BizTalk Server 2006 Operations

Abstract

In this chapter, we cover BizTalk Server 2006 operations, which include configuration, management, scalability, high availability, backup, restore, and disaster recovery. A welldesigned and developed BizTalk system can only realize its full potential when married with a well-architected and managed BizTalk operations environment. BizTalk Server 2006 provides a number of new features and tools to improve the operations experience for IT staff. This chapter covers the critical management tasks necessary to ensure a BizTalk system is operating at a high level of performance and availability. In this chapter, you will find discussions of the following topics:

• Configuration and management:We discuss the many improvements in the administrative features in BizTalk Server 2006 involving configuration and management. Enhancements to the BizTalk Server Administration Console functionality such as the management of groups, applications, parties, and platform settings will be detailed. In BizTalk, the addition of new and reorganization of existing administration tools and artifacts provides both developers and IT staff with more intuitive means to manage, deploy, monitor, and secure production BizTalk systems.

• Scalability and high availability:We present the various features of BizTalk Server 2006 and options to consider when designing and implementing a BizTalk system to be both performant and robust in support of a productive and profitable business. Options around scaling out to additional servers for performance and redundancy or scaling up the power of existing hardware to improve throughput will be presented. BizTalk Server 2006 now provides features such as support for native 64-bit execution on x64 and Windows clustering that can improve performance and uptime.

• Backup/restore:We show you how to back up and restore BizTalk Server databases as well as other databases that are part of the overall solution. We also cover how to maintain, archive, and purge data from the BizTalk Tracking database. Plan to test backup and restore procedures before entering production and on a recurring basis.

• Disaster recovery:We provide the specific steps and procedures for developing a disaster recovery plan for a BizTalk Server 2006 application, covering both the BizTalk runtime servers and the BizTalk Group hosted in SQL Server. You should plan to test application-specific disaster recovery procedures to ensure the procedures have been successfully tailored to meet application requirements before entering production. Our discussion does not cover procedures for disaster recovery for the following related topics:

• Non-BizTalk applications

• Application source code

• Certificates

• Personnel

There may be additional areas that require documentation in a specific application’s disaster recovery plan not listed here that must be addressed on an application-byapplication basis.