In recent times we have noticed that a few of the BizTalk360 customers are facing performance issues in their environment based on their architecture. On the other hand, we have been receiving lots of positive responses from our customers after releasing our new version 11.0, which we have significantly improved the performance of the product. We have thoroughly investigated the case on the customer environments and helped them to overcome those performance issues by optimizing and providing fixes too.
Improving performance is a vast topic to be discussed. We will try to cover that will help the customers to improve on their own. Thus, this made us convert a few use cases into a blog.
Any product needs optimization to be one of its main components. Finding the “best” design in relation to a set of restrictions or priorities is the aim of optimization. These involve optimizing elements including output, durability, strength, dependability, efficiency, and use.
For the product to be utilized to its full potential and yield the greatest possible advantage, it must function effectively. Maintaining a high level of performance with the BizTalk360 is also crucial to maximizing its usefulness.
We can see the possibilities of optimization under the below categories.
The way the environment is configured is one of the main factors. The trickiest question to answer is the one we get asked by our clients frequently:
The answer is that to optimize performance, the size can change depending on the data flow; it cannot have a set size.
It is advised that the BizTalk360 be installed on a separate computer or device to monitor the BizTalk Server. A minimum of 16GB of RAM and quad-core CPUs are advised if you are utilizing the Monitor + Analytics functions of BizTalk360 and it is installed on a different machine. Once more, the size must be increased if the BizTalk Server is experiencing heavy transaction volume.
Due to budget constraints or any other reasons, you can also install the BizTalk360 with other software. If the BizTalk360 is installed on the same machine where you have BizTalk or SQL server, then we must double the sizes to attain the best performance.
It’s important to monitor all the artifacts that are available in your environment. Since the BizTalk360 is a vast product with 100+ major features including multiple monitoring features, helps to monitor the BizTalk Server in every aspect, and it requires more memory. But when you configure all the features without any planning, the monitoring will slow down its performance. To improve the performance, we must prioritize,
Let’s take an example,
You have 100+ applications, each application has 10+ artifacts. If you configure all the artifact in a single alarm, Now, BizTalk360 will try to check the status of 1000+ artifact every 60 seconds will take a certain time (due to multiple alarms and other features usage it takes more than 60 seconds) and will end up with performance issues like a timeout.
By following the above suggestions, using the parallel execution method, the alarms will be executed parallel, and results will be provided smoothly.
BizTalk360 will fetch the necessary details directly from the BizTalk databases and display them on the User Interface. For a few features data will be stored in the BizTalk360 database like event viewer, analytics, etc.,
Since these details are collected from different machines, there are possibilities that the data can overflow.
Take an example, you have configured the Advance event viewer feature and selected all the sources. For 3 machines (BizTalk server, SQL, BizTalk360), if there were 100 entries on an average for a second. Think about a day, it will easily reach 8.6 million records. For these records for a month, you need 30GB just to store them.
Hence, choosing critical event viewer sources will avoid/control the data flow. This applies to the analysis metrics as well as for performance and tracking data collection.
Every piece of data can be kept in its designated space in a database. Environments with high transaction volumes will usually become dump stuck if this is left unchecked, even for a minute. The system’s performance will be impacted by any data growth or loss. The product’s performance is directly correlated with or affected by the state of the database. As a result, keeping an eye on the database’s size is crucial.
On a simple note, any table within the BizTalk360 database that is closer/above 2 million records need urgent attention. Following the above suggestions will help us to keep the database growth and size under control.
When the table indexes reach a certain threshold, the database maintenance feature will let the user rebuild or rearrange the indexes and offer information about the state of the BizTalk360 database. The indexes, their status, and any necessary actions, such as rebuilding or reorganizing, are listed based on this threshold value scheme. The BizTalk360 system automatically acts against fragmented indexes. By making a timetable, users can arrange for an activity to be carried out precisely at that moment.
Check out the blog for more current use cases and solutions to the BizTalk360 database growth issue.
When a query or result takes more than seven to ten seconds to execute, it requires attention and improvement. Take this as an example:
We have incorporated a feature called Secure SQL Queries, which allows you to create a SQL query to access the contents of any SQL database without having to move between content and context, it is similar like a SSMS. If the query execution takes less than 7 seconds to establish the results, there is a stable network between the BizTalk360, the target database, and the optimized query.
If the query execution takes longer than seven to ten seconds, we need to make sure that BizTalk360 and the target database have a reliable network connection. We also need to optimize the query to increase performance. This is applicable to all modules.
There are built-in tools within the BizTalk360 that will help us identify the possible problems that may lead to performance impact. If we find any possible case, once we diagnose the performance will be improved.
It’s a single place where you can go and check the feedback. From version 11.0, we have newly introduced this advisor. A score for both product utilization and the health of the environment is provided by the BizTalk360 Advisor score. The actions and recommendations aid users in keeping BizTalk360 in good working order and improve their user experience.
The Usage Score assesses how well users are using BizTalk360 with the license that was purchased. It evaluates your usage of the features that are provided.
The following are some of the elements that determine the Health Score:
In addition to the score, BizTalk360 Advisor offers suggested steps to assist you optimize product utilization and enhance environmental well-being.
Usually, the error message provides the first clue as to what’s causing the issues. The BizTalk360 application logs are useful in diagnosing faults that have occurred within the application. The system will gather all error messages when the logs are configured, and you can review them by examining the timestamp and error description.
Performance issues can be avoided based on the diagnosis.
Included with BizTalk360 are two Windows services for operations, monitoring, and performance data collection: BizTalk360 Monitor and Analytics. These services each have sub-services that manage the execution of the different processes.
It is possible for there to be a situation when the sub-services run into trouble and throw exceptions. The details of a service exception that happens while it is operating are shown in the Manage Services area, which enables you to evaluate the general health of the service. You can operate the BizTalk360 for seamless operation by keeping an eye on this feature.
Please refer to the blog, in which we have discussed Data Purging, Database Index health, Database health status, Number of threads per core, etc., features that help to maintain the health of the database and improve performance.
As most of us are aware, BizTalk360 releases new versions every three to four months. Every version will include bug fixes, enhancements to current features, and the addition of at least three new important features. It is therefore crucial to stick with the most recent version or at least one version behind it to take advantage of the bug fixes and enhancements, as well as the latest features.
We hope that the information above will enable you to enhance BizTalk360’s functionality. BizTalk360 additionally managed the data security, migrations, upgrades, and availability. We’ll never stop enhancing the benefits and experience for our customers.
Are you interested in using BizTalk360 for monitoring! Try the free trial or schedule a demo to learn more about the features of BizTalk360.