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Configure Nodinite BizTalk Server Monitoring Agent

Unlock the full potential of your BizTalk Server environment with Nodinite. This guide empowers you to configure advanced monitoring and management for your BizTalk Server Group, ensuring reliability, visibility, and control.

✅ What You'll Achieve

  • ✅ Proactive monitoring and health checks for BizTalk applications
  • ✅ Customizable thresholds and filters for every scenario
  • ✅ Remote configuration and instant visibility
  • ✅ Optimized tracking and compliance for pipelines
  • ✅ Fast troubleshooting and support resources

The Monitoring Agent delivers a comprehensive suite of features to help you proactively receive alerts and perform remote actions, so you can resolve issues before they impact your business. Start with the essentials and expand your configuration as you discover more value—each feature is designed to make your integration landscape more robust and manageable.

🚀 Before leveraging monitoring and remote configuration, ensure you have installed and created the initial Monitoring Agent Configuration for the Nodinite Microsoft BizTalk Server Monitoring Agent. If you're new to Nodinite, start here.

Applications

All BizTalk Server artifacts are automatically registered as Resources. These are organized into Applications and Categories.

Note

Understanding Application Name Assignment

Nodinite uses two different patterns for Application Name assignment based on resource type:

System-Wide Resources (use BizTalk Group Name as Application Name):

  • Group — Overall environment health and metrics
  • Host Instances — Windows services serving all applications
  • Health Check — Environment-level monitoring (MessageBox, DTA, Spool, Tracking Data)
  • Tracking — System-wide tracking capabilities

BizTalk Application Resources (use actual BizTalk Application Name):

  • Send Ports — Belong to specific BizTalk applications
  • Receive Ports / Locations — Belong to specific BizTalk applications
  • Orchestrations — Belong to specific BizTalk applications
  • Pipelines — Belong to specific BizTalk applications
  • Send Port Groups — Belong to specific BizTalk applications
  • Active Instances — Running service instances for specific applications
  • Ready to Run Instances — Instances ready to execute for specific applications
  • Retrying Instances — Failed instances retrying for specific applications
  • Scheduled Instances — Delayed instances for specific applications
  • Dehydrated Instances — Persisted orchestration instances for specific applications
  • Suspended Instances (Resumable) — Recoverable failures for specific applications
  • Suspended Instances (Not Resumable) — Terminal failures for specific applications

Why This Matters:

  • Uniqueness: System-wide resources need unique identification when monitoring multiple BizTalk environments (Dev, Test, Prod)
  • Filtering: You can create Monitor Views filtered by BizTalk Group Name to see all system resources, or by specific BizTalk Application Names to see application-specific artifacts
  • ApplicationId = int.MaxValue: System-wide resources use this internal identifier as a design pattern for virtual grouping

See the Group page for detailed explanation and examples.

Depending on your BizTalk Server edition, you may face application limits (e.g., Branch and Standard editions). To overcome these, the agent can create virtual Applications based on service names, such as Receive Ports and Send Ports, ensuring you never miss critical monitoring.
BizTalk Applications
Visualizing BizTalk Applications and their organization in Nodinite.

Remote Configuration of BizTalk Servers

As a Nodinite Administrator, click the 'Configuration' button to open a modal and configure the agent:
Remote Configuration
Click the 'Configuration' button to open a dialog for configuring the agent.

You can fine-tune configurations on each Resource using the Action button, provided the Monitor View has Remote Actions enabled.

The following configuration tabs are available:

BizTalk Tab

In the BizTalk tab, first-time users specify which BizTalk Server Group to monitor and can set up filters to exclude specific artifacts.

Enable monitoring

To enable monitoring, configure the agent with the BizTalk management database connection string for the group you wish to monitor.

  • Connection String — Enter the connection string for the BizTalk management database (typically BizTalkMgmtDb)

The agent connects to BizTalkMgmtDb using Microsoft.Data.SqlClient with modern TLS defaults—older connection strings may need updates when upgrading the agent.

Connection String example
Example configuration of a BizTalk management database connection string.

