

XSLTinmaps Test 100%ofyourcode

Developadapter

using WCF

AvoidOrchestrationswhenpossible

Imple-menta

EnterpriseService

Bus using theESB Toolkit

UseETWforhighperformancetracking

1 Take advantage of Multi MessageBox Configuration

Take advanTage of MulTi MessageBox ConfiguraTion

TakeadvantageofconfiguringmultiplemessageboxesinBizTalkenvironmenttoovercomeSQLserverbottlenecks.OncetheloadgoesupinyourBizTalkenvironment,you’llstartseeingbottleneckinSQLserver.Normallyitwillre-quiredeepSQLknowledge,suchasconfiguringmultiplefilesperfilegrouptoovercomethischallenge.Theothereasyoptiontosolvethisproblemisbysimplyaddingmultiplemessageboxes.ThistipevenworksnicelyonasingleSQLserverinstance.

DuringperformanceandscalabilitytestsofahighvolumeBizTalksolutionwhenyoutrytodeterminetheMaximumSustainableThroughputyouwillfindthatlogicalbottlenecksintheSQLlayerarethemostcommon.BecauseofthesemultiplearticleshavebeenwrittenonhowtobestconfiguretheBi-zTalkMessageBoxtoavoidthem.Optimizing Database PerformanceoreventheseoldarticleBizTalk Server Database Optimizationarestillmostlyvalidtodayandaddresstheseconcerns.

ThesinglemostsignificantoptimizationstepwhendealingwithscalingtheBizTalkMessageBoxisaddingnewmessageboxesevenwhentheyarecreat-edinthesameSQLInstance,withtheaddedbenefitofbeingthemostsimpletoimplement.Youwillneedtoaddthreemessageboxestoachievethebestperformance.

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2 Efficient Host Separation

Whenconfiguringhostsalwaysconsiderthebestpracticesforhostsepa-ration,startwiththeseparationofartifactsperfunctionality(receive,send,orchestrationandtracking)thenconsiderisolation(perapplication,businessunit,etc),thenforperformancereasonsandfinallyforreliabilityreasons.AgoodHostseparationpolicywillhelpyouscaleyourenvironment,ensuresta-bilityandsecurity.

GenerallyitisrecommendedtostartanyBizTalkenvironmentwithatleast4hosts,forReceiving,Orchestrations,SendingandTracking.Thisfollowsthefirstprincipleofseparationoffunctionalitywhichwillbeeasiertoconfigurescalabilityandeasiertocontrolthebehavioursuchasstoppingallreceivestoenableanenvironmentdrain.Anotherimportanthostseparationtechniqueistohaveadedicatedtrackinghost,sincetrackingisalowprioritysub-serviceifyouhavetrackinginaverybusyhostitmightstartaccumulatingtrackinginformationontheBizTalkMessageBox.

Isolatingartifactswithdifferentsecurityrequirementsisanotherreasonforhostseparation,youcanassigndifferentWindowsGroups,Usersandcertif-icatestoeachhostcreatingsecurityboundarieswhichwillreducetheriskofrunningtheminthesameenvironmentasotherartifactswhichincreasesthereturnoninvestmentyouhavedoneinBizTalk.

Youcanalsoseparatehostsforsecurityandreliabilityreasons,sinceeachhosthasitsownsetofdedicatedresourcessuchasdatabasetablesandwindowsservicesyoucanseparateartifactsorapplicationsthathavehighperformancerequirementsthatwillbenefitfromtheseadditionalresources.Ifyouhave

someunreliableartifactyoucanalsousehostseparationforreducingtheimpactofsuchcomponent(CustomAdapter,Pipeline,etc.)sinceifthatpartic-ularhostinstancecrashesitwon’taffectanythingelse.

Youcanreadmoreonthistopichere.

EffiCiEnt HoSt SEparationPOSTSHARETWEET

3 BaM lightweight tracking

BaM ligHtwEigHt traCking

UseBAMasalightweighttrackingmechanism,bydisablingdefaulttrackingandenablingBAMactivitiesonamessageflowyoucanreducetheperfor-manceimpactoftracking.BizTalkdefaulttrackingtakesanallornothingap-proachandusingBAMyoucandecideexactlywhatneedstobetracked.

