Accelerator for RosettaNet Configuration Failure
I have seen quite a few issues since last year regarding to BTARN configuration wizard. The failures seemed to be in the wizard itself, not the typical SQL connectivity or permission related issues. In some cases the UI failed to load at all. Configuration log indicated access violation during form load. In other cases, configuration UI does load but configuration fail to complete. While the errors vary, the configuration log pointed to something UI related. These issues have been difficult to track down. In one case, we created a number of debug builds but the symptom continued to shift. So while we are still looking for the root cause, I thought it’d be helpful to post the workaround we have been using. The workaround is simply to use silent configuration. Logical since the problem seems to be specific to UI. For BTARN, there are only 2 features so the configuration XML is manageable. You can either export a configuration XML from a fully configured BTARN box and then modify the settings or you can copy configuration XMLs from a configuration log and combine the features manually. In case you don’t have access to a configuration XML for BTARN, this is a sample of what it should look like:
<Configuration>
<Feature Name="Runtime" DisplayName="Runtime" Version="1.0" Description="Runtime Components for RosettaNet.">
<Question ID="RNCREATEORJOIN" Text="Do you want to create a new database group? (Uncheck to join an existing database group)" Answers="Create,Join" Default="Create">
<Answer Value="Create" GUID="{B6BD84F3-E70B-4C62-B5AF-2DFBDA8CA655}" Selected="Yes">
<SQL ID="RN_DB" DisplayName="Configuration Database" Description="This database stores configuration data for BizTalk Accelerator for RosettaNet.">
<Server>Insert Server Name</Server>
<Database>BTARNCONFIG</Database>
<WindowsSecurity Editable="no">yes</WindowsSecurity>
<UserName /><Password /></SQL>
<SQL ID="RN_DATADB" DisplayName="Storage Database" Description="This database stores runtime information for RosettaNet transactions.">
<Server>Insert Server Name</Server>
<Database>BTARNDATA</Database>
<WindowsSecurity Editable="no">yes</WindowsSecurity>
<UserName /><Password /></SQL>
<SQL ID="RN_ARCHIVEDB" DisplayName="Archive Database" Description="This database stores message content for archive and tracking purposes.">
<Server>Insert Server Name</Server>
<Database>BTARNARCHIVE</Database>
<WindowsSecurity Editable="no">yes</WindowsSecurity><UserName /><Password /></SQL>
</Answer>
</Question>
<Name ID="RN_IISSERVERNAME_ID" DisplayName="Web server name" Description="The name of the Web server where the RosettaNet applications are installed." Hidden="false">
<Value>Insert Server Name</Value>
</Name>
<Name ID="RN_IISPORTNAME_ID" DisplayName="Web Server: Port number" Description="The RosettaNet application port number." Hidden="false">
<Value>80</Value>
</Name>
<WebSite ID="RN_HTTPRECEIVERWEBAPP" DisplayName="BizTalk HTTP Receive virtual folder " Description="Configure HTTP Receive virtual folder.">
<WebSiteName>Default Web Site</WebSiteName></WebSite>
<NTService ID="RN Service ID runtime" DisplayName="Application Pool service account for BTARN HTTP Receive location " Description="Service account application pool and database configuration.">
<UserName>insert user name</UserName>
<Domain>domain name</Domain><Password>password</Password>
</NTService>
</Feature>
<Feature Name="WebApps" DisplayName="Web Configuration" Version="1.0" Description="Web application configuration for RosettaNet">
<WebSite ID="RN_WEBAPP" DisplayName="Web application virtual folder " Description="Configure the Web application virtual folder ">
<WebSiteName>Default Web Site</WebSiteName></WebSite>
<Name ID="RN_BTSSERVERNAME_ID" DisplayName="BizTalk Server name" Description="The name of the BizTalk Server where the BTARN pipeline component and the HTTP adapter are installed." Hidden="false">
<Value>Insert Server Name</Value>
</Name>
<Name ID="RN_BTSPORTNAME_ID" DisplayName="BizTalk Server: Port number" Description="The port number of the Web site where the Initiator and Responder Web application resides." Hidden="false">
<Value>80</Value>
</Name>
</Feature>
<Feature Name="WebApps" DisplayName="Web Configuration" Version="1.0" Description="Web application configuration for RosettaNet" />
<InstalledFeature>Runtime</InstalledFeature>
<InstalledFeature>WebApps</InstalledFeature>
</Configuration>
From command prompt, browse to BTARN install folder and you can execute “configuration.exe /s <Configuration XML File Path>”. In some cases where UI partially configured BTARN before crashing, you can use “configuration.exe /u” to un-configure before running silent configuration again. Remember to remove the databases if they have been created previously. Certainly not an ideal solution at this point but hopefully this can help to unblock you in the time being.