Quick start examples:

Data Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=BizTalkMgmtDb;Integrated Security=True;Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=True;

Dev/test with self-signed certificate

Data Source=SQL01\BIZTALK;Initial Catalog=BizTalkMgmtDb;Integrated Security=True;Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=False;

Production with trusted CA

Tip

Need help with connection strings? See the comprehensive SQL Server Connection Strings guide for:

  • Certificate validation and encryption settings
  • Always On Availability Groups (AOAG) configuration
  • Troubleshooting common errors
  • Security best practices

Important

If you see "The certificate chain was issued by an authority that is not trusted", add TrustServerCertificate=True to your connection string OR install the SQL Server certificate's CA on the agent host. See SQL Server Connection Strings for details.

Connection string reference

Important

Restart the monitoring agent after changing the connection string.

Important

If you run multiple agent instances for a single BizTalk Server Group:

  • Update the connection strings (BizTalk Management Database and Agent Database) in the Settings.json file on all servers
  • The two connection strings have different syntax—BizTalkMgmtDb uses standard SQL connection format, Agent Database uses application-specific format

Always On Availability Groups (AOAG)

When BizTalk Server runs on SQL Server Always On Availability Groups, the agent connects through the AG listener for automatic failover.

AOAG connection string example:

Data Source=AG-Listener;Initial Catalog=BizTalkMgmtDb;Integrated Security=True;Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=True;MultiSubnetFailover=True;

Tip

Use MultiSubnetFailover=True for faster failover (2-3s vs 10-20s). See SQL Connection Strings for AOAG configuration details.

Filters

Exclude Applications and Resources by its Name as needed using regular expressions. Enable or disable each filter as required.
Remove Applications and Resources
Example: Removing Applications and Resources using filters.

^[_].*

This RegEx removes all Resources starting with an underscore (_).

Tip

Test filters individually to avoid accidentally hiding important Resources.

Health Check Tab

The Health Check tab monitors critical BizTalk environment metrics: general health (Misc), runtime consistency (Assemblies & Files), and MessageBox tables (Spool/TrackingData).

Misc

Manage general BizTalk group health settings.
Misc tab
Set monitoring thresholds for general health checks in the Misc tab.

Property Default Description
Orphaned DTA Service Instances - Warning threshold 5000 Triggers a warning alert when orphaned DTA service instances exceed this value
Orphaned DTA Service Instances - Error threshold 10000 Triggers an error alert when orphaned DTA service instances exceed this value
Messages with negative ref count - Warning threshold 0 Triggers a warning alert for messages with negative reference count
Messages with negative ref count - Error threshold 0 Triggers an error alert for messages with negative reference count
Messages without ref count - Warning threshold 0 Triggers a warning alert for messages without reference count
Messages without ref count - Error threshold 0 Triggers an error alert for messages without reference count
Throttling limit - Warning threshold 15 Triggers a warning alert if throttling exceeds this limit (in minutes)

Assemblies & Files tab

Compare BizTalk Server processing nodes and SQL Server instance validity for consistency and reliability.

  • BizTalk Server Processing nodes – Ensure configuration files and binaries are consistent across all nodes.
  • SQL Server Management Database – Acts as the master for deployed binaries.
  • Enabled – When enabled, the agent compares assemblies and configuration files for consistency.
  • Include BizTalk Server installation folder – Include the installation folder in the assemblies check.
  • Include BizTalk Server Pipeline Components folder – Include the Pipeline Components folder in the assemblies check.
  • BizTalk Server configuration – Compare configuration files between servers.
  • BizTalk Assemblies exclude filter – Exclude assemblies using RegEx filters.

Assemblies and files tab
Compare BizTalk processing nodes and configuration database for consistency.

Tip

Random issues may be caused by inconsistent binaries across nodes. Use this feature to keep your BizTalk environment reliable. See 'Run-time configuration comparison' for more details.

BizTalk Assemblies exclude filter

Add RegEx filters to exclude specific assemblies. Click Add to enter a filter.

Assembly filter
Example: Excluding assemblies using filters.

Message Box Tables

Monitor critical BizTalk MessageBox tables: Spool and TrackingData.

