• Tray application
  IPM now comes supplied with a windows application which you can install on your local workstation. This application goes into the notification area (commonly known as the task tray) and notifies the user through visual and optional audible alerts if IPM is reporting warnings or errors. This allows faster response times and gives yet another channel of alerting when your integration platform is not working as intended. Find more information here.
• Hub application
  Support for monitoring multiple BizTalk installations at once is now supported through the new IPM Hub application. This is a windows application which allows you to cycle through multiple IPM installations. It also shows the status of every installation simultaneously while also allowing easy access to any environment having problems. Find more information here.
• Non-event functionality
  IPM now allows configurable monitoring for the traffic volume of your BizTalk applications. It is possible to specify the expected traffic volume through ports and give warnings and\or error alerts when the actual traffic volume differs from what is expected. This monitoring can be set up to use both fixed intervals during a week and sliding intervals. Find more information here.
• Extension model
  It is now possible to extend the monitoring capabilities of IPM to suit your own needs.
  By following the simple examples provided in our documentation, you can create extensions for when your monitoring needs go outside the functionality built into IPM. An example of this is checking the health of external dependencies such as FTP- or SMTP- servers which your BizTalk applications need to function as intended. Find more information here.
• Upgrade to use MVC 3 and ASP.NET 4
• Cumulative fixes from 1.5

• User interface changes to match Communicate suite of products.
  
• New install package using Install Shield.
• IPM now installs on dedicated website in IIS on port 19972 (to avoid problems when SharePoint is installed on the server).
• Valid license key needed in order to see any applications in the monitoring view (previously you could view up to 5 applications without a license key).
• Changes in the configuration to support ESB installed on same server. ESB makes changes in the machine.config file. What this does is, it forces Enterprise Library to ignore your web.config file and look for configuration information exclusively in ESB default configuration source
• Fix: Application is shown even if this application has no ports and was added to datatracking
• Fix: Solved error that might occur if license file was simultaneity read by more than one

Update from previous version

To update from previous version of IPM/Bizmon to 1.5 please uninstall before install 1.5. If you have a previous version installed contact The Development Team at support@communicate.no and we will send you the latest version or give support if problems should occur.

Communicate acquires BizMon

1st May 2010 BizMon Integration Monitoring tool (BizMon) was acquired by Communicate Norge AS (Communicate), and is now owned, maintained and supported by Communicate.

The acquisition is the result of a close and positive relationship between the previous owner, iBiz, and Communicate. iBiz is our partner  in the Swedish market for Integration solutions, marketing Communicates existing products and services.

Communicate also developed Message Tracking Monitor for Microsoft BizTalk server (MTM) in close cooperation with Microsoft, and the acquired product is a strong addition to our suite of monitoring tools for Microsoft BizTalk platform.  BizMon will be renamed Integration Platform Monitor for Microsoft BizTalk server (IPM).

Communicate will continue to improve and support our suite of integration monitoring tools according to our company strategy.

Read more about Communicate : www.communicate.no

We look forward to continuing the great work of Richard and his team in developing new and exciting features for BizMon (IPM). Stay tuned for product updates etc. on this blog in the weeks ahead.

• FIX: Link in mailed Data Tracking Reports and Monitoring Alerts did not work in Mozilla Thunderbird.
• Improved the free version scenario. It is now possible to hide the information about a missing license. Further information is only visible if there are more than five applications and these are hidden.
• Possible to exclude an entire application.
• Send port groups are now monitored.

Exclude application

It is now possible to exclude and entire application from monitoring! In previous version of BizMon it was only possible to exclude separate artifacts from monitoring. Excluding all artifacts in an application when for example bringing the application down for maintenance turned out to be cumbersome for many BizMon customers.

An excluded application will not cause any alerts when error occurs on it. If Data Tracking is active on the application this will however continue to work as normal.

Send Port Groups

The status of the Send Port Groups within an application is now included of the aggregated status of an application. A Send Port Group can also, as all other BizTalk artifact, be separately excluded from monitoring.

Update from previous version

To updating from previous version of BizMon to 1.3.0 just run the 1.3.0 installer. If you have a previous version installed contact The BizMon Team at support@communicate.no and we will send you the latest version.

