During Health Checks I check the file transfer speed between the BizTalk servers and the SQL server. To do that, I copy a 100 MB file from the BizTalk servers to the SQL server. Even though this is not an exact science, it gives a good indication about the network and disk speed.

I normally do not carry a 100 MB test file with me. Luckily it is easy enough to create one by using FSUTIL:
FSUTIL FILE CREATENEW 100MBTest.file 104857600

If you give the host instance where your file adapter is running under modify rights on a file location that a receive port is using that port will fail to start. You will see the following error in your log:

One of my clients asked for an easier way to stop and start BizTalk applications. I created a PowerShell script with a Windows forms GUI. You can use it to stop or start all host instances and or IIS on a server in a BizTalk group.

When it comes to performance analysis you can get overloaded with performance data. Manually analyzing it takes a lot of time. Analyzing it can be difficult. Most admins know that an average cpu load of over 80% is seen as problematic. But at which value does Memory Pages/sec or Process Private Bytes starts to be problematic?

Yesterday Microsoft released the cumulative update package 4 for BizTalk Server 2010. For more info please check the Microsoft support page:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2667310

The cumulative update package contains al previously released hotfixes. Before installing please read the following warning from Microsoft:

BizTalkAdminsBlogging went live on the 27th of January. The site immediately got a lot of attention. During the first month we had almost 2000 visits originating from 46 different countries. Not only did we draw a lot of readers, but also some active bloggers. Eight active bloggers wrote 36 articles. These bloggers contributed greatly to the success of this site, so thank you guys!

I have just be warned about a bug in BizTalk 2006 R2 and BizTalk 2009 in EDI:

http://www.axonolympus.nl/wd/pages/nl/BTS_EDI_BUG.php

If you are using EDI in BizTalk 2006 R2 or BizTalk 2009 you just have a couple of days to check if you are affected and to implement and test the fix.

Note: You can find a new version here

In my first series of blog posts I blogged about useful (sample) PowerShell scripts, working towards a simple BizTalk application deployment script. This script is now finished. You can download the script and the example xml-files below or here. The script does the following:
• Import the msi
• Import the binding file
• Install the msi
• Create directories
• Create event sources
• Restart host instances

I recently saw a presentation from Saravana Kumar about BizTalk360. He showed the product and some of the new functionalities. This presentation inspired me to do some testing with BizTalk360 and write a blogpost about it.

I regularly advise my clients about the latest service packs and cumulative update packages. Since all my clients are running different versions of BizTalk Server I often have to look this information up. Sandro Pereira experiences the same problem, so he created an overview of all the available service packs and cumulative update packages on his blog:

http://sandroaspbiztalkblog.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/biztalk-server-list-of-service-packs-and-cumulative-updates-available/

Something to keep in your bookmarks!