Common Configuration:

  • Enabled – Enable monitoring and evaluation
  • Warning threshold – Row count triggering warning alert
  • Error threshold – Row count triggering error alert
  • Warning grace time span – Grace period before warning
  • Error grace time span – Grace period before error

Spool Table options
Configure thresholds for Spool and TrackingData table monitoring.

See Spool count and Tracking Data count for details.

Instances

Monitor BizTalk service instances globally or by specific Application. All instance types share a common configuration pattern:

Common Settings:

  • Warning count / Warning threshold – Trigger warning alert when count exceeds this value
  • Error count / Error threshold – Trigger error alert when count exceeds this value
  • Warning time span – Maximum time in state before warning (where applicable)
  • Error time span – Maximum time in state before error (where applicable)
  • Specific configurations – Override global settings for individual BizTalk Applications

Instance Types:

Type Icon Description Details
Suspended Instances halted due to errors Suspended Instances
Active Currently running instances Active Instances
Dehydrated Persisted orchestration instances Dehydrated Instances
Scheduled Delayed activation instances Scheduled Instances
Retrying Failed instances attempting retry Retrying Instances
Ready to Run Queued instances awaiting execution Ready Instances

Suspended Instances Thresholds
Example: Configure instance thresholds globally or per Application.

Tip

Click Add under Specific configurations to create Application-specific threshold overrides.

Tracking

Monitor BizTalk pipeline tracking configuration to ensure compliance and optimal performance.
Tracking tab
Monitor and optimize tracking settings for BizTalk pipelines.

  • Warn for 'Track Events' disabled – Alert when essential tracking events are disabled
  • Warn for 'Track Message Bodies' enabled – Alert when message body tracking may impact performance

Tip

Review Recommended tracking settings for default pipelines to address known BizTalk bugs and ensure proper configuration. See Tracking for Default Pipelines for details.

Settings tab

Fine-tune general agent settings in the Settings tab:

  • Environment – Name the environment (e.g., Test, Prod, QA).
  • Debug – Enable for troubleshooting; disable in production.
  • Culture Information – Set date/time formatting.
  • CSV Delimiter – Choose the delimiter for CSV exports.
  • Include detailed description – Decide if detailed Resources descriptions are included (default: unchecked).
  • List suspended instances by service name – Use for non-enterprise BizTalk editions with application limits (default: unchecked).
  • Enable download and visibility of body/context for suspended messages – Grant access as needed.
    Settings tab
    Example of the Settings tab in Nodinite.

To use the Audit feature and get statistics about suspended instances, enable the Monitoring Agent Database.

  • Use Monitor Agent Database – Required for clustering; stores statistics and configuration centrally.
  • Monitor Agent Database Connection String – Enter the connection string for the monitoring database.

Example connection string:

Data Source=%DBSERVERNAME%\[INSTANCENAME]%;Initial Catalog=%Nodinite_MonitoringAgent_BizTalk_PROD%;Integrated Security=True;Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=True

Note

This connection string uses the same format and settings as the BizTalk Management Database connection string above. The same guidance applies:

Tip

See the shared user guide for installing and updating the Monitoring database.

Use Agent Database
Enable and configure the Monitoring Agent Database for advanced features.

Save

Click 'Save' or 'Save and close' to apply your changes. New settings are evaluated on the next synchronization.
Save and Close buttons
Save your configuration changes in Nodinite.

Note

The time to reflect new settings depends on the agent's synchronization interval. Click Sync Now for immediate updates.

Save and close – Save and exit.
Cancel – Exit without saving.

Add BizTalk Monitoring Agent Configuration

After installing the Microsoft BizTalk Server Monitoring Agent, provide Nodinite with connection details so the Monitoring Service can recognize your new agent.

No monitoring or configuration is possible until these steps are completed.

Configuration Steps

  1. Add and configure a new Monitoring Agent Configuration.

    Find connection info in the README.txt file in the installation folder.

  2. Use Remote Configuration to set up the agent (see the start of this guide).
  3. Create self-service enabled Monitor Views for your business needs.
  4. Fine-tune Resources using Remote Actions.

Next Step