Monitoring BizTalk Solutions in an Enterprise

There are certain aspects (governance, support groups) that need to be understood when monitoring BizTalk solutions starts become necessary. One aspect is support groups with roles and responsibilities. I summarize here what in my opinion and experience these groups should be and which roles are mandatory:

  • Technical supports needs to monitor Operating System and SQL Server:
    • System administrator (support, monitor health of system);
    • Database administrator (support, monitor health of database).
  • Functional support to monitor messaging, orchestrations, ports:
    • BizTalk Support (Interface Specialist, Process Specialist);
    • BizTalk Operator (support deployment BizTalk applications, configuration);
    • BizTalk Developer (BizTalk Application Specialist).
  • Business level support to monitor activity, throughput:
    • Business Analyst (monitor activity/processes, analyze trends);
    • Business Support Manager (monitor activity, report to business).

Note here that you can have a different view/opinion on which support groups there should be and/or which roles should be involved/mandatory.

Monitoring BizTalk solutions in an enterprise the above mentioned support groups are vital to achieve manageability and sustainability. Defining roles and responsibilities is one thing and using the right tooling for each is another. This can be a challenging, complex and hard task to accomplish to have the right people using the right tools to provide correct and swift support towards a BizTalk issue/call that is being raised. Regarding roles and responsibilities I will list a couple of resources here I found together with a list of tools that can be used.

Category

Technical Support

Functional Support

Business Level Support

Vendor

Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft

Roles & Responsibilities

MSDN

MSDN

  

Roles & Responsibilities

Operation Guide

Operation Guide

  

Tools

    

BAM (BizTalk)

Tools

BizMon

BizMon

  

Tools

SCOM (Mgmt Pack Catalog)

    

Tools

Avicode

Avicode

  

Tools

FRENDS Helium

FRENDS Helium

  

Resource

Tech-FAQ

    

Resource

Monitoring BizTalk Server


Monitoring BizTalk Server


Monitoring BizTalk Server

Also check following blog site for monitoring BizTalk and maintain a healthy BizTalk environment. I hope this post will give you a feeling about supporting BizTalk solutions and what Microsoft can offer and what alternatives there are.


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