1. BizTalk Throttling & Thresholds

2. Who am I? BizTalk Administrator for Bouvet in Norway
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4. So, is throttling good or bad?

5. What is thresholds?
Containers
Limits
Bounderies

6. How does thresholds affect BizTalk
Designed to…
manage server resources
manage rate-based flow
manage dehydration behavior

7. Who should change the default settings?
When you see thresholds being hit due to
Rate of messages
Use of server resources
However 70% of all companies world-wide never change the defualt setting for threshold, but should they?

8. Why would you change them?
Grant more resources to an application
Limit the application to perform less
However these changes only comes into play when you have to change them due to some of the above bullets.

9. Resource-based throttling

10. Rate-based throttling

11. Orchestration throttling

12. So what is throttling then?
Throttling is a first-aid kit to the environment
Prevent melt-downs
Prevent memory leaks
Prevent developer to bring problems into production
But it may also
Help you to manage the use of resources based on physical resources or rate of data flow

13. Are we throttling now? You can monitor your throttling states
Performance Monitor
Built in with BizTalk
BizTalk Message Agent
BizTalk360
Built in throttling analyzer

14. Two differences! Publishing Delivery
Messages being sent into the messagebox
Messages being sent out from BizTalk

15. Publishing happens in and may also appear in Receive Ports
Orchestrations
Send Ports with two-way communication

16. Delivery happens in and may also appear in Send ports Orchestrations
Receive ports with two-way communication

17. Publishing throttling states
2 – Incoming rate exceeds outgoing rate
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
Message publishing incoming rate
message publishing outgoing rate
This will happen if the incoming message rate exceeds the message outgoing rate, and the database experience problems with coping with the increasing amount of messages being published to the BizTalk databases. In order for BizTalk to deal with this problems it simply blocks the publishing of messages until incoming rate is at par with the message outgoing rate. You can view this scenario in real-time by using the performance monitor.

18. Publishing throttling states
4 – memory exceeds specified threshold
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
High process memory
process memory usage (MB)
process memory usage threshold (MB)
This will happen if the incoming message rate exceeds the message outgoing rate, and the database experience problems with coping with the increasing amount of messages being published to the BizTalk databases. In order for BizTalk to deal with this problems it simply blocks the publishing of messages until incoming rate is at par with the message outgoing rate. You can view this scenario in real-time by using the performance monitor

19. Publishing throttling states
5- System memory exceeds threshold
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
Physical memory usage threshold (MB)
Physical memory usage (MB)
This state couldn't be described any better, the system memory exceeds the specified threshold and simply stops the EPM to start processing new messages and reduce the current EPM thread count, if the reason for this state is because a steep memory usage of a batch file it will take longer to finish it, and if it is too big it will be dropped by BizTalk. use the following counters too see this issue in Performance Monitor

20. Publishing throttling states
6 – Host message size
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
database size
BizTalk:MessageBox : General Counters
Spool size
Tracking data size
BizTalk: MessageBox : Host Counters
Host queue length
Host queue suspend message length
The reason why you encounter this state maybe that some of your SQL jobs have stopped, tracking host is not running or the number of suspended messages is high. This state will as the one above create the same scenario as above, it will reduce the threads for EPM, it also blocks the EPM to process any new messages and creates a publishing delay for all messages. In this scenario there are several counters to monitor

21. Publishing throttling states
8 – Database session exceeds threshold
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
Database session
This state simply states that the sessions used by the host towards the database exceeds the specified threshold. The auto throttling here will do the same as in state 4 and 6, reduce the threads for EPM and stop the execution of any the threads, it will also delay all ongoing messages until the database is back to normal. If this happens i recommend you to reduce the database connection threshold for the host. You can monitor this by looking at the following counters in Performance Monitor

22. Publishing throttling states
9 – Process count exceeds threshold
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
Thread count
Thread count threshold
What it says is that the process counts exceeds a specified threshold, the reason for this may be that you have to many transactions on that hosts that creates too many processes, try reducing the amount of allowed threads on the host so that the system don’t create too many threads. The self throttling will do the exact same as in state 8 and basically reduce the EPM thread count, stop it from creating new and messages will be delayed until the host is back to normal state again. You can monitor this by using the following counters in Performance Monitor

