BizTalk Server 2004 Configuration Failures – Difficult

I started this post to list suspect issues that may impact loading a BizTalk configuration (i.e., running configframework.exe in either a silent or interactive mode). I’m now splitting it into separate posts (simple, medium, difficult). I am not trying to offer specific solutions to all failures in this post, although I do provide some suggestions and pointers to solutions where I’ve seen these issues. This really is a collection of things you can confirm during the configuration steps.

The application of a BizTalk configuration file can be your delight or downfall, and differs for most every environment in which I’ve installed. Kudos to the big brains at MS for spending their resources on all that’s great about BizTalk; I’m confident they’ll come around to my wish list of easier/faster/better configuration options.

So, that said, let’s look at what makes a configuration fail, from the ‘difficult’ perspective (note: these are from a multi-server deployment on a domain; some items will not apply to single-server deployments).

Difficult (cannot remove present configuration, or configuration times out):

SQL Connection loss during configuration (has the result of putting the server in a half-configured state):
Look to network or security errors. If you see SSPI errors, confirm your SQL installation. I saw this on a SQL server that had been renamed after SQL installation and a second time on a server that had lost its SID context.

WMI recycle failure
Some services may refuse to stop and prevent WMI from recycling during configuration; the configuration times out and the process must be killed. I saw this error during a BRE configuration step, with the following entries in the ConfigFramework log:

[3:38:59 PM Error RuleEngineConfig] c:\depot4000\jupiter\source\private\mozart\source\engine\rules\configfwkext\extension\ruleengineconfig.cpp(1392): FAILED hr = 80041013
[3:38:59 PM Error RuleEngineConfig] Provider load failure
[3:38:59 PM Info RuleEngineConfig] Leaving function: CRuleEngineConfig::GetFeatureConfig
[3:39:05 PM Info ConfigFramework] Showing MessageBox with text: Failed to load configuration data

You might see the string "WBEM_E_PROVIDER_LOAD_FAILURE"

For this, look carefully at the list of services in the Services window. Specifically, look for hardware and systems management tools (MS Systems Management Server, management tools from HP, Compaq and Dell). It is possible these services aren’t stopping at the request of ConfigFramework, causing it to fail).

When configuration must be terminated, the server is in a non-configured state; cannot be un-configured or configured. See the post titled “When Good Configurations go Bad“ for the fix to this state, then restore the server to vanilla. Confirm SQL connectivity and do test recycles of WMI-related services with the account under which you’re installing; some environments have a Group Policy (GPO) to prevent local administrators from managing services (ceding this responsibility to domain admins).

I am keen to receive any feedback and other posts. Please submit comments.