Check it out and make sure to let us know what you think!

This guide is applicable when installing BizMon on a server running IIS 7. If you are planning to use a server running IIS 6 use this guide.

It also assumes that you already have the server set up with the “BizTalk Administration tools”. If you are installing BizMon on a existing BizTalk server these tools are already installed.

If you are however planning to use a server without any BizTalk components previously installed to run BizMon you need to install the BizTalk Administration Tools first. Learn more about this in the BizMon pre-requisite section.

1. Run the installer

Download and run the installer on the server you are planning top run BizMon from. You can find more information on what the installer does here.

2. Create or configure a BizMon user

BizMon needs to run under a user with some special privileges. The user BizMon runs needs to be a member of

• The Administrators group of the local server BizMon runs on.
• The IIS_IUSRS group on the local server BizMon runs on.
• The BizTalk Server Administrators group used by the BizTalk server BizMon should monitor.

Some BizMon customer uses the same users that they use to run the BizTalk services under, and some customer setup a separate BizMon users and adds that user to the required groups.

3. Configure IIS

To enable BizMon Web to run under the user we setup, we need to create and configure an Application Pool. This is managed under the Identity tab on the Application Pool properties in IIS.

Next we need to change the BizMon Virtual Directory (that was created by the BizMon installer) to use the Application Pool just configured.

4. Configure the BizMon Subscription NT Service

The BizMon Subscription service that is responsible for sending out alerts and report also needs to use the same user we just configured. The BizMon installer installed the service so all we need is to configure it to use the correct user account.

5.  Setting up the database connections

The BizMon installer created a BizMon folder on the start menu. In this folder there is a Service connection shortcut and a Web connection shortcut.

Use these to open the configuration document to set the connection string to the “BizTalkMgmt” database.

If the “BizTalkMgmt” database is not on the local machine the data source needs to be set to the server where the BizTalkMgmt can be found.

<connectionStrings>
<add
name=”BizTalkMgmtDbConnectionString”
connectionString=”Data Source=.;Initial Catalog=BizTalkMgmtDb;Integrated Security=True”
providerName=”System.Data.SqlClient” />
</connectionStrings>

Remember to change this setting for both the “Web connection” and the “Service connection”!

6. SMTP settings etc

In the start menu there is also a Web settings shortcut and a Service settings shortcut. In the Service settings configuration document one needs to define the SMTP configuration that should be used to send alerts and reports.

In the Web settings one needs to configure the correct path to the BM.exe and the BttDeploy.exe. These are by default configured for the default installation path of BizTalk 2006.

You can find more information about the different configuration possibilities in the BizMon configuration documentation.

The default path for the BM.exe and the BttProfile.exe tool are based on the path for BizTalk Server 2006. So if running BizTalk 2009 or are using a x86 based server, or you will have to change this into the correct path to these tools.

7. Troubleshoot the installation

Start your browser and point it at “http://localhost/bizmon” directly on the server you have installed it on. If there are any exceptions these will be displayed directly in the browser (as you are browsing locally).

BizMon also logs all exception (both on the Subscription service and the BizMon web to the application log). Each of the components also logs to a log file that is located under folders in the installation path chosen in the installer.

And as always – do not hesitate to contact our support group if you have any question on the installer or the product in general.

• Added a “Reload main BizMon page” link to the errors pages
• We now split both the BizMon Web and BizMon Service the log files based on size and day.
• The times in the log files are now based on local time and not UTC time
• The BizMon service now installs with a “Automatic” start mode as default
• We changes the installer to better install ASP.NET MVC on IIS 7

Update

If you are running an earlier version of BizMon and want to update contact us and we’ll sent you the latest installer.

This guide is applicable when installing BizMon on a server running IIS 6. If you are planning to use a server running IIS 7 use this guide.

It also assumes that you already have the server set up with the “BizTalk Administration tools”. If you are installing BizMon on a existing BizTalk server these tools are already installed.

If you are however planning to use a server without any BizTalk components previously installed to run BizMon you need to install the BizTalk Administration Tools first. Learn more about this in the BizMon pre-requisite section.