WhenBizTalkdefaulttrackingisenabledBizTalkiscollectinginformationonalotofdifferentplaces.Allserviceinstancesarebeingtrackedforstartandfinish,orchestrationspecificallyarebeingalsotrackedformessagesendandreceiveaswellasshapestartandend.Thisamountoftrackingisconsiderableandcanbeincreasedbyactivatingmessagebodytrackingorpromotedprop-ertiestracking.Andwhileyouhavetheoptiontodisablethistypeoftrackingyoudon’thaveaneasywaytocontrolhowextensiveits.

UsingBAMtodotrackinggivesyoutheopportunitytotrackexactlywhatyouneed,youcandefineyourtrackingschema(activity)andwhatyoumaptobetracked(trackingprofile).TheBAMInfrastructurealsogiveyoutheabilitytodefineyourpurgingandpartitioningcriteriaallowingyoutocontrolhowmuchdatayouretainandalsoOLAPcubescanbecreatedtobetteranalysethetrackingdata.ReadmoreonHow to replace Tracking with BAM in BizTalk.

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4 Minimize persistence points

MiniMizE pErSiStEnCE pointS

Minimizetheamountofpersistencepointswhendevelopingyoursolutiontoguaranteescalability,throughputandlowlatency.PersistingdatatothedatabaseisthesinglemostexpensivetaskinBizTalk,toavoidthemyoucangrouptogethersendshapesinOrchestrationsornotusingOrchestrationsalltogetherbyleveragingstaticorcontentbasedrouting.

ApersistencepointhappenswhenevercertainshapesoccuronaBizTalkOr-chestrationsuchastheendofatransactionscope,thestartOrchestrationshape,thesendshapeandtheendoftheOrchestration.Wheneversuchper-sistencepointhappenstheBizTalkenginewillsavethewholestateoftheOr-chestrationtotheBizTalkMessageBoxandsincewritingtodiskistheslowestthingyoucandowithbasiccomputerresourcesitcomesasasignificantcosttothewholeoperation.

Reducingthesepersistencepointswillhaveasignificantimpactintheoverallperformance,youcanavoidthemalltogetherifyoudon’tuseOrchestrationsinscenarioswhereyouonlydoreceive,transformandsend.Youcanalsore-ducetheamountofpersistencepointswithinaOrchestrationifyouforex-amplegroupsendshapesinsideaatomicscopeorusetheCallOrchestrationshapeinsteadoftheStartOrchestrationshape.Readmoreonthistopichere.

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5 Health Check with Message Box Viewer

HEaltH CHECk witH MESSagE Box

RunMessageBoxViewer(MBV)dailytoevaluatethehealthstateofyourBiz-Talkenvironment,thistoolbringstheknowledgeofMicrosoftProductGroup,SupportandFieldEngineersintoasinglereport.YoucanscheduleMBVfromeitherMBVitselforviaBizTalk360toruneverydayandbenotifiedifanynewcriticalornoncriticalerrorssurface.

MicrosoftrecommendsthatyourunMessageBoxViewereverydayaspartofthedailyoperationalchecklist(see:Checklist: Performing Daily Maintenance Checks)forcheckingthehealthofeverythingthatisBizTalkrelatedsuchasthedatabases,configuration,bestpractices,registrysettings,servicepacksandcumulativeupdates,runtimeproblems,adapterproblems,etc.Thelikeli-hoodofwhatyouwanttochecktobedonebyMBVisveryhigh.

ThereportsgeneratedarealsoinabigdegreeadocumentationofyourBi-zTalkenvironmentandcanbeusedtoreviewtheBizTalkconfigurationandidentifymessageflowswithinthesystem.IncaseproblemsareidentifiedthatcanbesolvedbytheBizTalkTerminator,MBVwillgenerateaconfigurationfiletoloadintheBizTalkTerminatorandallowyoutorunthesolutionsneededforyourBizTalksystem.

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6 Choose robust adapters

CHooSE roBuSt adaptErS

PreferAdaptersthatimplementgooderrorhandlingcapabilitiestominimizetheerrorsinsideyourintegrationplatform.Handlingfailuresofintegrationbusinessprocessesiskeyforatrustworthyplatformandwillpushtheac-countabilitybacktotheownersofthedatabeingprocessedaswellasin-creasetransparency.

