Installing - Biztalk Server 2006 R2 SP 1 (beta)

Today I downloaden BTS 2006 R2 SP1 (beta) and installed it in one of my development Biztalk VPC's. So far I have not been able to actually play around with this latest version, but I will be continuing my POC using this latest release. This POC involves Sharepoint, Biztalk and some 3rd party API's (like twitter), but more on this in a future blog posting .

A guide for this service pack is also available in this download. This guide contains important information to read before you install SP1.  It also provides installation instructions and a section on troubleshooting installation problems. Finally, it contains a section on known issues in this service pack release. Below the official description taken from Microsoft Connect with regards to the BTS 2006 R2 SP1 (beta) release. (Note I changed the links as the hotfixes link did not work)

"Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is an update for BizTalk Server 2006 R2.  It includes fixes to issues that have been reported through our customer feedback platforms, as well as internally discovered issues. To see a listing of the customer-reported issues that are fixed in this service pack, go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974563.  For a description of some of the other updates included in this service pack, see What's new in BizTalk Server 2006 R2 SP1 (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee532481(BTS.20).aspx)." 

Anyway today I'll be summarizing my installation experience of BTS 2006 R2 SP1 (Beta). First of all I read 'the guide containing important information which was recommended to be read before installing'.

One of the things I've learned is that it never harms to read such information, actually most of the times it eliminates installation issues which you would encounter in case you would not have read the information.

Before we proceed I just would like to mention that it is a good practice to backup your development environment, in my case I did not do this as I was working with a copy of my original VPC.  As it is Friday and I don't feel like typing a lot today I will continue with explaining my installation experience using screenshots (enjoy). Please note that I skipped a few steps which are mentioned in the guide, reason for this is that they were not applicable for me)

 Step 1 : Read the manual

Step 2: Disable receive locations 

Step 3: Stop Biztalk service and change startup type to manual

Step 4: Stop the WWW Publishing service and set startup type to manual 

step 5: Ensure that the SQL Server is running 

Step 6: Ensure that the SQL Server databases and services are running 

Step 7: Start the installation

Step 8: Accept the license agreement

Step 9: Continue with the installation 

Step 10: Accept the fact that some services will be restarted

Step 11: Enjoy the show 

 Step 12: Finish the installation

Step 13: Reboot

Step 14: Undo step 2, 3 en 4

 - Enable the receive locations
 - Start the BTS service and set it to be started automatically
 - Start the WWW publishing service and set it to be started automatically

Well in-hind respect the installation went smoothly; starting today I will start playing around with it and in case I encounter any issues I will blog about them.

Anyway the lesson I learned today was:

 'Don't blog on Friday '

Have a nice weekend!