Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 SP2 Readme

© 2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This document provides information about Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000. SP2 applies to all editions of BizTalk Server 2000. BizTalk Server Service Packs are cumulative. SP2 includes all fixes from previously released Service Packs, and can be applied to an original installation of BizTalk Server or to one where SP1a was previously applied. To install SP1a, go to the BizTalk Server 2000 Service Pack 1a download page.

For more information about the specific fixes for SP2, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

INFO: List of Bugs Fixed in BizTalk Server 2000 SP2 (Q318625)

Important

Note

Table of Contents

Summary of Changes

Installation Instructions

Service Pack installation instructions

All computers in a BizTalk Server group must run the same version of BizTalk Server

Additional installation instructions for maintaining the Tracking database

Additional installation instructions for maintaining the Orchestration Persistence database

Documentation Notes

Administration

BizTalk Editor

BizTalk Mapper

BizTalk Messaging Service

Deployment

Document Tracking

Miscellaneous

Summary of Changes

This section provides an overview of the updates and changes that are included in this Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 Service Pack. Because BizTalk Server Service Packs are cumulative, SP2 includes all fixes from previously released Service Packs.

Changes and updates introduced in SP2 include, but are not limited to, the following:

Changes and updates carried forward from previous Service Packs include, but are not limited to, the following:


Installation Instructions

The following topics are covered in this section:

Service Pack installation instructions

BizTalk Server 2000 SP2 can be installed from the Microsoft Web site. BizTalk Server 2000 SP2 is not available on CD.

Caution

The following topics are covered in this section:

To install SP2 from the Web
  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs and click Internet Explorer.

  2. Go to the BizTalk Server Downloads page.

  3. Search for BizTalk Server 2000 Service Pack 2.

  4. Download the setup program and the SP2 Readme to your local computer.

  5. Run the setup program.
To install the stored procedure on the Shared Queue database

To use SP2 in BizTalk Server group scenarios, all computers in a BizTalk Server group must run the same version of BizTalk Server. After you apply SP2 on all computers, you will need to apply CleanQueuesPatch.sql to the Shared Queue database. For more information, see All computers in a BizTalk Server group must run the same version of BizTalk Server.

  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server, and click Query Analyzer.

  2. In the SQL Server list, click the name of the SQL Server that hosts the Shared Queue database, enter the appropriate login information, and click OK.

  3. If you have Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 installed, in the DB list, click the name of the Shared Queue database (for example, InterchangeSQ) and continue to step 5.

    —Or—

    If you have Microsoft SQL Server 2000 installed, on the Query menu, click Change Database.

  4. Click the name of the Shared Queue database (for example, InterchangeSQ) and click OK.

  5. On the File menu, click Open.

  6. In the Open Query File dialog box, in the Look in list, browse to \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Setup.

  7. Click CleanQueuesPatch.sql and click Open.

  8. On the Query menu, click Execute.
To install the stored procedure on the BizTalk Messaging Management database

After you apply SP2 on all computers, you will need to apply ControlNumbers.sql to the BizTalk Messaging Management database. ControlNumbers.sql fixes the stored procedure for retrieving electronic data interchange (EDI) control numbers associated with a port. If you install SP2 without running this file, outbound EDI will not work. However, if you installed and ran this file with SP1a, the following procedure is not necessary.

  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server, and then click Query Analyzer.

  2. In the SQL Server list, click the name of the SQL Server instance that hosts the BizTalk Messaging Management database, enter the appropriate log in information, and click OK.

  3. If you have Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 installed, in the DB list, click the name of the BizTalk Messaging Management database (for example, InterchangeBTM) and continue to step 5.

    —Or—

    If you have Microsoft SQL Server 2000 installed, on the Query menu, click Change Database and continue to step 4.

  4. Click the name of the BizTalk Messaging Management database (for example, InterchangeBTM) and click OK.

  5. On the File menu, click Open.

  6. In the Open Query File dialog box, in the Look in list, browse to \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Setup.

  7. Click ControlNumbers.sql and click Open.

  8. On the Query menu, click Execute.
To verify the SP2 installation

To verify that BizTalk Server 2000 SP2 has been installed, view the file properties for any of the DLLs (except setupex.dll) in the BizTalk Server 2000 installation directory.