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7 performance testing is key

pErforManCE tESting iS kEy

Considerperformancetestingadeploymentcriteria,nevergointoproductionbeforeknowingwhatyourmaximumsustainablethroughputis.Assuminglinearscalabilityisnotrealisticandthenatureoftheapplicationsyoudevelopwilldictatehowitscales,duringperformancetestingyouwillhavethechancetooptimizeyourconfiguration,architectureandcode.

ThereisagreatwhitepaperfromMicrosoft“BizTalk Server Performance Op-timization Guide”whichwillhelpyouunderstandvariousaspectsofperfor-mancetuning,howtousetoolslikeLoadGen,etc.

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8 package all your resources into Msi

paCkagE all your rESourCES inTo Msi

IncludeeveryartifactinyourBizTalkApplicationasaMSIresourceforafullyautomatedapplicationinstallation,youcanincludeanythingyouneedinclud-ingscriptfilesthatareexecutedduringinstallanduninstall.Thiswillgiveyouasingleinstallationpackagewithminimalmanualinterventionwhichreducesthelikelywouldofintroducingproblems.

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9 Monitor performance Slas with BaM

Monitor pErforManCE SlaS witH BaM

BAMcanbeeasilyusedtocalculateperformanceSLAsandprovidethisinfor-mationtobusinessowners,youcanthenenableBAMAlertingandusethatformonitoringyourperformanceSLAs.IfyoualsousetheBAMAPIyouwillbeabletoextendthisSLAmonitoringcapabilityoutsidetheboundariesofBizTalk.

BydefininganactivityinBAMthatcollectsatleasttwomilestonesyouwillbeabletocalculatethedurationbetweenthemusingacalculatedfieldinBAM.OncethisisdoneyounowhaveaccesstotheKPIyouneedtomeasureandyoucancreateaqueryinBAMtoidentifyinstanceswherethedurationwasbiggerthanyourdefinedthreshold.YoucanalsouseBAMAlertstoreceiveanotificationeverytimeyourqueryreturnsnewresults.

ReadmoreonthistopicBAM to Implement Service and SLA Monitoring

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10Build your custom pipelines with components using default properties

Build your CuStoM pipElinES witH CoMponEntS uSing dEfault propErtiES

Buildyourcustompipelineswithcomponentsusingtheirdefaultpropertiesandthenuseruntimebindingsforadjustingthemformultiplepurposes.Thiswillreducetheamountofartifactsyouneedinyoursolutionandwillincreasethecodere-usagemakingiteasiertotestanddeploy.

WhendevelopingBizTalkapplicationsitiscommonthatdeveloperswillcreatemultiplepipelinesjustforaddressingvariationsintheconfigurationofpipe-linecomponents.BizTalkallowsyoutochangethispropertiesthroughcon-figurationandthatcanbeimportedandexportedwithbindings.Thisinsomecasescanmeanhundredsofartifactsthatyousavefromcreatinganddeploy-ing;thiswillalsosimplifytestingyourapplications.

Averycommonexampleofthisistheflatfiledisassemblerwhereyouneedtoidentifytheschematowhichtheflatfilebeingreceivedshouldbeparsedto.

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11 Create Security Boundaries

CrEatE SECurity BoundariES

LockdownyourBizTalksystembyusingdifferentsecuritycontextwhenac-cessingsensitiveinformation,youcanachievethisbyrunningyourhostsandhostinstanceswithdifferentWindowsGroupsandUsers.Reducingthesur-faceofattackwiththisapproachwillmakeyourenvironmentlesspronetoattacks.

Securityisaveryimportanttopicwhenintegratingwithhighlycriticalappli-cationsinsideandacrossorganizations.Planningandimplementingsecurityisademandingtask.InBizTalkyouwillhavetoassignpermissionstoreceive,sendandqueryagainstyourmostimportantapplicationsgivingtheBizTalkenvironmentaconsiderableamountofpowerandatthesametimeriskofgettingcompromised.

AnapproachrecommendedistolimitthepermissionsneededbyBizTalktojustexactlywheretheyareneeded,soifmyreceivehostneedtobeabletopoolaparticularSQLTableIshouldcreateaBizTalkuseraccountandcorre-spondingWindowsGrouptoassigntotheHostandHostInstancethatneedsthatprivilegewhileatthesametimeonlyrunningartifactsinthesamehostthatsharethesamelevelofpermissions.ReadmoretheBizTalk Security

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12 review the performance of your environment regularly

rEViEw tHE pErforManCE of your EnVironMEnt rEgularly

CollectperformancecountersonaregularbasisandanalysethemwithPALforthebestperformanceinsightofaBizTalkenvironment.Collectperfor-mancedataduringyourutilizationpeaktimeandcomparetheresultswithabaselinetobeabletoplanfortherightcapacityinyoursystem.

