Darko Jovisic

If you need to create xml schema and you already have a sample xml file, you can have BizTalk generate schema for you. You can do this by:

1. Right click your BizTalk project
2. Add -> Add Generated Items
3. Select "Generate Schemas"
4. New dialog opens. You need to select what kind of input document you will provide (default is dtd). You will want you use "Well formed XML", but this is not enabled by default BizTalk installation. To enable this go to you BizTalk installation folder (e.g C:\Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk 2004) and go to \SDK\Utilities\Schema Generator. You need to execute VB script called InstallWFX.vbs. After this you can use well-formed xml's.
5. Select your input file and click OK. Voilla, you have your schema.

REMARKS:
Be sure to inspect generated schema. The code generator works fine, but you might need to fine tune it (set proper data types, value ranges, etc.).

I've just started working on a BAM project, so I started reading tutorials. Everyone was mentioning Excel add-in. I thought that it was an installation that you download from Microsoft's website, but after spending couple of hours searching for this add-in I realized it's just a plain Excel file BAM.xls located in \Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004\Tracking (depends in which folder you installed BizTalk) that you need to copy somewhere else, because it's read-only. I felt so stupid! I hope I spared you some time looking for it.

Update: In BizTalk 2006 BAM Excel is no longer implemented as a Excel template, now it's a permanent add-in. If it's not available when you open Excel, click Tools -> Add-ins -> Business Activity Monitoring

Just finished upgrading our development & testing server to BizTalk 2006. There were no problems. Just be sure to backup master database and all the BizTalk databases, otherwise you might lose everything if something goes wrong.

Before upgrading, make sure you install:

1. Internet Information Services 6.0
2. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 4
3. SQLXML 3.0 with Service Pack3
4. SQL Notification Services with Service Pack1
5. Windows SharePoint Services2.0 with Service Pack 2
6. Microsoft .NET Framework2.0
7. Microsoft Visual Studio®2005
8. Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC)2.8 Service Pack1 (SP1) (not required Win2003)
9. Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML)3.0 Service Pack7 (SP7)
10. Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML)6.0
11. Office Web Components 11 (OWC11) with Service Pack1 (required for HAT)
12. ADOMD.NET 8.0
13. ADOMD.NET 2005 (9.0)

Optional (if you want BAM and BAS):
1. InfoPath 2003 with Service Pack 2
2. Excel 2003 with Service Pack 2

Procedure:
1. Stop all BizTalk hosts
2. Stop Rule Update Engine service
3. Stop World Wide Web Publishing service
4. Start Enterprise Single Sign-On service, if not started.
5. BACKUP YOUR DATABASES
6. Start installation & follow instructions.

Restart is not required after upgrade.

Remarks: I didn't test assemlies written for .NET 1.1, but I think it should work just fine. Also I'm not sure how will this upgrade behave in a clustered enviroment, so be sure to read all the necessary documentation before taking any actions.

Refer to this document for further reading:

Installing and Configuring Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 Beta 2 on Windows Server 2003