BT Messenging Test

This test monitors the documents received and sent by each host instance on the BizTalk server, and reports the load on that host instance and delays experienced by the host instance while processing the documents.

Using this test, administrators can easily isolate host instances that are overloaded or are experiencing bottlenecks in processing.

Target of the test : A BizTalk Server 2010

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each host instance on the BizTalk server being monitored

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameters	Description
Test period	This indicates how often should the test be executed.
Host	The host for which this test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the host listens to.
Ispassive	If this parameter is set to Yes, then it means that, by default, all BizTalk servers being monitored by the eG system are the passive servers of a BizTalk cluster. No alerts will be generated if the servers are not running. Measures will be reported as "Not applicable" by the agent if the servers are not up.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Active receive locations	Indicates the number of receive locations currently enabled in this host instance.	Number	A receive location is the configuration of a single endpoint (URL) to receive messages.
Documents processed	Indicates the number of documents processed by this host instance.	Number	This is a good indicator of the load handled by a host instance. Comparing the value of this measure across host instances will reveal which instance is currently overloaded.
Documents processed rate	Indicates the rate at which this host instance processed documents.	Docs/Sec	A very low value or a consistent decrease in the value of this measure indicates a slowdown in the corresponding host instance.
Documents received	Indicates the number of documents received by this host instance from a target source.	Number	This is a good indicator of the load handled by a host instance. Comparing the value of this measure across host instances will reveal which instance is currently overloaded.
Documents received rate	Indicates the rate at which documents were received by this host instance.	Number
Documents suspended	Indicates the number of documents that have been suspended by this host instance.	Number	By default, the BizTalk server places failed messages/documents in the Suspended queue. The value of this measure indicates the number of documents in the Suspended queue. A message failure can occur in one of the following instances: Failures in the disassembly phase : Processing might also fail during the disassembly phase; that is, failure in one of the pipeline components. For example, decryption failed due to absence of decryption cert on the processing server, or parsing failure due to problem either in the schema or in the message. Failures in routing : After a message disassembles successfully, the next potential failure point is routing; for example, users enable a corresponding receive location of an orchestration and forget to enlist the orchestration. In this case, the message picked up from the receive location fails routing and the MessageBox database generates a Routing Failure report. Routing Failure reports are listed in the BizTalk Server Administration Console as non-resumable suspended messages. Each Routing Failure report contains a message property snap shot taken when the routing failure occurred. You can use the information in each report to determine why routing failed for its associated message. If the associated message is resumable, you can correct the routing problem and resume the message so that processing continues. Failures during the transformation phase: When a message is received from Receive Location, the message is disassembled (for example, decrypted and parsed), the message might optionally be transformed to a different format via an Inbound Map specified on a receive Port, and published to the MessageBox for routing to an orchestration or a Send Port. In this case, processing may fail during transformation phase due to incorrect Inbound Map, or problems in the schema or in the message received. When a message is to be sent to a Send Location, an Outbound Map configured on Send Port might optionally transform the message. Then the transformed message is assembled and handed to the adapter for final transmission to the Send Location. In this case, processing may fail during transformation phase due to incorrect Outbound Map or problem in schema or source message. Failures in the message assembly phase: Processing can also fail during message assembly phase – in other words, failing in pipeline component. After a message successfully assembles, the next potential failure point becomes transmission to Send Location; for example, the Send Location (which belongs to the partner) might be down or not exist.
Documents suspended rate	Indicates the rate at which documents were suspended by this host instance.	Docs/Sec
Request/Response timeouts	Indicates the number of request messages that have not received a response message within the time limit specified by the adapter associated with this host instance.	Number	A high value of this measure could indicate that too many messages are getting timed out. You may want to consider reconfiguring the timeout period.