Creating a BizTalk 2006 R2 VPC Template for Use in MS System Center Virtual Machine Manager

I was tasked with the objective of creating a way for the EAI group to "mass-produce" BTS2006 R2 servers on the corporate Virtual Server Self-Serve portal for development purposes. Note that before embarking on this task, make sure that you or your company has the appropriate licenses (MSDN or other) to set this up.

In analyzing the requirements for this, I found out that I would need to create a VPC with all the software on it. This VPC would then be processed and imported into the self-serve portal as a "template" for all machines to be made from. However, I found out some interesting information about the process the VPC is run through as it's being made into a "template".

The VPC is first run through an application named SysPrep. This software "anonymizes" the OS. It removes the Windows activation code and also removes all the Security Identifiers associated with all files and accounts. This means that any "non-system" accounts created before SysPrep is run will not match the accounts after SysPrep is run. This brought up the major issue I ran into while trying to complete this objective. While configuring both BizTalk and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS), you need to provide accounts, which will be the owners of the associated processes. The issue would be that any account(s) I create and configure before SysPrep is run would not match the account(s) on each instantiation of the template, since the security IDs associated with the accounts wouldn't match.

During discussions about this issue, someone theorized about possibly installing all the software, but not configuring the ones that need specific accounts (BTS 2006 and WSS 2.0/3.0). That's when I tried going through the Microsoft Installation instructions for BTS 2006 R2 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=df2e8a88-fb23-49a4-9ac7-d17f72517d12&displaylang=en). In order to create a "template" for the Self-Service Portal, I created a VPC, with all the software products installed. I started with Windows Server 2003 (Enterprise). I changed the order in one aspect, in that they instruct you to install Windows 2003, then run Windows Update, and then install IIS. What I did was to install Windows Server 2003, then install IIS and the POP3 service, and then run Windows Update, so that I could get any update files specifically marked for IIS or the mail server.

After I did that, then I installed the Office Components. The instructions specified Excel and InfoPath, but I also included Word. However, one note on these components. During installation, I did not use a Product Key for Office. This was so that whoever needs to use the server can use their own Office product key.

I then installed Visual Studio 2005, and then service pack 1 for VS 2005. I did add a feature not listed in the instructions. The instructions indicate that you should unselect all features except Visual C# and .Net Framework SDK. I did keep the Visual Web Developer component, in case any web services needed to be included in any project.

At this point, the instructions indicate that SQL Server 2005 should be installed. Now, one option in the installation for SQL allows for the use of a separate account, under which SQL server will run. Another option allows for SQL Server to run under a "defined system account". I chose this option because, when the VPC/VHD is imported and converted to a template for use in the Self-Service portal, the SIDs are all stripped out of accounts, so an account created now would not match an account when the template is "instantiated" into a particular instance.

At this point, I added the additional software packages requested to be on the server, including NUnit and BizUnit.

The next step includes installing first, Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0, and then WSS 2.0. Both versions were installed because the BAM portal in BTS 2006 is only supported on WSS 2.0, but most project work moving forward will likely be done on WSS 3.0. Thus, if you want to have the BAM portal on the same box that you have a WSS 3.0 site (or MOSS 2007 site), you need to have both versions of SharePoint installed. Note that after the installation is completed, the instructions indicate that configuration is next. Because user accounts are involved in the create of Application Pools when using WSS on IIS, this step was "postponed" until a particular instance was created.


The last software package installed was BizTalk Server 2006 R2 itself. I went through all the steps and did all the installation, but on the last screen, where the checkbox indicating that the configuration wizard should run after setup is completed, I unchecked this so that it could be done on a per instance basis.

After everything was done, I defragmented the hard drive, ran the pre-compaction utility, and then compacted the drive. This allowed for a smaller VHD for import and cleaned up a lot of space in the VHD after all the updates had been made.