  1. In Windows Explorer, browse to the BizTalk Server 2000 installation directory, and select and right-click on any DLL file (except setupex.dll).

  2. Select Properties.

  3. On the Version tab, confirm that the version number is 1907 and click OK.
To uninstall SP2

There are two uninstall packages available with this Service Pack.

Caution

  1. BTS2000_SP2_RevertToRTM_EN.exe will uninstall SP2 and revert your installed files to the BizTalk Server 2000 files. Any modifications you previously made to these files will not be restored. This uninstall process does not work if you installed SP1a prior to installing SP2.

  2. BTS2000_SP2_RevertToSP1a_EN.exe will uninstall SP2 and revert your installed files to the BizTalk Server 2000 SP1a files. Any modifications you previously made to these files will not be restored. This uninstall process works only if you installed SP1a prior to installing SP2.

To uninstall SP2 in BizTalk Server group scenarios, you must complete the following steps:

  1. Stop all BizTalk Server–related services on all BizTalk Server computers.

  2. Use SQL Query Analyzer to apply UndoCleanQueuesPatch.sql to the Shared Queue database before restarting BizTalk Server–related services.

  3. In the UndoCleanQueuesPatch.sql file, enter a 'GO' batch separator between "if exists ..." and "CREATE PROCEDURE…" Once added, the UndoCleanQueuesPatch.sql file executes successfully.

Note

Official software requirements for BizTalk Server 2000 SP2

Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP2) officially supports BizTalk Server 2000 SP2. You can run BizTalk Server 2000 SP2 on Microsoft Windows 2000 SP1, but it is highly recommended to upgrade to Microsoft Windows SP2 as it resolves former BizTalk Server 2000 operational issues.

The following software is recommended, but not required, for running BizTalk Server 2000 SP2:

Folders with file changes in BizTalk Server 2000 SP2

This topic lists the folders with files that have changed:

Notes

All computers in a BizTalk Server group must run the same version of BizTalk Server

To use SP2 in BizTalk Server group scenarios, you must complete the following steps:

  1. Apply the SP2 patch on all computers. SP2 automatically generates a system reboot.

  2. After the reboot, stop just the BizTalk Messaging Service.

  3. Use SQL Query Analyzer to apply CleanQueuesPatch.sql to the Shared Queue database before restarting the BizTalk Messaging Service.

Important

Additional installation instructions for maintaining the Tracking database

Included in SP2 are utilities that maintain the Tracking database. When you install SP2, the appropriate files are copied to the \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Setup folder. However, additional setup is required to activate the utilities. If you want to use these utilities, you must follow the instructions in this section.

If you do not track interchanges and documents in your BizTalk Server installation, or if you do not want to use the SQL scripts included in this BizTalk Server Service Pack to archive and purge your Tracking database, you can skip this section.

To install the utilities to maintain the Tracking database, you must complete the following steps:

  1. Create an archive Tracking database.

  2. Create the schema for the archive Tracking database.

  3. Configure the Tracking database.

  4. Install the purging and archiving stored procedures on the Tracking database.

Important

Notes

To create an archive Tracking database

Perform the following steps on the server that you want to host the archive Tracking database.

  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server, and click Enterprise Manager.

  2. Expand Microsoft SQL Servers, expand SQL Server Group, and click the server on which you want to create an archive Tracking database.

  3. On the Action menu, point to New and click Database.

  4. In the Database Properties dialog box, type a name for the archive Tracking database and click OK.
To create the schema for the archive Tracking database
  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server, and click Query Analyzer.

  2. In the SQL Server list, click the name of the SQL Server that hosts the archive Tracking database that you just created, enter the appropriate login information, and click OK.

  3. If you have Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 installed, in the DB list, click the name of the archive Tracking database you just created and continue to step 5.

    —Or—

    If you have Microsoft SQL Server 2000 installed, on the Query menu, click Change Database.

  4. Click the name of the archive Tracking database that you just created and click OK.

  5. On the File menu, click Open.

  6. In the Open Query File dialog box, in the Look in list, browse to \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Setup.

  7. Click BTS_Tracking_ArchiveDB_Schema.sql and click Open.

  8. On the Query menu, click Execute.

Note

To configure the Tracking database

Perform the following steps on the SQL Server that hosts the Tracking database.