1. Run the installer

Download and run the installer on the server you are planning top run BizMon from. You can find more information on what the installer does here.

2. Create or configure a BizMon user

BizMon needs to run under a user with some special privileges. The user BizMon runs needs to be a member of

• The Administrators group of the local server BizMon runs on.
• The IIS_WPG group on the local server BizMon runs on.
• The BizTalk Server Administrators group used by the BizTalk server BizMon should monitor.

Some BizMon customer uses the same users that they use to run the BizTalk services under, and some customer setup a separate BizMon users and adds that user to the required groups.

3. Configure IIS

To enable BizMon Web to run under the user we setup, we need to create and configure an Application Pool. This is managed under the Identity tab on the Application Pool properties in IIS.

Next we need to change the BizMon Virtual Directory (that was created by the BizMon installer) to use the Application Pool we just configured.

4. Configure the BizMon Subscription NT Service

The BizMon Subscription service that is responsible for sending out alerts and report also needs to use the same user we just configured. The BizMon installer installed the service so all we need is to configure it to use the correct user account.

5.  Setting up the database connections

The BizMon installer created a BizMon folder on the start menu. In this folder there is a Service connection shortcut and a Web connection shortcut.

Use these to open the configuration document to set the connection string to the “BizTalkMgmt” database.

If the “BizTalkMgmt” database is not on the local machine the data source needs to be set to the server where the BizTalkMgmt can be found.

<connectionStrings>
     <add
          name="BizTalkMgmtDbConnectionString"
          connectionString="Data Source=.;Initial Catalog=BizTalkMgmtDb;Integrated Security=True"
          providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
</connectionStrings>

Remember to change this setting for both the “Web connection” and the “Service connection”!

6. SMTP settings etc

In the start menu there is also a Web settings shortcut and a Service settings shortcut. In the Service settings configuration document one needs to define the SMTP configuration that should be used to send alerts and reports.

In the Web settings one needs to configure the correct path to the BM.exe and the BttDeploy.exe. These are by default configured for the default installation path of BizTalk 2006.

You can find more information about the different configuration possibilities in the BizMon configuration documentation.

7. Troubleshoot the installation

Start your browser and point it at “http://localhost/bizmon” directly on the server you have installed it on. If there are any exceptions these will be displayed directly in the browser (as you are browsing locally).

BizMon also logs all exception (both on the Subscription service and the BizMon web to the application log). Each of the components also logs to a log file that is located under folders in the installation path chosen in the installer.

And as always – do not hesitate to contact our support group if you have any question on the installer or the product in general.

• Added the possibility to include or exclude alerts on database connection problems between BizMon and BizTalk DB. In 1.0 alerts was sent to all recipients that was part of a Error Monitoring subscription.
• FIX: We fixed a visual bug having to do with z-index of the blocking screen when adding and changing tracking profiles and definitions. In earlier version we had an issue with the graph always being on top and having the lowest z-index.
• FIX: Some users used the same name for send and receive ports. In version 1.0 a bug caused the message counts for ports with same name to be displayed as one sum.
• FIX: We added sessions state on the page element in BizMon web.config to be “true”. This should help some people that have had installation problems in conjunction with SharePoint being installed in the same web site.
• A few error pages has been added to enhance the experience for users that run in to some sort of exception.
• The installer now adds a shortcut to the actual BizMon.Web start page, both on the desktop and in the start menu.
• BizMon now disables all tracking options if BAM isn’t configured. Information that BAM needs to be configured to enable tracking has also be added.

Update from 1.0

If your running a previous version of 1.0 BizMon and want to upgrade – contact us. As BizMon is sold using subscription based licenses all updates are included – basically you update for free! 

To update all you need to do is to run the 1.0.12 installer. Next, next  and next. That should be it!

And, as always – if you have problems, questions etc make sure to contact us at support@communicate.no.

The model we choose is based on the number of BizTalk application and is subscription based. That means that the fewer BizTalk applications you have in the solution you want to monitor the less the product will cost – all the way down to free (if you have 5 or less applications)!

A subscription for year will include full support from us and also all updates we will publish during the subscription period.