MonitoringtheperformanceofyourBizTalkSystemiskeyforastableandpredictablebehaviour.SincetheamountofcountersavailableinaBizTalkSystemisvastitishardtoknowwhichonestopaymoreattentionorunder-standingthecorrelationsoftheirvalues.ThisiswherePALwillhelpyoubyprovidingalistofcountersrecommendedtocollectandthenparsesallthesecountersandevaluatesthembasedontheknowledgeofexperiencedBizTalkengineersandgeneratesalertswhenthresholdsarebeingviolated.Acompre-hensivereportisgeneratedafterrunningthistool.

NotonlywillyoubenefitfromthecollectiveknowledgeforBizTalkbutalsofromothersoftwareinthestacksuchasWindows,IIS,SQLServerandmore.StartusingitPerformance Analysis of Logs (PAL) Tool.

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13 Cluster host instances with adapter like ftp or pop3

CluStEr HoSt inStanCES witH adaptEr likE ftp or pop3

UseMicrosoftClusteringforadaptersthatrequiredasinglehostinstancerun-ningatatimelikeFTPorPOP3toavoidduplicatemessageswhileprovidinghighavailability.Failuretoimplementthiswillresultineitherhavingtodealwithduplicatemessagesorimplementingmanualprocessesforperformingfailover.

Duetothenatureofsomeprotocolsitisimpossibletoguaranteehighavail-ability,scalabilityandfailover.Inthiscaseswenormallyseecustomersdis-ablingoneofthehostinstancestopreventduplicatemessages.Thisonlyprovidesmanualfailoverandwhatshouldbedoneistoclusterthehostswherethisadaptersrun,WindowsClusteringwillguaranteethatatleastonhostinstanceisrunningandthatnomorethanoneisworking.

ReadmoreonImproving Fault Tolerance in BizTalk Server by Using a Windows Server Cluster

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14 use the Business rule engine to implement Business logic

uSE tHE BuSinESS rulE EnginE to iMplEMEnt BuSinESS logiC

UseBusinessRuleEnginetoimplementbusinesslogicthatismodular,reus-ableandsimple.Itwillallowyoutooperateoninformationcontainedin.NETobjects,databasetablesandXMLDocuments.BREalsoenablesdeveloperstocreateandmaintainapplicationswithminimaleffort.

TheBusinessRuleEnginecanbeagoodwayoftomodularizetheconstantlychangingbusinesslogicthatisoftendevelopedinsideOrchestrations,makingchangesamoresmoothprocesssinceupdatingapolicytothelatestversiondoesn’trequireanydowntimeatall.WithsometrainingevennonBizTalkde-velopersortechsavvynondeveloperscancreateandtestrules.

BusinessRuleEngineisalsoahighperformanceenginetoevaluatebusinessrulesevenwhencomparedwithWF Rules, read more on this topic WF Rules and MS BRE – Comparing Performance

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15 Split big messages in the receive pipeline

Split Big MESSagES in tHE rECEiVE pipElinE

IfyouhaveabigmessageconsiderusingenvelopschemasandthedefaultpipelinestosplitthemessageattheentrancepointinBizTalkforbestperfor-manceandhighresourceutilization.Usingthismethodalsodoesn’trequirethecreationofcustompipelinesorveryexpensivesplittingintheorchestra-tions.

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16 use Visual Studio for functional and load testing

use visual sTudio for funCTional and load TesTing

UseVisualStudiotestcapabilitiesforfunctionaltestingandloadtesting,youcansimulaterealloadofyourenvironmentwhileatthesametimemonitoringperformanceandbehaviorofyourenvironmentduringthetestinrealtime.Whenloadtestingstartbydoingshortdurationtestsfirstandthenlongdu-rationreliabilitytests.

