Supportability and operations of BizTalk
Being and staying healthy
Steef-Jan Wiggers
Principal Consultant, Motion10
MVP BizTalk Server Microsoft Integration MVP







Working on different integration project in the Netherlands
Writer of numerous articles for Dutch IT Magazine like.NET Magazine,
Software Release Magazine, SDN, and BizTalk Hotrod
Blog “Azure Thoughts, EAI Challenges”, “BizTalkAdminsblogging.com”
BizTalk Forums Moderator
TechNet Wiki Ninja
Author BizTalk Server 2010 Cookbook (April 2012)
Technical Reviewer PACKT Publishing
 BizTalk Server 2010 Patterns
 Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 (MCTS)
Agenda

Introduction

Operational Perspective

Application Perspective
Takeaways

Holistic view on support

Operation and development aspect of support

Collaboration with Administrators is key
How do keep BizTalk Healthy ?
How do keep BizTalk Healthy ?
Operational Perspective
Requirements
Design
Planning
Deploy
Validate
Operate
Requirements











BizTalk Workloads
Non-functional (high availability, scalability, and so on)
Licensing (software)
Hardware
Virtualization
Development, Test, Acceptance, and Production (DTAP) environment
Tracking/Tracing
Exception Management
Hosting
Security
Support (operation, monitoring, troubleshooting)
Design

Analyse and processing of requirements

Design conderations/choices on:





Scalability, availability and other non-functionals
Seperation of databases
Multiple messageboxes
UAT and Production
Security (Accounts/groups AD, Perimeter)
Planning

Hardware

Software

Resourcing

Project plan (lead times, budget, ectera)
Deploy


Installation



According design
Installation documentation Microsoft
Document installation
Configuration



According design
MSDN Library/Documentation
Document configuration
Validate

Determine system boundaries

Validate deployment with design

Use available tooling:





BizTalk Best Practice Analyzer (BPA)
MessageBox Viewer (MBV)
BizTalk Benchmark Wizard (BBW)
Performance Analysis for Logs (PAL)
DTCPing/Tester
BizTalk Best Practice Analyzer

Current version1.2

Collects data from
BizTalk deployment and
compares with Best
practices from Microsoft
BizTalk Product Group
and BizTalk Support
MessageBox Viewer

Built by Jean-Pierre
Auconie (Microsoft)

Current version: 12

Collects data from your
BizTalk deployment and
identifies (possible) issues
BizTalk BenchMark Wizard

Current version 1.1

Built by Michael Hakanson and Ewan Fairweather
Performance Analysis for Logs

Built by Clint Huffman (PFE Microsoft)

Current version: 2.2.1
Operation

Support Model

Supportability Matrix

Skill Matrix

Health Model
Operation - Support model
Identify/Analyze/Resolve/Route
Functional
Issue
Service Desk
1st Tier Support
Business Analyst
Technical
Analyze/Resolve
Issue
BizTalk Administrator
Analyze/Resolve
2nd Tier Support Technician
Deploy, Monitor, Troubleshoot
Analyze/Resolve
3rd Tier Support Technician
Operation - Supportability Matrix
Role
Responsibilities
BizTalk Administrator
Deploy applications, monitor UAT and production, troubleshoot issues
First Tier Support Technician
Identify issue, route issue to apporipiate support group
Second Tier Support Technician Troubleshoot (advanced) issues, technical skillset on BizTalk, .NET
Third Tier Support Technician
Troubleshoot advanced issues, deep technical skillset on BizTalk, .NET
Functional Technician, Business
Analyst
Knowlegde of functional domain and processes, identify functional issues
Operation - Skill Matrix
Role
Skills
BizTalk Administrator
SQL Server, Powershell, VBScript, BizTalk Server (Certified), MCSA Certificied, SCOM
First Tier Support Technician
BizTalk Server (Certified), Domain knowlegde, Overview on processes
Second Tier Support Technician
BizTalk Server (Certified), .NET, Visual Studio
Third Tier Support Technician
SQL Server, Powershell, VBScript, BizTalk Server (Certified), MCSA Certificied, .NET, Visual Studio, Troubleshooting
Tools, XML
Functional Technician, Business
Analyst
Process knowledge, domain knowledge, XML, Business
Operation – Health Model







Meet SLA
Backup/Recovery (Availability)
Monitoring
Knowledge (Skills, Training)
Troubleshooting
BizTalk Jobs
Guidelines
Operation - Monitoring


Microsoft offers System Center Operation Manager (SCOM)

Management packs
Alternatives or add-ons:








BizTalk360
Integration Platform Monitor
Minotaur
Frends Helium
Codit Integration Dashboard
Moesion
BizTalk Processing Monitor
AIMS Innovation
Operation - Troubleshooting

Identify the issue

Resolve the issue

Troubleshooting tools:





WireShark
MessageBoxViewer
Terminate tool
Fiddler
BizTalk Administration Console
Operation - BizTalk Guidelines
“A BizTalk guideline will give you the benefits of having the availability to
improve stability, optimize the work flow for BizTalk and keep a track of
information regarding your environment, and the way these things work at
your company.”






Do you have a local development office, or do you order them off-site?
What demands can you set?
What are your current requirements?
How are you working at your company
Are you currently using PowerShell to implement new integrations, or are you
doing it manually?
What kind of environments do you have?, (Development, QA, Deployment Server,
Production etc.)
Application Perspective
BizTalk Environment
Deploy
Test
Operate
BizTalk Application
Analyze
Develop
Design
Analyze


Requirements for your solution






Workload
Size/Frequency messages
Process
Security
Customizations (Pipelines, Functiods, XSLT)
Monitoring
Impact Analysis for change



Amount of work
Design changes
Extension(s)
Design





Architectural Considerations



Loose coupling
Schema visibility
Service-enablement
Patterns
Exception Management
Logging
Tracking/Tracing
Develop




Development Guidelines:




Naming Convention
Patterns
Best Practices
Project Structure
Exception Management


Custom
Enterprise Library
Logging


Custom
Log4Net/ETW
Tracking/Tracing
Test




Testplan
Scripts

Visual Studio
Test



Unit Testing (WhiteBox)
Integration Tests (Blackbox)
Performance/Stress
Reports
Deploy


Transition to support:





Provide release notes
Test report
Functional documentation
Deployment scripts (MSI, Deployment Framework)
Code Review
Plan deployment


Schedule
Maintenance Window
Operate

Monitor application (SCOM, BizTalk360)

BAM Portal

ESB Portal (Exception Management)

Issue Management Software
Wrap up

Supportability has an operational- and application perspective

BizTalk administrator is an essential stakeholder

Support is about people, process and tooling

Think about BizTalk support and operations from the very beginning
Be health!
Resources










Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 Operations Guide
BizTalk Administrator: Guidelines
BizTalk Administrators Guide
Operational Readiness Checklists
Code Review Checklist
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 Performance Optimization Guide
BizTalk Administrator Blog
BizTalkAdminsBlogging.com
BizTalk Server 2010 Administrator Training Kit
BizTalk Server 2010 Documentation
Contact
: Steef.Jan.Wiggers@motion10.com
: http://soa-thoughts.blogspot.com/
: http://www.linkedin.com/in/steefjan
: http://twitter.com/SteefJan
: http://www.facebook.com/steefjan.wiggers
Q&A