  1. Verify that Query Analyzer is open.

  2. On the File menu, click Disconnect.

  3. On the File menu, click Connect.

  4. In the SQL Server list, click the name of the SQL Server that hosts the Tracking database that you want to archive, enter the appropriate login information, and click OK.

  5. If you have SQL Server 7.0 installed, in the DB list, click the name of the Tracking database (for example, InterchangeDTA) that you want to archive and continue to step 7.

    —Or—

    If you have SQL Server 2000 installed, on the Query menu, click Change Database.

  6. Click the name of the Tracking database (for example, InterchangeDTA) and click OK.

    Note

  7. Configure the archive Tracking database as an SQL linked server.

    The following example is a sample SQL statement for configuring a linked server. In this example, a remote database server called "Seattle2" is a linked server on the local SQL Server:

    EXEC sp_addlinkedserver N'Seattle2', N'SQL Server'
  8. If necessary, configure a mapping between the logins for the local and remote linked SQL Servers.

    The following example is a sample SQL statement to create a mapping between the system administrator (sa) login on the local and remote linked SQL Servers. This sample assumes that the remote sa login password is "abc123."

    EXEC sp_addlinkedsrvlogin '<Name of remote SQL Server>', 'FALSE', 'sa', 'sa', 'abc123'

Important

Note

To install the purging and archiving stored procedures on the Tracking database

Perform the following steps on the SQL Server that hosts the Tracking database. This should be the same server that you configured in the previous procedure.

  1. Verify that Query Analyzer is open.

  2. On the File menu, click Open.

  3. In the Open Query File dialog box, in the Look in list, browse to \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Setup.

  4. Click BTS_Tracking_Archive_Purge_Script.sql and click Open.

  5. On the Query menu, click Execute.

    The script creates a stored procedure named dta_purge_old_records. The script creates a SQL Server Agent job named "Archive and Purge BizTalk Tracking database: <Name of your Tracking database>." By default, the SQL Server Agent job is not enabled.

  6. If necessary, open Enterprise Manager.

  7. Expand Microsoft SQL Servers, expand SQL Server Group, expand the server that hosts the Tracking database, expand Management, expand SQL Server Agent, and then click Jobs.

  8. In the details pane, click Archive and Purge BizTalk Tracking Database: <Name of your Tracking database>.

  9. On the Action menu, click Properties.

  10. On the Steps tab, verify that dtaStep_execute_stored_proc is selected and click Edit.

  11. In the Edit Job Step dialog box, on the General tab, set the input parameters in the Command box.

    The following are some examples for configuring the input parameters passed to the dta_purge_old_records stored procedure. For more information about the syntax and arguments in this stored procedure, see Tracking database purging and archiving stored procedure usage.

  12. Click OK.

  13. On the Schedules tab, verify that BizTalk Archive and Purge Schedule is selected and click Edit.

  14. In the Edit Job Schedule dialog box, click Change in the Schedule Type box.

  15. In the Edit Recurring Job Schedule dialog box, change the occurrence, frequency, and duration of the SQL Server Agent job to what you want and click OK.

  16. On the General tab, select the Enabled check box and click OK.

    The changes are saved and the SQL Server Agent job is enabled.

Note

Additional installation instructions for maintaining the Orchestration Persistence database

Included in SP2 are utilities that maintain the Orchestration Persistence database. When you install the Service Pack, the appropriate files are copied to the \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Setup folder. If you want to use these utilities, you must perform the following procedure.

If you do not want to use the SQL script included in this BizTalk Server Service Pack to purge your Orchestration Persistence database, you can skip this section.

Note

To install the new stored procedures into the Orchestration Persistence database
  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server, and click Query Analyzer.

  2. In the SQL Server list, click the name of the SQL Server that hosts the Orchestration Persistence database, enter the appropriate login information, and click OK.

  3. If you have SQL Server 7.0 installed, in the DB list, click the name of the Orchestration Persistence database (for example, XLANG) that contains the records you want to purge and proceed to step 5.

    —Or—

    If you have SQL Server 2000 installed, on the Query menu, click Change Database.

  4. Click the name of the Orchestration Persistence database (for example, XLANG) and click OK.

  5. On the File menu, click Open.

  6. In the Open Query File dialog box, in the Look in list, browse to \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Setup.