Herearefewgreatlinks

Using Visual Studio To Generate Load Against a Two-Way Request-Response WCF Receive Location

Load Testing BizTalk Server Solutions with Visual Studio

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17 use fast disks for your Biztalk database subsystem

uSE faSt diSkS for your Biztalk dataBaSE SuBSyStEM

SQLServerisvitalforanyBizTalkenvironment,ensuremaximumperformanceforthemostdemandingdatabaseswithafastdisksubsystem,considerusingRAID1+0andSSDsforahighperformanceenvironment.InthemajorityoftheBizTalkenvironmentsthisisthefirstphysicalbottleneckyouwillface.

Whendoingloadtestingyouwillfindthatafteryouconfigureyouenviron-menttoavoidanylogicalbottlenecksyouwillfinallyfindaphysicalone.Nor-mallytheveryfirstphysicalbottleneckyouseeistheIOdisksubsystemper-formanceontheSQLServer,thismakesinvestinginthedisksubsystemthemostimportantscalingyoucandoonanenvironment.BettingonahighlyavailableRAIDsystemwithfastdisksisveryimportant.

ReadmoreonMonitoring and Reducing Database I/O Contention

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18 Cluster the Master Secret Server

CluStEr tHE MaStEr SECrEt SErVEr

ClusterSSOMasterSecretServerusingWindowsClusteringtoguaranteethiscomponentisalsohighlyavailable,youhavetodothistoachievefullHA.ThebestcandidateserversonwhichyoucanclustertheMasterSecretServeristheSQLServerclusterwhereBizTalkisinstalledbecauseyoucanreusethisclusterforthislowweightservice.

IfyouhavenotclusteredtheMasterSecretServerthereisnohighavailabilityintheBizTalkenvironment,inthiscasesthefirstmachineyouhaveinstalledistheMasterSecretServerandifitbecomesunavailablethewholeBizTalken-vironmentwillnotworksinceitdependsontheMasterSecretservertoreadconfigurationfromtheSSOdatabase.

IfyouwanttoinstalltheSSOclusterontheBizTalkmachinesyoucanonlydoitifyoualsoclusterallthehostsinthesameClusterapplicationwhichmeansyouwillhaveanactivepassiveBizTalkruntimeenvironment.ReadmoreonHigh-Availability SSO Installation Options

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19 purge BaM data

purgE BaM data

UsetheoutoftheboxSSISpackagesforpurgingolddatafromBAMensuringonlyrelevantinformationisavailableandthatthePerformanceoftheBAM-PrimaryImportisthebest.YoucancreateSQLJobstorunthispackageswhichareautomaticallygeneratedwhenyoudeployyourBAMActivities.

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20 use SSo as the application configuration store

uSE SSo aS tHE appliCation ConfiguraTion sTore

ForBizTalkApplicationsettingsuseSSOforsecure,scalableandhighlyavail-ablestore.ThisismoresecurethantheusuallyusedBizTalkconfigurationfileandismoremaintainablesinceyouwillhaveasingleplacetoupdateyourBizTalkApplicationsconfigurationandmuchmoreeasilyyoucanautomatethedeploymentofthesesettings.

HereisaYouTubevideoshowcasing“Using SSO for Application Configuration”

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21 plan your Backup and dr strategy

plan your BaCkup and dr StratEgy

ConfigureandactivatetheBizTalkBackupJobtogeneratetheonlysupportedBizTalkbackupfilesandensureyouareabletorestorethembyplanningandtestingadisasterrecoveryplan.ThesuccesscriteriaforaDisasterRecoveryplanhappensonlywhenyoutestyourscenario.

TheonlysupportedwayofbackinguptheBizTalkdatabasesisbyusingtheoutoftheboxBackupBizTalkServerJobcombinedtheBizTalkLogShippingforautomaticrestoration.ItisrecommendedthatyouplantherecoveryofallBizTalkservercomponentsincludingthedatabases,configurationandappli-cations;youshouldalsoconsidertherecoverypointobjective(RPO)andtherecoverytimeobjective(RTO)whenconsideringaboutinvestinginyourdisas-terrecoveryplan.

Readmoreonthistopichere.

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22 use webgarden for iiS scalability

uSE wEBgardEn for iiS SCalaBility

WhenIISbecomesabottleneckyoucanusewebgardenforIISscalability,thiswillcreatemultiplehostingprocessesintheserverandIISwillmanagethebalancingofloadbetweenthem.OptimizingyourweblayerlikethisisverysimpleandhighlyreliablewhencomparedtochangingotherinternalIISen-ginesettings.

