Today I made my first attempt at installing (clean install) BizTalk 2006 R2 on our development server. I started out by reviewing the documentation for installing on Windows Server 2003 in a single server configuration. You can find this documentation by clicking the link on the initial install screen for BizTalk. This will take you to Microsoft to get the latest version of the documentation. I also picked up the multi server deployment (production environment), and Vista (development workstation). The first part of the documentation is more of reference material. Starting on page 38 it switches to detailed installation instructions for each piece that needs to be installed, starting with Windows Server itself.
Installation Wizard
1. Click thru until you get to Select Components. There are obviously the required core components. I also selected items which I thought we might need in the future, but didn’t impact the amount of pre-requisite software I needed to install. There is a very nice matrix in the install document that outlines what needs to be installed for each feature. Based on that I selected:
- Documentation
- Server Runtime
- BizTalk EDI/AS2 Runtime (Possible Future Need)
- WCF
- Portal Components
- BAM (Possible future use)
- Human Workflow Web Service (Possible Future Use)
- Administration Tools
- WCF
- Additional Software
- SSO Admin
- SSO Master Server
- BAM Client
I also had to change the install path from C:\ to E:\ to comply with IT standards.
Clicking next brings you to a screen where you select how you want certain pre-requisites (redistributables) downloaded and installed. Choosing the download option (not auto install), takes you to the MS downloads site and cancels the installation. The cab file I needed to download was 102MB, and will be needed for a couple of other installations, so downloading it separate was a good idea.
2. After downloading and coping the cab file to the server, I restarted the installation, re-selected my components, and then chose the option to install redistributables from the cab file. I opted to provide my password for automatic login after reboots. I’ve copied and pasted the summary of items to be installed that is displayed before you click install.
Prerequisites
The following component(s) will be installed automatically on this computer:
- - Microsoft SQL XML 3.0 Service Pack 3
- - Microsoft Office Web Components
- - Microsoft ADO MD.Net 8.0
- - Microsoft ADO MD.Net 8.0 Patch
- - Microsoft ADO MD.Net 9.0
- - Setup runtime files
- - Enterprise Single Sign-On Server
- - Enterprise Single Sign-On Administration
- - Microsoft Primary Interoperability Assemblies 2005
- - Microsoft Document Explorer 2005
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 Components
The following components will be installed:
- - Documentation
- - Server Runtime
- - BizTalk EDI/AS2 Runtime
- - Windows Communication Foundation Adapter
- - Portal Components
- - Business Activity Monitoring
- - Human Workflow Web Service
- - Administration Tools
- - Windows Communication Foundation Administration Tools
- - Additional Software
- - Enterprise Single Sign-On Administration Module
- - Enterprise Single Sign-On Master Secret Server
- - BAM Client
3. No reboots were required, and no errors were reported. By default, when you finish the install, you are taken to the Configuration Wizard.
Configuration Wizard
1. The first thing you have to do is select your configuration type from either Basic or Custom, with the main difference being what service accounts are used for what services. I chose basic, which sets up all of the services to use the same account.
On page 55 of the instructions, it states that the specified user account will be granted the necessary permissions, including SQL permissions. I went ahead and created a local machine account that belonged to the users (not power users) group. I then specified this account in the configuration wizard and clicked Configure.
2. A summary of the configuration about to be performed pops up. I did a quick review, and then clicked next. I then sat, with my fingers crossed as the progress bar ticked by, hoping everything configured correctly. I didn’t want to find out what graphic is displayed for an error (on success a green check box is displayed next to each section that is configured). The EDI/AS2 runtime took the longest to configure. I might not install that next time.
3. Everything completed successfully, except there was one warning with SSO. I have a feeling it is a note to back up the SSO secret. Another possibility is that I am running the SSO service with a local, and not a domain account.
Backup SSO Secret
- Start/Programs/Microsoft Enterprise Single Sign-On
- Expand Enterprise Single Sign-on
- Right Click System and choose backup secret
- Choose a path, and enter a password.
- Make sure to write down your password and backup the file that was created. I store all my passwords on this nature using KeePass. I also can attach the actual backup file to the password entry in KeePass. If you have problems coping the file, check the NTFS permissions on the file.
Simple Test – CBR
1. Pre-Conditions: Event logs were clear of errors and warnings at this point. I did a quick inspection of services to verify the ones I was aware of, were running.
- BizTalk Service BizTalk Group : BizTalkServerApplication
- Enterprise Single Sign-On Service
- SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER)
- SQL Server Agent (MSSQLSERVER) – Change startup from manual to automatic
2. Reboot and check event logs for errors on startup. I also took this opportunity to snapshot the VM so that I could clean out my CBR test.
3. I created a simple CBR scheme, using 2 local folders, 1 send and 1 receive port. The exact implementation details are outside the scope of this post.
What’s Next
Next up, is the upgrade of a BizTalk 2006 install to 2006 R2, so check back for a write up of how that goes.