  7. Click XLANG_Purge_Script.sql and click Open.

  8. On the Query menu, click Execute.

Note


Documentation Notes

This topic describes documentation issues relevant to this Service Pack. It provides information on new functionality introduced by the Service Pack as well as corrections to the documentation in BizTalk Server 2000 Help.

The following topics are covered in this section:

Administration

This section contains important updates about BizTalk Administration.

The following topics are covered in this section:

Orchestration Persistence database stored procedure usage

Introduced in SP1

When you install this Service Pack, stored procedures are copied to the \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Setup folder. This section describes the usage for the stored procedures to delete records from the Orchestration Persistence database.

Note

The sp_CleanDoneInstances stored procedure deletes all completed or stopped XLANG schedule instances, as shown in the following:

sp_CleanDoneInstances @CompletedBefore='<GMT date and time>'

The following is an example for using this stored procedure:

exec sp_CleanDoneInstances @CompletedBefore='2000-10-25 19:34:49.000'

In this example:

The sp_CleanDoneModuleInstances stored procedure deletes all completed or stopped XLANG schedule instances of a particular type of schedule, as shown in the following:

sp_CleanDoneModuleInstances @ModuleGUID='<globally unique identifier>', @CompletedBefore='<GMT date and time>'

The following is an example for using this stored procedure:

exec sp_CleanDoneModuleInstances @CompletedBefore='2000-10-25 19:34:49.000', 
@ModuleGUID='4C5842DA-40E5-40B8-AF03-BC5DD4B7E037'

In this example:

The sp_CleanInstance stored procedure deletes a completed or stopped XLANG schedule and all child instances of that schedule, as shown in the following:

sp_CleanInstance @InstanceID='{<globally unique identifier>}'

This deletion operation is transactional. In this stored procedure, @InstanceID is the globally unique identifier (GUID) that is the instance identifier of the root XLANG schedule. BizTalk Server 2000 uses this stored procedure. You are not required to call this stored procedure directly. Instead, you should follow the instructions for purging the XLANG database.

Publishing BizTalk Server 2000 in Active Directory

Introduced in SP1

After you install SP2, you can publish BizTalk Server 2000 in Microsoft Active Directory to determine the availability of BizTalk Server 2000 in a distributed environment. For example, you might need to know which computers are running BizTalk Server 2000. You can determine this by publishing BizTalk Server 2000 in Active Directory.

  1. On the Start menu, click Run.

  2. In the Open box, type cmd, and click OK.

  3. At the command prompt, change the directory to the Setup folder in your BizTalk Server 2000 installation directory.

    For example: At the command prompt, type cd \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Setup and press ENTER.

  4. At the command prompt, type cscript AD_registration.vbs and press ENTER.

  5. In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

  6. At the command prompt, type exit and press ENTER.

Note

Removing BizTalk Server 2000 from Active Directory

Introduced in SP1

When you remove BizTalk Server 2000 from a computer, its registration is not automatically removed from Active Directory. You need to remove the registration of that computer so that only those computers still running BizTalk Server 2000 are properly identified when you query Active Directory.

  1. On the Start menu, click Run.

  2. In the Open box, type cmd, and click OK.

  3. At the command prompt, change the directory to the Setup folder in your BizTalk Server 2000 installation directory.

    For example: At the command prompt, type cd \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Setup and press ENTER.

  4. At the command prompt, type cscript AD_registration.vbs /u and press ENTER.

  5. In the confirmation dialog box, click OK.

  6. At the command prompt, type exit and press ENTER.

Shared Queue database stops processing and rolls back

Introduced in SP1

If you install this Service Pack, BizTalk Server 2000 will stop processing an interchange or document and roll back the Shared Queue database under the following circumstances:

The transaction is rolled back even if BizTalk Server 2000 stopped processing after the interchange or document was transmitted. When the Shared Queue database is available again, the label is removed for all documents that are marked as "in process." This means that the documents are processed again instead of being placed in the Suspended queue.

If you use transactional message queues or reliable messaging, the delivery of your interchange or document is guaranteed to be just once. If you use non-transactional transmissions, then BizTalk Server 2000 might send the same document twice under the circumstances described in this topic.