Ifyouhavetheneedtoprocessalargeamountoftwowayreceiveportcon-nectionsthroughIISinaBizTalkApplicationitislikelyyouwillexhaustsomethreadingcapabilitiesintheIISengineandhitalogicalbottleneck,ifyouhaveaccesstoanIISexpertyoucanpossiblereconfiguretheenginetoovercomethatlimitation,orinsteadusingtheveryscalableandeasytousewebgardencapability.

Read On Web Gardens, ASP.NET, and IIS 6.0

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23 Configure and activate the dta purge and archive Job

ConfigurE and aCtiVatE tHE dta purgE and arCHiVE JoB

ConfigureandactivatetheDTAPurgeAndArchiveJobtomaintainahealthyBizTalkDTADbdatabase,justkeepthetrackinginformationyouneedandde-letefromthelivetrackingdatabaseasoonaspossibleforthebestexperiencewhensearchingorunderstandingwhathappenedtoyourbusinessprocessesinBizTalk.

AbigBizTalkDTADbwillresultinfrequenttimeoutsandagenerallybadex-periencewhenworkingwithtrackingdatainBizTalk,thebestwaytohandlethisproblemisbyconfiguringandactivatingtheDTAPurgeandArchiveJob.Ifyoudoneedthetrackinginformationandyouneedtohaveasmallerdata-baseyoucanusethearchivingcapabilitiesformakingoldertrackinginforma-tionavailableforquerying.

See How to Configure the DTA Purge and Archive Job

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24 Maintain you Message Box efficiently

Maintain you MESSagE Box EffiCiEntly

Don’tletyourBizTalkMessageBoxdatabasegrowsignificantlybyaccumu-latingsuspendedmessages,putinplaceamonitoringmechanismtoidentifyandresolvesuspendedmessagesassoonaspossible.Whenyoufindadata-baseintegrityproblemthatiscausingyourdatabasestogrowusetheBizTalkTerminatortoresolvethis.

MaintainingthehealthofyourBizTalkdatabasesisvitalforanyBizTalkenvi-ronment,speciallywhenwearetalkingabouttheBizTalkMsgBoxDb,thereareseveralreasonsforthedatabasestogrowlikesuspendedmessagesthatyoushouldavoidandresolvedquicklywhentheyhappen.YoucanalsohavesomeintegrityproblemsidentifiedbyusingtheoutoftheboxMonitorJoborbyrunningatoolliketheMessageBoxViewer,inthiscasesyoucanruntheBiz-TalkTerminatorwhichisatoolprovidedbyMicrosofttoaddresstheseissues.

ReadabouttheBizTalk Terminator

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25 Consider to prefer xSlt in maps

ConSidEr to prEfEr xSlt in MapS

WhendevelopingmapsconsiderusingXSLTasthepreferredlanguagefordescribingyourtransformationsbyeitherusingCustomXSLT,ScriptingFunc-toidsorevenwhendevelopingCustomFunctoids.Thiswillresultinmapsthatarefastertorunandeasiertodebug.

Usingtheoutoftheboxfunctoidsissometimeshardorimpossibletoimple-mentthenecessarytransformationsleavingdevelopersalotofoptionsonhowtoovercomethoselimitations.UsingcustomXSLTasafullmap,ainlineXSLTscriptingfunctoidordevelopingafunctoidthatoutputsXSLTisinthemajorityofthetimesthebestoptionduetotheendresultbeingjustonsin-gleXSLTthatneedstobecompiledandrunjustlikeanyothersimplemapwithoutanyneedforexternalcomponents.

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26 test 100% of your Code

tESt 100% of your CodE

GuaranteefullcodecoveragebyrunningOrchestrationProfileroftrackingdataofyourloadtests.WhentestingyourBizTalkApplicationsitisimport-anttoguaranteeallcodeisexecuted,eventheerrorpaths.TheOrchestrationprofilerwillhelpyouunderstandhowmuchofthecodeyoucoveredwithyourtestandalsogiveimportantinformationonhowfastitwas.

Whentestingsoftwareoneoftheimportantmeasurementstoguaranteeathoroughanalysisiscodecoverage.Sincethismetricisnotpossibletomea-sureinVisualStudioforBizTalkProjectsOrchestrationProfilerhasbeendevel-opedandusesthetrackinginformationgeneratedbyBizTalktoidentifywhichcodepathhavebeenexecutedandalsoincludesadditionalinformationonthesuccessrateandvolumesgoingthrougheachshape.