23. Delivery throttling states
1 – Incoming rate exceeds outgoing rate
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
Message publishing incoming rate
message publishing outgoing rate
This happens if the message incoming rate is greater and exceeds the message outgoing rate, it can be caused by a shortage in resources or by high process complexity. BizTalk perform a self throttling blocking the delivery thread for a computed time until the message incoming rate is at par with the outgoing rate. To monitor this use the following counters in the Performance Monitor

24. Delivery throttling states
3 – in-process delivery exceeds threshold
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
In-process message count
In-process message count threshold
This state informs us that the a number on in-process messages delivered to a service class exceeds the specified threshold and can be caused by processing high complexity messages, slow outbound adapters or a shortage in resources on the server. BizTalk self throttles and slows down the message delivery to XLANG or adapters, It also reduce the size of the thread pool by the message agent. You can monitor this by looking at the following counters in Performance Monitor

25. Delivery throttling states
4 – Process memory exceeds threshold
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
High process memory
Process memory usage (MB)
Process memory usage threshold (MB)
Active instance count
In-process message count
This one is also covered well in publishing throttling states, it basically tells us that we exceed the specified value of the process memory threshold. It occurs when you have large and complex messages that are being processed, or a high amount of message simultaneously. This sate will not make the system idle so no immediate action is needed if this is a once in a life-time scenario, however BizTalk will still perform self throttling and slow down delivery of messages to adapters and XLANG. It may also reduce the memory usage by dehydrating messages and reduce the size of the EPM thread pool sometimes it also force a .NET garbage collect. you can monitor this by using the counters described below;

26. Delivery throttling states
5 - System memory exceeds threshold
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
Physical memory usage
Basically the systems memory exceeds the specified threshold and BizTalk will slow down message delivery to adapters and XLANG, it will also try to decrease the memory consumption by dehydrating messages it also reduce the thread pool size of EPM. If you have this issue often you should consider reducing the EPM thread pool to decrease the occurrence of this throttling state as it will slow down BizTalk drastically. You can read the monitor for this in Performance Monitor as well by using the following counter;

27. Delivery throttling states
9 -Process thread count exceeds threshold
Counter
Sub counter
BizTalk:Message Agent
Thread count
Thread count threshold
You will encounter this sate if BizTalk has a process thread count that exceeds the specified threshold. BizTalk will automatic throttle to decrease the thread count used by EPM and you should consider changing the different thread throttling settings for the different hosts. You can monitor this issue too in Performance Monitor by checking the following counters;

28. Demo
Slow running application vs. normal application

29. I ask again, is throttling good or bad?

30. ?

31. BizTalk Tracking

32. Tracking, what? When is tracking needed What can it be used for?
What are default settings
Should you disable it in production
When is tracking needed?
Is tracking really needed, what can it be used for.
I highly recommend you to disable all tracking in production, it will increase the size of the BizTalk database and therefor are not recommended due to performance, specially if your environment is huge. The only default tracking options that are turned on an can only be turned of is the global tracking, this can be turned off under the settings of your environment. Its the in and out events, and the tracking of all instances. The rest can be set as you want. For orchestrations the 1st and 3rd option is on by default.

33. Artefact tracking Information about data going through the environment
Information gathered from artifacts in BizTalk

34. Global Tracking
Setting to turn tracking on or off for the entire environment
Can be changed by right-clicking the group

36. Orchestration tracking
Track Events - Orchestration start and end
Select this check box to track the orchestration instance before and after processing of the entire business process. Orchestration tracking enables you to see the instances in the tracking query result views.
Track Events - Message send and receive
Select this check box to track message send and receive events. This check box is available only if you select the Orchestration start and end check box.
Track Events - Shape start and end
Select this check box when you need to debug orchestration instances in the Orchestration Debugger. When this check box is selected, the event list in the Orchestration Debugger is populated. This check box is available only if you select the Orchestration start and end check box.
Orcheastation tracking.
Options 1 and 3 on this slide is turned on by default, this two options must be on for orchestration debugger.

37. Orchestration tracking
Track Message Bodies - Before orchestration processing
Select this check box to save and track the actual message content prior to processing by the orchestration instance. This check box is available only if you select the Message send and receive check box.
Track Message Bodies - After orchestration processing
Select this check box to save and track the actual message content after processing by the orchestration instance. This check box is available only if you select the Message send and receive check box.
Track Message Properties - Incoming messages
Select this check box to track the promoted properties of an inbound message.
Track Message Properties - Outgoing messages
Select this check box to track the promoted properties of an outbound message.