Note

Specifying a valid name format for message queues

Introduced in SP1

When you specify the location for a message queue, you can use any name format that is valid. The following list provides examples of valid name formats for message queues:

Notes


BizTalk Editor

This section contains important updates about BizTalk Editor.

The following topics are covered in this section:

Applying Custom Date/Time Format in BizTalk Editor

Introduced in SP1

A new custom date/time data type is available in BizTalk Editor. This date/time data type enables you to send date and time information in the following format: HHMMSSDD. For more information about this time format, see A supported time format for X12.

  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft BizTalk Server, and click BizTalk Editor.

  2. Open a specification.

    For more information about how to open a document specification, see "Open Specifications" in BizTalk Server 2000 Help.

  3. In the specification tree, click the field for which you want to set the custom date/time property, and then click the Parse tab.

  4. Double-click the Value column next to Custom Data Type.

  5. Click Time (TM) from the list of options and press ENTER.

    A warning message appears.

  6. Click Yes.

  7. Double-click the Value column next to Custom Date/Time Format.

  8. Click HHMMSSDD in the value list and press ENTER.

The new custom date/time data type is applied.

Important

Notes

Applying Custom Maximum Length property in BizTalk Editor

Introduced in SP1

In BizTalk Editor, there is a new property available for the Custom Data Type for numbers. It is Custom Maximum Length. This property enables you to use periods, dashes, and so forth in your numbers field.

Specifically, this property allows you to control length validation for the native (non-XML) representation of data for cases where normalization to/from XML (i.e. parsing or serialization) affects the length of the data, and the length of the native data is the critical validation facet (i.e. length of the data as XML is not important because XML is just an interim format, for example, when processing flat file to flat file).

  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft BizTalk Server, and click BizTalk Editor.

  2. Open a specification.

    For more information about how to open a document specification, in BizTalk Server 2000 Help, see "Open Specifications."

  3. In the specification tree, click the root node, a record, or a field for which you want to set the Custom Maximum Length property, and then click the Parse tab.

  4. Double-click the Value column next to Custom Data Type.

  5. Click one of the following options from the list and press ENTER.

    A warning message appears.

  6. Click Yes.

    The new Custom Maximum Length field appears.

  7. Enter a number that represents the maximum number of characters that this field can have and press ENTER.

A supported time format for X12

Introduced in SP1

In the BizTalk Editor, the supported time format for the X12 syntax (indicated when Standard is set to X12 on the Reference tab for the root node of the schema) is HHMMSSDD, where:

Using the HHMMSSDD format, data that satisfies the input range restrictions listed previously can be four, six, seven, or eight digits in length. In other words, specifying HHMMSSDD for a time format means that instance data must match HHMM, HHMMSS, HHMMSSD, or HHMMSSDD. Although the HHMMSSD format is unavailable in the list of options for custom date/type data types, you can specify this format by selecting HHMMSSDD and setting the Maximum Length property on the Declaration tab to 7.

If you use the HHMMSSss format or any of its variations, the X12 parser and serializer are unable to parse the data correctly and you will receive a validation error. The error will appear either in the Tools Warning window when you validate the specification or in the Event Log during run time. HHMMSSss is not an approved X12 format for time fields; X12 uses HHMMSSDD only.

All time fields using the HHMMSSDD custom format will be treated as strings because XML does not support decimal seconds or hundredths of seconds.

Correction to "Set parse properties" section

Introduced in SP1

In BizTalk Server 2000 Help, note the following correction to the text in the tables of the "Set parse properties" section. In the "Standard: Custom Structure Property: Delimited" subsection, in the Parse Tab: Root Node or Record Properties table, the Value column for the Append New Line row should appear as follows:

Select one of the following options:

In the "Standard: Custom Structure Property: Positional" subsection, in the Parse Tab: Root Node Properties or Record Properties table, the Value column for the Append Newline row should appear as follows:

Select one of the following options:

X12 schema restrictions

Introduced in SP1a

A restriction to the kinds of instance structure permutation supported by the X12 parser is that there cannot be generational skips in Hierarchy Level (HL) segments.

This is a restriction whereby any HL segment/loop must be exactly one level deeper from the root than its parent HL segment/loop, if it has a parent HL. For example, HL/NM1/HL is not supported. In other words, a given sequence of 'x' nested HLs must span exactly 'x' generations of depth in the tree.


