Biztalk newbie - installation on workstation, admin task questions and logic apps

Question

Im going through the excellent  pluralsight biztalk course with the goal of at least being able to have intelligent conversations about this area, even though we use a 3rd party company to handle our Biztalk development.  My company uses biztalk server now, but only for integration with a few vendors.  However, we really dont have anyone with experience or know-how to even look into issues when they come up without calling our support even for the small stuff - so its on me! Also, Im now looking it much closer for the rules processing, including logic apps and the azure/cloud aspect.

A few questions:

- Can I install the standard edition on my workstation ?
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/biztalk_server_team_blog/2016/10/31/biztalk-server-2016-files-are-available-on-msdn/

- Can someone list a bare-bones set of things you might want to do with Biztalk from powershell?  I want to be able to do several of the things Ive done already, but without remoting into a server.  Searching for artifacts, restarting various bits etc.

- This might be the subject of another post.  As a developer I find logic apps very interesting and see this area potentially exploding! With Workflow I have built a small rules engine for an app I was working on a while back, however giving someone without visual studio the ability to edit a workflow was limited.  What I had with that project was simple, but it worked.  For another project I will need a bit more complex solution.  In my research I keep coming back to Biztalk 2016 rules engine.  See this example   http://www.johnluangco.com/2015/10/azure-biztalk-rules-getting-started.html
Can I use Rules on premises as well and can the editing of a rule be externalized in some fashion without requiring someone to remote into a server?

Answer 1

Hi,

PowerShell script Resources: 

• Generate a BizTalk database restore script 
• PowerShell to Configure BizTalk Server Host and Host Instances 
• Backup BizTalk Applications and Binding files 
• Change user credentials of a BizTalk Host 
• Change the startup type for BizTalk services to Automatic (Delayed Start) 
• Compare Hotfix 
• Delete old backup files and folders 
• Deploy applications to BizTalk Servers 
• Determine Version and Edition 
• Determining the process ID of BizTalk Host Instances 
• How to set SQL Server Network Protocols in the SQL Server for BTS Databases 
• Monitoring disk spaces in your BizTalk environment with PowerShell 
• Monitoring SQL Agent Jobs in your BizTalk environment with PowerShell 
• Obtain a list of “BizTalk Software Inventory” installed with PowerShell 
• Show the status of the BizTalk host instances 
• Stop and start BizTalk servers - GUI 
• Stop all applications in your BizTalk Environment 
• Setup MSDTC 
• Create BizTalk Groups and Accounts using PowerShell 

Is there specific reason you want to go for standard edition, the quickest way would be go to Azure (Hoping you have MSDN subscription) and use Developer editions of BizTalk VM’s it will have SQL Server and Visual Studio included. Hence saving a lot of time on your set up

---

Regards Pushpendra Singh : Please mark the reply as answer or vote it up, as deemed fit.

Answer 2

Hi Shiftbit,

Powershell as you pointed out is a very powerful tool in the arsenal of the a Biztalk Administrator specifically though developers can also learn it as it is fun!

I in most of the cases as an Admin, rely on powershell scripts as they make life easier. So to answer your first question, Refer BizTalk Server: Administrator Queries and Scripts ..it includes a bunch of PowerShell Scripts and SQL queries which will come in handy.

Things that you can do with Powershell in Biztalk Server

• Create Host, Host Instances, Recdieve Locations, Send ports, Adapter Handlers
• Monitor the size of the Spool table
• Deploy BizTalk Apps
• Restart Host Instances
• Enable/Disable Receive Locations
• Query various subscriptions
• Query Suspended Service Instances, Dehydrated Insatances

The list goes on and on but above are some of the things that you can start playing around with.

Now as to installation of standard version of the BizTalk Server on your workstation, I would suggest you to go with the developer version of the BizTalk Server to begin with as you can expolit almost all the features (for development stuff and polishing the skills as Admin(basics) and for testing your Powershell scripts).

-----

Logic Apps is indeed a booming thing right now and helps you to integrate various scenarios ,now with  Biztalk 2016 going into RTM, hybrid integration is taken to a whole new level with the inclusion of the logic apps adapter. i would suggest to invest some time to get familiar with the idea of logic apps as you might need them in some hybrid integration scenario in future...plus logic apps are fun to learn.

As for the rules engine , the Rule Engine has been around in Biztalk before the BizTalk 2016 server, in case of standaradization of process of rules editing, I personally have observed that using the Rules Composer Wizard is more easy than programmatically editing the rules..you can look at automating the deployment of rules with powershell..but for development of rules, I personally prefer using the Rules Composer Wizard.

Regards

---

Mandar Dharmadhikari