Getting started with BizTalk Processing Monitor

After you have installed and started BizTalk Processing Monitor (or BPM), you will want to make a Diagram to monitor your BizTalk Group. This will be explained in the following 5 steps. To keep things simple I use my own BizTalk system and pictures. So while using your own system, not all pictures shown below, will look the same at your site. After startup BPM shows this screen:

Step 1: Create a new Diagram
Click the ‘New Diagram’ button in the toolbar. The ‘Add New Diagram’ dialog shows up. Enter a name for your Diagram, for example the name of your system, and hit the ‘OK’ button. For now, we’ll ignore the other options on that dialog.

Step 2: Connect to BizTalk
After you have hit the ‘OK’ button on the ‘Add New Diagram’ dialog, the ‘Diagram Properties’ dialog shows up. In this dialog you can configure and test the connection to your BizTalk Management database and your BizTalk Tracking database.

In the ‘Server Name’ box you type the name of the SQL server that contains your BizTalk Management database, normally called BizTalkMgmtDb. To retrieve the databases on the server, you need to hit the elipsis button (…) to the right of the ‘Database Name’ box. The checkbox ‘Ignore non BizTalk Management databases’ makes sure that databases which could not be identified as a BizTalk Management database, won’t show up in the dropdown list.

By default BPM retrieves the name and the location of your Tracking database from your BizTalk Management database, so you don’t have to configure that. In case that you use another database, you need to configure it, by clicking the ‘Configure Tracking (DTA) database radio button, and enter the server name and the database name where it resides.

Since you now have supplied the most important information to connect to BizTalk, you can now test the connection to it, by clicking the ‘Test Connection’ button in the lower left corner.

If the test was successful, you can proceed by closing the message box and, in the ‘Diagram Properties dialog, by clicking the ‘OK’ button. At that time your Diagram will saved in BPM’s own database and you will be asked if you want to open the Diagram.

After clicking the ‘Yes’ button, the Diagram View shows up. This view is still pretty empty, but at least, now you have a configured and tested connection to your BizTalk Group!

Step 3: Add a picture of your system
Next you’ll have to add a picture from your system to the Diagram View. Do this by clicking on the hyperlink ‘Click here to add a architectural picture of your BizTalk solution’. After the ‘Open’ dialog appeared and you have selected an image of your system, you click the ‘OK’ button to load this picture in the Diagram View.

The picture you select must be in one of the following formats:

·        Jpeg

·        Gif

·        Tiff

·        Png

·        Bmp

Your screen now looks as below.

Step 4: Add counters you want to monitor
Your system will contain a number of endpoints from which you want to see if messages flow through them, so you need to configure those endpoints in BPM. To determine where you want to add a counter, or Tracker in BPM terminology, you just have to right click in the Diagram View where you want that Tracker to become located. Trackers can be moved afterwards by mouse or keyboard as well.

For now, we’ll add a counter in the upper left area of the Diagram View, so right click there. The context menu appears, and after you have selected ‘Add Tracker…’, the ‘Add Tracker’ dialog appears.

Each Tracker must be given a name. Names don’t need to be unique, but it helps in identifying your Trackers. Enter a name in the ‘Tracker Name’ box.

In the right list you can see the endpoints of your BizTalk system. By selecting one or more lines, or better ports, and clicking the ‘<’ button you move them to the left list, stating that you want to monitor the selected ports.

Click the ‘OK’ button to save and close the dialog, click ‘OK’ on the shown message box that states that your Tracker is saved and you will return to the Diagram View, where you’ll see that the just created Tracker is added on the screen.

Step 5: Start monitoring
Although you now have only configured 1 Tracker, this is enough to start monitoring. Just hit the little ‘Play’ button and see if there’s recent activity on that Tracker…