Powershell scripts to stop/start BizTalk Applications

We are finally almost finished with a migration project from BizTalk 2006 to BizTalk 2010. Some of my 'tools' need updating. First up is my application start/stop utility since this is the only one that flat out doesn't work.

Out of curiosity I wanted to test different methods of accessing the BizTalk applications. WMI was automatically out because it doesn't expose BizTalk applications. My options were using the BizTalk Explorer OM which is part of the BizTalk installation or the BizTalkFactory Powershell Provider on CodePlex which requires an installation. It is pretty common for production environments to have strict limitations on what third-party code can be installed so the BizTalkFactory route is not always an option.

This first example uses the BizTalk Explorer OM. Beware of line wrapping from the blog software.

# declare -stop -start switch parameters
param([switch] $start, [switch] $stop)
 
 # Get local BizTalk DBName and DB Server from WMI
 $btsSettings = get-wmiobject MSBTS_GroupSetting -namespace 'root\MicrosoftBizTalkServer'
 $dbInstance = $btsSettings.MgmtDbServerName
 $dbName = $btsSettings.MgmtDbName
 
 # Load BizTalk ExplorerOM
 [void] [System.reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM")
 $BizTalkOM = New-Object Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM.BtsCatalogExplorer
 $BizTalkOM.ConnectionString = "SERVER=$dbInstance;DATABASE=$dbName;Integrated Security=SSPI"


 if ($stop)
 {
   $BizTalkOM.Applications | where-object{$_.status -eq "started"}  | ForEach-Object{ $_.stop("StopAll")}
   $BizTalkOM.SaveChanges()  
 } 
 if ($start)
 {
   $BizTalkOM.Applications | where-object{$_.status -eq "stopped"}  | ForEach-Object{ $_.start("StartAll")}
   $BizTalkOM.SaveChanges()  
 }
 

The very first line sets up parameters so this script can be called with a -start or -stop switch (or both for a restart).

I prefer to have universal scripts that find their own BizTalk databases without hardcoding server names into scripts since we have multiple enironments. In this case I get the database server and management database information from WMI.

The next step is to load the BizTalk ExplorerOM and connect it to the BizTalk database.

Finally the applications are filtered on their status and then stopped or started using the ForEach-Object. Once all applications have been set to stop or start call SaveChanges to actually commit the start or stop.

The following example demonstrates using the BizTalkFactory PowerShell Provider.

# declare -start -stop switch parameters
param([switch] $start, [switch] $stop)

 # Get local BizTalk DBName and DB Server from WMI
 $btsSettings = get-wmiobject MSBTS_GroupSetting -namespace 'root\MicrosoftBizTalkServer'
 $dbInstance = $btsSettings.MgmtDbServerName
 $dbName = $btsSettings.MgmtDbName
 
 new-psdrive -name Biztalk -psprovider Biztalk -root biztalk:\ -instance $dbInstance -database $dbName

 if ($stop) { get-childitem -path biztalk:\applications\* | where-object {$_.status -eq "started"} | stop-application }
 
 if ($start) { get-childitem -path biztalk:\applications\* | where-object {$_.status -eq "stopped"} | start-application }

This script sets up the BizTalkFactory PowerShell Provider instead of the BizTalkExplorerOM.

The other difference is piping the filtered applications into the BizTalkFactory PowerShell Provider stop and start methods rather than the foreach-object loop.

Both of these scripts are pretty compact so the deciding factor becomes whether the BizTalkFactory PowerShell Provider is even an option in a specific environment.

I have a third version that follows a pattern Tomas Restrepo uses for starting and stopping host instances.

I mainly like this pattern because it allows for checking the status of an application just before starting or stopping it. In the previous examples the where-object returns a collection of applications which may be dependent on each other so some of them may be started already earlier in the loop.

In this example, I also added the functionality for specifying a specific application. Note the change to the parameter definition and the new get-applications function. If no application is specified then all applications will be processed.

