Deploying an Application Interactively

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Deploying a BizTalk application to a BizTalk server or server group using the Deployment Framework for BizTalk is a two-step process:


  1. Install the application MSI on the server
  2. Launch the deployment process


This topic will describe how to deploy an application interactively (user-assisted).


Single Server Deployment

Before you begin, you must have a copy of the BizTalk application's MSI created through the previously described steps.  Follow this process to install and deploy a BizTalk application to a single BizTalk server.


Step 1 of 2: Install the MSI

Copy the MSI to the BizTalk server, then double-click the MSI in Windows Explorer to launch the install wizard.  The following is a sample of an application installation wizard.


The initial page of the installation wizard displays the name of the application that is about to be installed.  Click Next.



The next page displays the software license agreement.  Click Next.



The next page displays the default path where the application files will be installed.  Use the Change button to change the path, if desired.  Click Next.



The installation is now ready to begin.  Click Install to begin the installation.



Once the installation completes, the final page appears.



The application files are now installed on the machine, but the application has not been deployed into BizTalk.  You must make a decision: check the checkbox to deploy the application into BizTalk immediately upon clicking Finish, or skip the checkbox and click Finish without deploying the application into BizTalk.  If you choose to finish without deploying the application, then you must initiate the deployment process via the application's program group under the Start menu.


NOTE: The application now appears in Add/Remove Programs like any other installed Windows application.


Step 2 of 2: Deploy the Application into BizTalk

Now that the BizTalk application's files have been installed on the BizTalk server, the application is ready to be deployed into BizTalk.


If you checked the checkbox on the final page of the installation wizard, then the deployment wizard should already be visible on the screen.  If you did not check the checkbox, then open the Start menu and locate a program group named the same as the BizTalk application.  Click the "Deploy <BizTalk app name>" link to launch the deployment wizard.


Regardless of which of the two methods you chose to begin the deployment, you should now see the deployment wizard.  An example is shown below.  The exact screen will vary depending on how the developer customized the wizard for this particular application.


In this example, the Deployment Framework will grant NTFS permissions to file folders referenced by BizTalk FILE adapters.  When asked to provide a username, always use the format DOMAIN\USERNAME.  For example, MYDOMAIN\Joe or MYCOMPUTER\Jane.



To continue the example, after filling in a username and clicking Next, the following screen appears:



This screen will appear in virtually every deployment wizard, regardless of the application.  The Deployment Framework for BizTalk uses an Excel spreadsheet to maintain an assortment of environment-specific settings (for dev, test, prod, etc.).  At deployment time (now), the settings associated with one of those environments are used to dynamically build a BizTalk bindings XML file specific to the current environment.


Click the ellipsis (...) button to bring up a standard Windows file browser dialog.  The dialog will open with the current directory set to the application's installation folder (typically under Program Files).  Here's an example:



Notice that there is a folder named "EnvironmentSettings".  By default, this folder holds an assortment of environment-specific settings XML files that were previously exported from the Excel spreadsheet.  Double-click to open the EnvironmentSettings folder.  Here's an example of the typical contents:



The file names will vary based on your specific environment, but the application developer should have configured them to make sense in your particular environment.  Choose the file that corresponds to the current environment in which you are deploying the application and click Open.


The wizard should now look something like this:



Click Next to continue.  Once you have walked through all of the steps configured by the application developer, you will arrive at the final step:



This is a very important step.  When deploying to a single BizTalk server, there is only one server in the BizTalk group, so you must check the checkbox before clicking Finish to start the deployment script.  When deploying to a BizTalk group, pay careful attention to the sequence in which you deploy to each server and choose the appropriate state for the checkbox.


After clicking Finish, the actual deployment script will begin (driven by MSBuild.exe):



When the deployment finishes, it will display a message indicating success or failure.  It's possible that some warnings will appear.  They are worth reviewing but generally don't indicate a significant problem.


TIP: The complete output from the deployment script (the text displayed in the command window) is saved to a subfolder named DeployResults in the application install folder (usually under Program Files).


This completes the application deployment to a single BizTalk server.


Multi-Server Deployment (BizTalk Group)

Once you understand how to deploy your application to a single BizTalk server, it's easy to extend that knowledge to an entire BizTalk group.


The multi-server deployment process is virtually identical to the single-server process.  The key differences are:


  1. The application MSI must be copied to and installed on every server in your BizTalk group
  2. The deployment script must be executed on every server in your BizTalk group
  3. The checkbox on the last page of the deployment wizard, which asks "is this the LAST server in the BizTalk group," must be set correctly on each server


BizTalk requires application binaries and certain other artifacts to be installed on every BizTalk server that runs the application.  However, the BizTalk application, its port bindings, rule policies and more must be registered in the BizTalk databases only once within the group.  This is the reason why the checkbox asks if this is the last server in the group.


The recommended process is:


  1. Identify the complete set of BizTalk servers within the BizTalk group that will run the application
  2. Walking through the servers one at a time:
  3.        Copy the application MSI to the server
  4.        Install the MSI
  5.        Deploy the application, unchecking the checkbox on the final page of the deployment wizard
  6. On the final server in the list, follow steps 3-5 but check the checkbox on the final page of the deployment wizard


The deployment process on each individual server is the same as the Single Server Deployment process described above.



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