BizTalk Mapper

This section contains important updates about BizTalk Mapper.

The following topic is covered in this section:

Creating direct links between fields when input field is optional

Introduced in SP1a

In BizTalk Server 2000, when you create a link from an optional field in the source schema to a field in the destination schema, BizTalk Mapper might generate Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) that will create a blank destination field. This happens if the source field does not appear in the instance document (because it is optional).

This BizTalk Server 2000 Service Pack corrects the problem. With BizTalk Server 2000 SP2, if the linked field is optional in the source schema, BizTalk Server generates an <xsl:if> clause to check for the existence of the source field before it creates the destination field. This ensures that the destination field is not created if the source field is absent in the source instance. When the source instance contains the field, the destination field is created as expected.


BizTalk Messaging Service

This section contains important updates about BizTalk Messaging Services.

The following topics are covered in this section:

Changing the default SMTP Subject value

Introduced in SP1

The default value for the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Subject is <document_name>-<Tracking_ID>. This enables you to route documents based on the document definition name.

To change the default value for the SMTP Subject, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft BizTalk Server, and click BizTalk Messaging Manager.

  2. In the Search for other items area, click Channels and click Search Now.

  3. Under Channel Name, click the channel for which you want to view the SMTP Subject and press ENTER.

  4. The Channel Properties Wizard opens.

  5. Click Next to advance through the wizard until you get to the Advanced Configuration page.

  6. On the Advanced Configuration page, click Advanced.

  7. In the Override Messaging Port Defaults dialog box, click Properties.

  8. In the Subject box, enter a new default value and click OK twice.

  9. Click Finish.

The change is saved.

Note

Configuring the proxy user name and password for HTTP/HTTPS transport services

Introduced in SP1

To configure the proxy user name and password for the HTTP and Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) transport services, perform the following steps:

  1. On the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft BizTalk Server, and click BizTalk Messaging Manager.

  2. In the Search for other items area, click Channels and click Search Now.

  3. Select the channel for which you want to configure the proxy user name and password and press ENTER.

    The Channel Properties Wizard opens.

  4. Click Next to advance through the wizard until you get to the Advanced Configuration page.

  5. On the Advanced Configuration page, click Properties.

  6. In the User name box, enter a valid user name to access the proxy server.

  7. In the Password box, enter a password to access the proxy server.

Two new dictionary keys provide the file name when a document is delivered

Introduced in SP1

Two keys, called src_filename and src_filepath, have been added to the run-time dictionary to provide the file name when a document is delivered. The server populates these keys when a File receive function or a Submit call with a file name has occurred. The file name is available throughout the life of a document. If an application integration component (AIC) requires these properties, they can be extracted from the dictionary. These keys will also be exposed as wildcard parameters, %src_filename% and %src_filepath%, similarly to %document_name% and %tracking_id%.

Notes


Deployment

This section contains important updates about deployment issues in BizTalk Server 2000.

The following topic is covered in this section:

Configuration Assistant: A tool for deploying BizTalk Server 2000

Introduced in SP1

Several modifications have been made to the BizTalk Server Configuration Assistant tool since the release of BizTalk Server 2000. Additional information on these modifications can be found in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

Q297445 INFO: List of Bugs Fixed in BizTalk Server 2000 Service Pack 1 (Q297445)

BizTalk Server Configuration Assistant is a tool that enables you to:

BizTalk Server Configuration Assistant relies on the BizTalk Messaging Configuration object model. For BizTalk Server Configuration Assistant to function correctly, the following files must be in the same directory as BizTalk Server Configuration Assistant:

Note

if (strDocsAppName <> strMapsAppName) then

On Error Resume Next

CreateApplicationFolder strLocalServer, strMapsAppName

Err.Clear

On Error GoTo errorExit

end if

For more information about BizTalk Server Configuration Assistant, see the readme file located in the \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server\SDK\Messaging Samples\BTConfigAssistant folder.


Document Tracking

This section contains important updates about document tracking.

The following topic is covered in this section:

Tracking database purging and archiving stored procedure usage

Introduced in SP1

The following section describes the syntax and arguments in the Tracking database SQL scripts.

