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Run-time configuration comparison

Guarantee that all your BizTalk nodes have the same set of assemblies deployed, installed, and that configuration files are consistent across your environment.

✅ Compare assemblies deployed to BizTalkMGMTDb with assemblies in the GAC on BizTalk processing nodes
✅ Compare BizTalk configuration files on all BizTalk processing nodes
✅ Compare the BizTalk 'Pipeline Components' folder on all BizTalk processing nodes
✅ Compare the BizTalk installation folders on all processing nodes

If Nodinite detects an Assembly or configuration mismatch, the health check Resource 'Run-time configuration comparison' is evaluated as Error:
Assembly Mismatch
Example: Assembly or configuration mismatch detected by Nodinite.

Tip

You can enable or disable this feature using the global Configuration for the BizTalk Agent. Use assembly exclude filters to suppress known or intentional differences (e.g. third-party assemblies or environment-specific files).

Category Name = "Health Check"
Resource Name = "Run-time configuration comparison"

The evaluated state is summarized below:

State Status Description Actions
Unavailable Resource not available Evaluation of the 'BizTalk Run-time Configuration Comparison' is not possible due to network or security issues Review prerequisites
Error Mismatch detected Assemblies and/or configuration are mismatched [Details][]
Warning Mismatch detected Different versions of assemblies detected [Details][]
OK Configuration is equal All BizTalk artifacts are the same [Details][]

Tip

You can reconfigure the evaluated state using the Expected State feature on every Resource within Nodinite.

Assembly and configuration report

The report can be opened from Monitor Views where the 'Run-time configuration comparison' Resource is included and Remote Actions are allowed.

Simply click on the Action button to list the Remote Actions and then click on Details to open the report.

Detail menu item
Click on 'Details' to open the report.

If there is a mismatch between the servers (installed) and the database (deployed), this report will guide you on what files needs to be further examined. Also, the BizTalk configuration files are being compared (if that option is checked in the global Configuration).

graph LR Build["Developer: build binary"] --> DB["Database (deployed assemblies)
BizTalkMgmtDb"] Build --> Hosts["Processing hosts (GAC on each node)
Installed assemblies"] DB --> Check{"Versions match?"} Hosts --> Check Check -- "Yes" --> OK["OK\nConfiguration is equal"] Check -- "Minor version diff" --> Warn["Warning\nDifferent versions detected"] Check -- "Major version diff / missing" --> Error["Error\nMismatch detected"] Error --> Actions["Actions: Open Details -> Remediate by deploying matching binary to DB and all hosts"] Warn --> Actions

Figure: Deploy the same binary to both the database (deployed assemblies) and to all processing hosts' GAC. If versions differ or a host is missing the assembly, the health check flags a Warning or Error and the report points to the specific files/hosts to remediate.

Sample Assembly Report

Tip

Use this report to remove assemblies no longer deployed (installed/in use) from your BizTalk environments.

If certain assemblies should always be excluded from the comparison (e.g. third-party or environment-specific binaries), configure BizTalk Assemblies exclude filters in the Health Check tab.

What's being evaluated?

Depending on Configuration the following evaluations are being performed and reported:

  • Overview of deployed and installed assemblies with evaluated state
  • Matches database (master) and GAC on all processing nodes
  • Matches files in the installation folder for BizTalk (ensures you are on the same SP/CU/Fix pack)
    • Matches BizTalk pipeline components folder
  • Matches config files for the BizTalk Host instances (btsntsvc.exe.config)
    • X86
    • X64

You can filter the list to show only items currently in warning or error state.
Assembly Mismatch Filtered
Filtered view showing only mismatched assemblies or configurations.

False positives on mixed 32-bit/64-bit environments

On BizTalk environments with both 32-bit and 64-bit host instances, certain .NET framework assemblies (such as mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089) are only present in the architecture-specific GAC_32 folder and will not appear in the combined GAC view. This causes the comparison to report them as missing, even though they are correctly installed.

Note

The BizTalk Assemblies exclude filter is a compatibility workaround for framework assemblies that may be installed in architecture-specific GAC locations and can otherwise be misdetected on mixed 32-bit/64-bit BizTalk environments. A default fallback filter for this case is pre-configured in Settings.json.

If you see repeated false-positive errors for well-known framework assemblies, add a matching RegEx exclude filter rather than ignoring the alert entirely.

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