38. Receive Port tracking
Track Message Bodies - Request message before port processing
Select this check box to save and track message content before the message is received.
Track Message Bodies - Request message after port processing
Select this check box to save and track message content after the message is received.
Track Message Properties - Request message before port processing
Select this check box to track the promoted properties of an inbound message.
Track Message Properties - Request message after port processing
Select this check box if you want to track the promoted properties of an outbound message.

39. Send Port tracking
Track Message Bodies - Request message before port processing
Select this check box to enable you to save and track message content before the message is received.
Track Message Bodies - Request message after port processing
Select this check box to enable you to save and track message content after the message is received.
Track Message Properties - Request message before port processing
Select this check box to track the promoted properties of an inbound message.
Track Message Properties - Request message after port processing
Select this check box if you want to track the promoted properties of an outbound message.

40. BRE tracking
Fast activity
Select this check box to track the instance data on which the policy operates.
Condition evaluation
Select this check box to track the true/false results of conditions in the selected policy.
Rule firings
Select this check box to track the actions started as a result of the policy.
Agenda updates
Select this check box to track updates to the agenda. The agenda contains a list of actions that are "true" and need to fire.
Messageboxes always has to be a odd number. Not even.

41. Schema tracking Select the schema you want to track
By selecting the schema you want to track you can see changes made before and after a messages has passed through the schema

42. Pipeline tracking Port start and end events
Select this check box to track only when an instance starts and ends. Details include item name, assembly, and other metadata.
Message send and receive events
Select this check box to track message send and receive events. This check box is available only if Port start and end events is selected.
Messages before pipeline processing
Select this check box to save and track the message bodies received by the pipeline, which holds metadata such as URLs and promoted properties. If this is a receive pipeline, the message body is the raw message as submitted to the pipeline by the transport component. Depending on the application, the message might be encrypted, signed, or encoded. When using a BizTalk map, if this is a receive pipeline, tracking takes place after the inbound map is processed.
This check box is available only if Message send and receive events is selected.
Messages after pipeline processing
Select this check box to save and track the message bodies sent by the pipeline, which holds metadata such as URLs and promoted properties. If this is a receive pipeline, the message body is the processed message to be submitted to the MessageBox database, which may be XML depending on your application. When using a BizTalk map, if this is a send pipeline, tracking takes place before the outbound map is processed.

43. Two ways to move tracking data
One for moving the content of the messages
One for the rest of the tracking data

44. Dedicated tracking host
Moves all events and execute cleanup within the tracking database
One per MessageBox + one for redundancy

45. SQL Agent job
TrackedMessages_Copy_BizTalkMsgBoxDb moves all content to the tracking database

46. Tables in the MessageBox
TrackingData_0_x contains data waiting to be transferred to BAM
TrackingData_1_x contains data waiting to be transferred to the DTA database

47. Gathering statistics How long did my orchestration take?
How long did it take from receiving till it was sent
How many messages do I transfer
Specific information regarding tracking based on artifacts.
When should you have maintenance hours
How to keep statistics

48. How does it evolve Information gathered over time
Simplify gathering by using PowerShell, databases or other software programs like Excel and PowerPivot

49. In and Out Events

50. Service Instances

51. Combination

52. Scripts and queries Powershell script to delete old files
Find information for orphaned messages
Statistics from in and out events in BizTalk
Statistics from in out events grouped by portname and date
Large files in tracking database
Get statistics from Instances in BizTalk
Instances in Messagebox being processed by a host instance
Stop all applications
BizTalk Powershell to clean messagebox and tracking database
Count Send Ports by adapters in BizTalk
Count Receive Location based on adapter usage
Load more information from your BizTalk Tracking database
Clean orphaned messages in BizTalk
Find recieve locations by address
Find send ports by port address

53. Resources online for tracking
BizTalk Server 2010: BizTalkDTADb
BizTalk Server Resources on the TechNet Wiki
BizTalk Server: Administrator Queries and Scripts
White Paper: Proactivity in BizTalk

54. ?