Syntax

The following code is the syntax used in the dta_purge_old_records stored procedure:

[ @nPurgeType = ] nPurgeType,
[ @nPurgeValue = ] nPurgeValue,
[ @nCompletedInterchangesOnly = ] nCompletedInterchangesOnly,
[ @nArchiveFlag = ] nArchiveFlag
[ , [ @nvcArchiveDBServer = ] N'nvcArchiveDBServer' ] 
[ , [ @nvcArchiveDBName = ] N'nvcArchiveDBName' ] 

Arguments

This topic describes the arguments used in the syntax.

[ @nPurgeType = ] nPurgeType

The [ @nPurgeType = ] nPurgeType argument is an integer value that indicates whether to select the interchanges for deleting by timestamp or by row count. If nPurgeType is 1, then records are deleted by timestamp. If nPurgeType is 2, then records are deleted by row count.

[ @nPurgeValue = ] nPurgeValue

The [ @nPurgeValue = ] nPurgeValue argument is an integer value. The meaning of this argument depends on the value of nPurgeType.

If the value of nPurgeType is 1, then nPurgeValue represents the number of hours to subtract from CURRENT_TIMESTAMP to determine how to archive interchanges older than a certain date and time. For example, if you specify 96 as nPurgeValue, then you archive interchanges that are older than 96 hours (four days).

If the value of nPurgeType is 2, then nPurgeValue represents the number of interchanges to be left in the database after records are archived and deleted from the database. For example, specifying 25,000 results in archiving all interchanges below the top 25,000 rows.

[ @nCompletedInterchangesOnly = ] nCompletedInterchangesOnly

The [ @nCompletedInterchangesOnly = ] nCompletedInterchangesOnly argument is an integer value that configures whether or not interchanges that require additional processing are deleted from the database. For example, some interchanges or documents might be waiting for an acknowledgement or might have to be resubmitted.

If you configure nCompletedInterchangesOnly to equal 0, then the purge job deletes interchanges and documents whether or not they still require additional processing. Setting this argument to 0 results in faster completion of the purge job because there is less filtering.

If you configure nCompletedInterchangesOnly to equal 1, then the purge job does not delete interchanges and documents that require additional processing. Setting this argument to 1 results in slower completion of the purge job because there is more filtering.

[ @nArchiveFlag = ] nArchiveFlag

The [ @nArchiveFlag = ] nArchiveFlag argument is an integer value that indicates whether the stored procedure archives interchange and document records before deleting them. If the value of nArchiveFlag is 0, then the stored procedure does not archive any interchange or document records. If the value of nArchiveFlag is 1, then the stored procedure archives the interchange and document records before they are deleted from the database.

[ @nvcArchiveDBServer = ] nvcArchiveDBServer

The [ @nvcArchiveDBServer = ] nvcArchiveDBServer argument is an optional argument. Configure this argument if you configure nArchiveFlag to equal 1. This argument is an nvarchar(128) data type and it specifies the name of the database server where the stored procedure archives the interchange and document records.

[ @nvcArchiveDBName = ] nvcArchiveDBName

The [ @nvcArchiveDBName = ] nvcArchiveDBName argument is an optional argument. Configure this argument if you configure nArchiveFlag to equal 1. This argument is an nvarchar(128) data type and it specifies the name of the database where the stored procedure archives the interchange and document records.


Miscellaneous

This section contains important information about dependent software and technologies.

The following topics are covered in this section:

Accessibility

Introduced in SP1

The following table lists keyboard shortcuts in BizTalk Server 2000.

User interface Press To
BizTalk Editor SHIFT++ (With the NUMLOCK key enabled, press the + key on the number pad while pressing the SHIFT key.) Add a new custom annotation when the focus is on the namespace data sheet in the right pane.
BizTalk Editor TAB key Access the buttons in the upper right corner of the New Document Specification dialog box.
BizTalk Editor SHIFT+F10 Open the context menu for highlighted items.
BizTalk Editor CTRL+SHIFT+R Insert a new record into a document specification.
BizTalk Editor CTRL+SHIFT+F Insert a new field into a document specification.
BizTalk Mapper Arrow keys Move the focus in the Grid Preview window.
BizTalk Mapper SHIFT+F10 Open the context menu for highlighted items.
BizTalk Mapper TAB key Access the buttons in the upper right corner of the Select Source Specification Type dialog box.

