Not Resumable - Suspended Instances
Get real-time alerts and take control of not resumable suspended instances in BizTalk, grouped by application name.
Understanding Not Resumable Instances
Not resumable suspended instances are BizTalk's way of saying "This message cannot be automatically reprocessed—you need to fix the root cause first." Unlike resumable instances (which can be retried after a transient error is resolved), not resumable instances indicate structural or configuration problems that prevent successful processing.
Why BizTalk creates not resumable instances:
When BizTalk encounters a non-recoverable error, it suspends the instance as not resumable to preserve the message for diagnostic investigation. The instance serves as a troubleshooting artifact—it contains the original payload, context properties, and error details that help you identify why processing failed.
Common root causes:
- Routing failure (no subscriber found) – No send port or orchestration has a subscription matching the message properties; often caused by missing or incorrect filters, deactivated send ports, or orphaned messages from deleted orchestrations
- Schema validation error – Incoming message doesn't conform to the expected XML schema structure; caused by partner sending wrong format, extra/missing elements, incorrect namespaces, or data type mismatches
- Map failure – XSLT transformation exception during mapping from source to destination schema; caused by invalid source data, missing required nodes, divide-by-zero in functoid logic, or script component errors
- Orchestration exception – Message fails correlation (wrong correlation set value), atomic scope transaction rollback, message type doesn't match port expectation, or persistence failure
- Pipeline component failure – Disassembler cannot parse message format (invalid XML, malformed flat file), required promoted property missing, or custom pipeline component exception
Key difference from resumable instances:
Resumable instances fail due to temporary conditions (network down, partner offline, transient timeout). Not resumable instances fail due to permanent problems (wrong message structure, missing configuration, bad data). Simply clicking "Resume" won't work—you must fix the underlying issue and often resubmit a corrected message.
Here's an example of the Suspended instance(s) (not resumable) resources as seen in a Monitor View
Application Name = BizTalk Application name, 1 entry for each unique name
Category Name = "Suspended instance(s) (not resumable)"
Resource Name = "Suspended instance(s) (not resumable)"
- Remote Actions – Execute remote actions for rapid remediation
- State Evaluation – Monitor and evaluate the current numbers
Important
Always resolve suspended instances by working with the resumable ones first. BizTalk will automatically delete the not resumable instances when you terminate or resume the resumable ones. If no resumable suspended instances remain, the only purpose of the not resumable instances is to provide debug and trace information to help you find the root cause of the error. Eventually, you must clear the not resumable instances!
Tip
We do not recommend applying the Auto Healing feature to resources of this category. Address these problems manually for best results!
What is being evaluated for 'Suspended instance(s) (not resumable)'?
The table below shows the different monitoring states:
| State | Status | Description | Actions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unavailable | Resource not available | Evaluation of the 'BizTalk Suspended Instances' is not possible either due to network or security-related problems | Review prerequisites | |
| Error | Too many | Number of rows are above configured threshold | Manage suspended instances Suspended instances history Terminate all Edit thresholds | |
| Warning | Too many | Number of rows are above configured threshold | Manage suspended instances Suspended instances history Terminate all Edit thresholds | |
| OK | Within thresholds | Number of rows are below configured threshold | Manage suspended instances Suspended instances history Terminate all Edit thresholds |
Tip
The evaluated state can be reconfigured using the Expected State functionality on every Resource within Nodinite.
What are Remote Actions?
The following Remote Actions are available for the Suspended instance(s) (not resumable) Resource:
The 'Not resumable' category does not have any metrics.
Manage Suspended Instances
When you click on the Manage Suspended Instances menu item in the Actions button, a modal will be loaded with an Overview of the currently Suspended Instances (not resumable):
Here's an example of a list with an overview of all currently suspended instances (not resumable) for the selected BizTalk Server Application by name
The following features are available from within this modal:
- Terminate - One by one
- Terminate - Selected (at least one)
- View Details - Selected
- View Context Properties - Selected
- Reload page
Terminate Suspended Instances
When working with 'Suspended instance(s) (not resumable)' you can view the details and context properties, but eventually, you must manually rid these. Nodinite provides the following options:
- Terminate all - Remove all with just one click
- Single instance - Remove selected suspended instance, one at a time
- Multiple instances - Remove all selected suspended instances with just one click
Use the Nodinite Agent Monitoring Database since you will have a backup with history and some details left if you accidentally remove the wrong set of suspended instances.
Single instance
Removing suspended instances one by one is a tedious but important process. You should dig into the problem before removing the Instances. The actual problem may otherwise roll over to someone else and become much bigger.
In the modal page loaded by using the Manage suspended instances action, you can further click on the Terminate menu item in the Actions button.
Multiple instances
In the modal page loaded by using the Manage suspended instances action, you can check one or more suspended instances and remove them in one sweep by clicking on the With selected button and selecting the Terminate menu item.
At least one suspended instance must be checked otherwise this button is not enabled
Details
Click the small button to the left of the Actions button to expand the selected row with additional information about the suspended instance. The information is divided into two tabs:
- Details - General information
- Messages
- Message Context - Context properties
Example with general information about the suspended instance
Message context
The context properties available at the time of the suspend operation are available in the 'Messages' Context tab. The table can be filtered for your convenience and speed to find the information you seek.
Here's an example of a filtered list of context properties for the suspended instance
Suspended Instances history
If you have configured the Nodinite BizTalk Server Monitoring Agent to use the Monitoring Agent Database the feature 'Suspended Instances history' will be enabled and available.
For the selected BizTalk Server Application you can review the history for 'Suspended instance(s) (not resumable)'.
Example with a list of historical suspended instances
Info
Active 'Suspended instance(s) (not resumable)' entries are not part of the history
Note
The historical suspended instances have limited information (Details and context properties are not preserved)
Terminate all
For the selected BizTalk Server Application you can terminate all active 'Suspended instance(s) (not resumable)'. If you have configured the Nodinite BizTalk Server Monitoring Agent to use the Monitoring Agent Database feature then the active entries will also be added to the Suspended Instances history.
When you click on the Terminate all menu item in the Action button, you will be prompted to confirm operation:
Edit thresholds
By default, all BizTalk Applications use the global thresholds set in the Configuration. You can manage individual thresholds by clicking on the Edit thresholds menu item in the 'Actions' button.
When you click on the Save button; The configuration for the selected BizTalk Server Application name will use specific configuration instead of the global values.
If you see this Warning, it means global values are currently being used for the selected BizTalk Server Application.
Next Step
Agent Monitoring Database - Enable history tracking
Remote Actions - Learn about self-service capabilities
Statistics for Suspended instances
Related Topics
BizTalk Monitoring Agent
Prerequisites for BizTalk Monitoring Agent
Agent Monitoring Database
Monitor Views
Configuration
Spool count health check