BizTalk HTTP Receive Adapter does not work after upgrading from BizTalk Server 2004

Here is an interesting thing that may catch your attention, the BizTalk HTTP Receive Adapter will not work after you have upgraded your server(s) from BizTalk Server 2004 to BizTalk Server 2006.

I ran into this issue a couple weeks ago and the fact that the HTTP Receive adapter was not responding after the upgrade seemed odd, considering it was working perfectly fine with the 2004 version of BizTalk.

After a bit of investigation, I found out that the upgrade process does not apply for the HTTP Receive Adapter and the settings in IIS Manager were pointing to old paths and old assembly locations.

Here are the extra steps that you need to make:
- On the server(s) where you have the HTTP Receive Adapter configured use your IIS Manager and:

• On the BizTalk HTTP Receive Handler Web Service Extension change the path to the BTSHTTPReceive.dll to point to the new location. If you have configured your BizTalk Server 2006 with the default settings this path is: C:\Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006\HttpReceive\BTSHTTPReceive.dll
• Change the Local path of the BizTalkHTTPReceive Virtual Directory to its new location. If you have configured your BizTalk Server 2006 with the default settings this path is:
  C:\Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006\HttpReceive

Important: If you have multiple servers in your BizTalk Group(s) and/or Cluster(s) you will need to apply changes to all servers that had the BizTalk HTTP Receive Adapter configured prior to the upgrade process.

BizTalk Server 2006 Comparative Adapter Study

The whitepaper describes the results of a comparative adapter study—a set of tests that compared each adapter that ships with Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2006 against its BizTalk Server 2004 SP1 counterpart under identical conditions.
Also included are performance test results for the POP3 and Windows® SharePoint® Services adapters, which were not available for BizTalk Server 2004 SP1. The resulting data proves interesting from a solution design standpoint because understanding the performance of each adapter is critical when deciding which adapters to select to meet performance requirements. The test techniques used to arrive at the maximum sustainable throughput (MST) are described in detail, and recommendations for using and configuring specific adapters are provided.

Download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=FDAE55DB-184B-4D93-AD79-A113B5268EE2&displaylang=en

UK SDC BizTalk 2006 Documenter RELEASED

If you are looking for an automated tool that will help you in documentening your BizTalk Solution stop looking, the BizTalk 2006 Documenter will do the job.

The BizTalk 2006 Documenter Creates compiled help files for a given BTS 2006 installation. This tool can be run on an ad-hoc basis using the UI or from the command line as a post build/deploy task to create a compiled help file describing a BTS 2006 installation. It will compile: BTS Host configuration, Send/Receive port configuration, Orchestration diagrams, Schema and Map content, Pipeline process flow, Adapter configuration, Rule engine vocabularies and policies, More… and publish them as compiled help files. Optionally you can embed custom HTML content and custom descriptions for all BTS artifacts to produce a more customized look and feel to the CHM output.

The tool is publicly available and can be dowloaded from from http://www.gotdotnet.com/codegallery/codegallery.aspx?id=0690616f-838c-4583-a4c5-cecc5ac04dac

BizTalk Server Restore Script for BizTalk 2006 Standard Edition

This script is needed for replacement of BizTalk Servers running BizTalk Server 2006 Standard Edition after they encounter an irrecoverable failure.

Read the BizTalk Server product documentation on Disaster Recovery for BizTalk servers for more details on usage of the script.

Download here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e298d070-2504-4645-a651-4a2e52b2fcdb&DisplayLang=en

BizTalk Server 2004 fixes for Windows XP SP2 and .NET FW 1.1 SP1

1) BizTalk Server 2004 will stop functioning after the installation of Windows XP SP2 due to changes in the DCOM security model. Windows XP SP2 is available for download now and will be pushed through WindowsUpdate in late August.

Modify the registry with the instructions below to resolve this issue:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;841893

2) The BizTalk Server 2004 Rules Engine component will stop functioning after the installation of the .NET FW 1.1 SP1 due to issues in our implementation which are now resolved. It is expected that all other existing user-level code written in the .NET FW 1.1 will continue to work in the .NET FW 1.1 SP1. The .NET Framework 1.1 SP1 is not yet publically available but will become available shortly.

Download the hotfix for the rules engine component to resolve this issue:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;875540
N.B. This hotfix is supported both on the .NET FW 1.1 and the .NET FW 1.1 SP1 so you can install it today if you like.