The following table lists the operations for which there are no keyboard shortcuts. To perform the operations, you must use MouseKeys.

User interface Operation
BizTalk Editor Move, drag-and-drop, copy nodes
BizTalk Mapper Move, select functoids, drag-and-drop functoids, linking

Converting an XDR schema into an XSD

Introduced in SP1

You must download and run an updated XSLT style sheet to convert an XDR schema into an XSD schema.

  1. Browse to the MSDN Web site.

  2. In the Search Documents box, type XDR-XSD and click Go.

Note

Handling DBCS characters

Introduced in SP1a

The UNOX syntax identifier in EDIFACT is defined as a code extension technique to cover other non-single-byte characters. However, some countries and regions had already defined their own standards before the UNOX syntax was created. For example, in Korea, the standard called KEDIFACT marks data by KECA instead of UNO*. The EDIFACT data received by BizTalk Server 2000 has a modified header such that it is UNOA, however, the double-byte character set (DBCS) characters still remain. UNOA consists of uppercase ASCII characters only, and does not convert the DBCS characters correctly.

To resolve this issue, the EDIFACT parser and serializer have been updated. If the header is in UNOA characters, then the EDIFACT parser and serializer accept a registry key to define a codepage, other than the default codepage, that converts the data. A registry value, called EDIFACTUNOACodepage, has been added to the set of values that BizTalk Server 2000 defines. This registry value has a default of 0, and, if set to 0, uses BizTalk Server 2000 behavior. If this registry value is set to some other value, that value is the codepage value used to convert the resultant KEDIFACT data.

The codepage change is global. All EDIFACT data passing through that BizTalk Server 2000 processes data according to the EDIFACTUNOACodepage codepage.

Install MDAC 2.6 to avoid DBCS character corruption

Introduced in SP1

If you have installed Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.5 and have configured an SMTP messaging port to have Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) encoding, when DBCS data is sent through that port, the data will return corrupt. (MDAC 2.5 comes with all Windows 2000 Service Pack versions.)

To avoid this issue, you can install MDAC 2.6 in one of the following ways:

At this time, no fix is available that works on both MDAC 2.5 and MDAC 2.6.

MSXML 3.0 SP2 in Side-by-Side Mode recommended

Introduced in SP1

It is highly recommended that you use the Microsoft XML Parser (MSXML) version 3.0 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) with your installation of BizTalk Server 2000. In addition, it is recommended that you use MSXML in Side-by-Side Mode. MSXML 3.0 SP2 installs in Replace Mode by default.

If you configure MSXML to operate in Replace Mode by installing XMLINST.exe, you might experience problems with BizTalk Server. For example, you might not be able to open BizTalk Editor or BizTalk Mapper. If you configure MSXML to operate in Replace Mode by using XMLINST.EXE or by changing registry keys, your installation of BizTalk Server will not be supported.

The following procedure describes how you can configure MSXML using XMLINST.EXE to operate in Side-by-Side Mode, if you currently have it configured to operate in Replace Mode.

  1. On the Start menu, click Run.

  2. In the Open box, type cmd and click OK.

  3. At the command prompt, type xmlinst -u and press ENTER.

  4. At the command prompt, type %WINDIR%\system32\regsvr32 msxml.dll and press ENTER.

  5. At the command prompt, type %WINDIR%\system32\regsvr32 msxml2.dll and press ENTER.

  6. At the command prompt, type %WINDIR%\system32\regsvr32 msxml3.dll and press ENTER.

  7. At the command prompt, type exit and press ENTER.

For more information about using XMLINST.exe, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, "PRB: Application Errors Occur After You Run Xmlinst.exe on Production Servers" (Q278636).

Important

Visio 2002 must always use the system default font

Introduced in SP1a

This Service Pack provides Visio 2002 compatibility with BizTalk Server 2000. However, if you are using a language other than English in Visio 2002, some characters may not display properly in BizTalk Orchestration Designer. To correct this issue, specify that Microsoft Visio 2002 must always use the system default font.

  1. Exit BizTalk Orchestration Designer.

  2. On the Start menu, point to Programs and click Microsoft Visio.

  3. On the Tools menu, click Options and click the Regional tab.

  4. Under Document base font, select Always use the system default font.

  5. Exit Visio and open BizTalk Orchestration Designer.