LearnmoreonOrchestration Profilerandstartusingitonyourprojects.

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27 implement a Enterprise Service Bus using the ESB toolkit

iMplEMEnt a EntErpriSE SErViCE BuS uSing tHE ESB toolkit

UseESBToolkittoimplementadynamicself-adaptingsolution.ItenablestheimplementationoftheESBpatternwithinBizTalkbymaximizingthere-useofserviceswhileatthesametimemaintainingtheflexibilitytoeasilychangesolution.TheESBToolkitextendsthecapabilitiesofsupportingalooselycou-pledanddynamicmessagingarchitecture.

HereisagoodplacetostartworkingwiththeESBToolkitbyreadingthe Introduction to the BizTalk ESB Toolkit.

Ifyouwantain-depthvideoontheESBToolkitcapabilitieswatch this video.

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28 avoid orchestrations when possible

aVoid orCHEStrationS wHEn poSSiBlE

Usestaticrouting,contentbasedroutingoritinerariestoavoidusingOrches-trationsanduseroutingoffailedmessagesforadvanceerrorhandlingsincemessagingdoesn’tprovidearicherrorhandlingcapability.ThisapproachwillgiveyouthehighperformanceofmessagingandthepoweroftheOrchestra-tionswhennecessary.

WhenahighvolumeofmessagesisgoingtobeprocessedinBizTalkeverycostisimportant,activatinganOrchestrationhasasignificantimpactduetotheadditionalMessageBoxhopandtheOrchestrationexecution.InalotofscenariosyoucannotavoidOrchestrations,butinmanycasesyoucanavoidthembymakinguseofthemessagingcapabilitiessuchasroutingortrans-formationsintheports.AnotherinterestingaspectofthisisthatifsomethinggoesbadwithsimplemessagingandyouneedthepoweroftheOrchestra-tionsyoucanstillusethemwhencombinedwithRoutingofFailedMessages.

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29 develop adapter using wCf

dEVElop adaptEr uSing wCf

WhendevelopingnewadapterscreateaCustomWCFChannelorusetheWCFLOBSDKasareferencestartingpoint,thiswillallowyoutocreateascal-ableandeasytohostadapterthatcanbeusedacrossother.NETsolutions.Thislevelofflexibilitywillmaketheadaptermorelikelytobereusedsome-whereelsebesidestheBizTalkworldandsobeingmorevaluablethansimplybuildingitwiththeBizTalkAdapterframework.

IfyouhavetodecidetoimplementaBizTalkAdapteryouwillwanttomakeitsothatitcanbeasrelevantaspossibleandchoosingtheframeworkyouwilluseisanimportanttask.ThesimplefactthatdevelopingadaptersforWCFmakesthemreusableshouldbeacompellingenoughreasontodecide.

YoucanunderstandtheDifferences Between the WCF LOB Adapter SDK and the BizTalk Server Adapter Framework here.

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30 use Etw for high performance tracking

uSE Etw for HigH pErforManCE traCking

UseEventTrackingforWindows(ETW)forahighperformancetrackinganddebuggingofyourBizTalkApplications.SincethismethodusessomehighperformancestructureswithinWindowstohosttrackingtheimpactisnearzeroifyouarenotconsumingtheoutputandhighlyvaluableifyouaretrou-bleshootingaproblem.

YoucanaccesstoanimplementationofthistypeoftracingonBest Practices for Instrumenting High Performance BizTalk Solutions

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aBout tHE autHorRicardolovestechnologyandknowledgeingeneral,ifyouchallengehimyouwillgetachallengeacceptedlookback.HehadthechancetoworkwithalotofthemostimportantBizTalkcustomersthroughouthisyearsatMicrosoftwhichgavehimextendedexperiencearoundtheneedsandpracticesoftheintegrationspace.Explaintohimyourinte-grationscenarioandyouwillhaveaproposedarchitecturewithinmin-utesreadyforathoroughreview!Ifyoudon’tknowhowmuchyouaremissingoutonwhatBizTalk360hastoofferyoushouldaskRicardoforatravelthroughthewondersoftheproduct.

RicardoTorre Head of Technical Pre-Sales & Product Strategist www.BizTalk360.com

©Microsoft, Microsoft BizTalk Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.