# declare -stop -start switch parameters
param([switch] $start, [switch] $stop, [string] $app)
 
 function start-application($application)
 {
    # If the application is stopped, start it.
    if ( $application.status -eq "Stopped")
    {
      "Starting application " + $application.name
      $application.Start("StartAll")
    }
 }

 function stop-application($application)
 {
    # If the application is started, stop it.
    if ( $application.status -eq "Started")
    {
      "Stopping application " + $application.name
      $application.Stop("StopAll")
    }
 }

 function get-applications()
 {
    #if there is an application specified in the command line parameter, return just that application
    if ($app)
      { return $BizTalkOM.Applications[$app] }
    else
      { return $BizTalkOM.Applications }
 }

 # Get local BizTalk DBName and DB Server from WMI
 $btsSettings = get-wmiobject MSBTS_GroupSetting -namespace 'root\MicrosoftBizTalkServer'
 $dbInstance = $btsSettings.MgmtDbServerName
 $dbName = $btsSettings.MgmtDbName
 
 # Load BizTalk ExplorerOM
 [void] [System.reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM")
 $BizTalkOM = New-Object Microsoft.BizTalk.ExplorerOM.BtsCatalogExplorer
 $BizTalkOM.ConnectionString = "SERVER=$dbInstance;DATABASE=$dbName;Integrated Security=SSPI"

 # if no commandline parameters are supplied do a stop and a start
 if ( !($stop) -and !($start) )
 {
    $stop = $true
    $start = $true
 } 

 if ($stop) 
{
   get-applications | %{stop-application($_)}
   
   # Commit changes
   $BizTalkOM.SaveChanges()  
  }

 
 if ($start)
 {
   get-applications | %{start-application($_)}

   # Commit changes
   $BizTalkOM.SaveChanges()  
 }

Just like the other scripts I use stop and start switch parameters and WMI to find out what BizTalk database to use. The stop and start functions give the opportunity to do a little more with each application object. I could have crammed them into one liners but they would not have been as easy to read. Since PowerShell is not very wide-spread where I work readability is important. The drawback is it makes the script look more complicated.

Exporting BizTalk Applications with BizTalkFactory PowerShell Provider

I've been reading "Powershell in a month of Lunches" and wanted to have something to apply the lessons to. Since I do a lot of BizTalk deployments, a BizTalk oriented script was a natural choice.

A lot of the scripts out there look like they come from folks who are used to scripting from the BizTalk / btstask perspective rather than really using the power of powershell and the BizTalkFactory PowerShell Provider.

First of all I have the following in my powershell profile so the powershell provider automatically loads every time I run powershell:

$InitializeDefaultBTSDrive = $false
Add-PSSnapin BiztalkFactory.Powershell.Extensions
Function Biztalk: { Set-Location Biztalk: }
Function Biztalk:\ { Set-Location Biztalk:\ }

The script itself is designed to export all applications on a server, including any binding file resources but not the default bindings or the webs, into an msi package. The default bindings are exported separately. It is useful to be able to see what the current bindings are as they may have been modified after installation.

My servers have environment variables that specify the BizTalk server and BizTalk database so these should be replaced as appropriate for your environment.

NOTE: The first line gets wrapped by the blog software!

new-psdrive -name Biztalk -psprovider Biztalk -root biztalk:\ -instance $env:BT_SERVER -database $env:BT_DATABASE

$apps = get-childitem -path biztalk:\applications\*

foreach($app in $apps)
{

  if ($app.isSystem -eq $false)
  {

    $appName = $app.Name

    $spec = Get-ApplicationResourceSpec $app

    foreach ($resource in $spec.ResourceSpec.Resources.Resource)
    {
      if ( ($resource.Type -eq "System.BizTalk:WebDirectory")
         -or  ($resource.Type -eq "System.BizTalk:BizTalkBinding"
         -and $resource.luid -eq "Application/$appName"))
      {
        $spec.ResourceSpec.Resources.RemoveChild($resource)
      }
    }

  export-application $app ".\$appName.msi" $spec
  export-bindings $app ".\$appName.xml"

  }
}

The script goes through all applications and retrieves the resource specification for each one. Web resources and default bindings are removed from the specification before the export-application call. Any bindings added as resources will remain in the resource spec.

The if statement selecting the resource.types may need to be on one line but was wrapped here for readability.

This was a very satisfying little project that I hope you can find a good use for!