Considerations for Installing BizTalk Server on a Windows Server Cluster

Special considerations must be made when installing BizTalk Server on a Windows Server cluster. This topic lists these considerations.

A non-clustered BizTalk host instance should not be run on a Windows Server cluster where the Enterprise SSO service is clustered

It is a recommended practice to cluster the Enterprise Single Sign-On Master Secret Server in an active/passive configuration to provide high availability for the master secret server. If a non-clustered BizTalk host instance and a clustered instance of the Enterprise SSO service are running on the same cluster node, the BizTalk host instance will fail if the clustered Enterprise SSO service is moved to a different node in the cluster. BizTalk Hosts maintain a dependency on a locally running instance of the Enterprise SSO service. Therefore if the Enterprise SSO service is configured as a clustered resource, then any BizTalk Hosts running on the cluster nodes must be configured as a clustered resource in the same cluster group.

Configure the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) as a clustered resource before installing BizTalk Server on a cluster

If you plan to install BizTalk Server on a Windows Server cluster, you must cluster the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator first.

To cluster MSDTC on a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster, follow the steps outlined in Checklist: Creating an MS DTC Resource in a Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster

Network DTC access must be enabled on all BizTalk Servers and on the SQL Server before installing or configuring BizTalk Server

To enable network DTC access on each cluster node as well as on the SQL Server that will host the BizTalk Server databases, follow the steps outlined in How to Enable MSDTC on a Web Server (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=189701). Network DTC access must be enabled to accommodate transactional support for BizTalk Server. We recommend that you restart each server after completing the steps in this Knowledge Base article.

You must manually create domain groups in Active Directory before you configure BizTalk Server

If you install BizTalk Server on multiple computers, you must specify domain groups and user accounts in the BizTalk Server Configuration Wizard. If you use domain groups for your BizTalk Server configuration, you must manually create the groups before you configure BizTalk Server.