The BizTalk group is a unit of organization that usually represents an enterprise, department, hub, or other business unit that requires a contained BizTalk Server implementation. The BizTalk group has a one-to-one relationship with a Configuration database.

Note  You can only add one server to a BizTalk group. BizTalk groups associated with different servers in a BizTalk environment do not interact except to exchange messages.

The Configuration database stores configuration information for the BizTalk group and the servers in that group. This configuration information specifies part of the message-processing logic for the servers and where this logic will physically run.

You must specify the same Configuration database for each server installation in the group so that you can administer each server from the administration console.

Important  Each server can be associated with only one BizTalk group.

The BizTalk group properties page contains three tabs: General, Database Connections, and Large Message.

The following properties are on the General tab of the BizTalk group properties page:

• Enterprise Singe Sign-On server name. BizTalk Server Administration needs to connect to the Credential database by means of an Enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO) server anytime that it needs access to the adapters' configuration information. This is the name of the SSO server used to connect to the Credential database.
• Cache Refresh (seconds). When you start BizTalk Server, all items in BizTalk Server Administration, such as MessageBox databases, server properties, adapters, and connections to the Tracking database, are stored in the administration cache. By default, all items in the cache are refreshed every 60 seconds, except for the server database connections and server properties. This means that if you change the general properties for a BizTalk group, such as the SMTP host, the changes are picked up within 60 seconds.

  Note  System changes made outside the currently open BizTalk Server Administration console are not reflected until you refresh it.

  For information about modifying the cache refresh interval, see Modifying BizTalk Group Properties.

• Signing Certificate. BizTalk Server uses one signing certificate per BizTalk group to sign all outbound messages. You must enter the thumbprint of the certificate with which outbound messages will be signed.

The Database Connections tab of the BizTalk group properties page lists the names of all databases and the servers they reside on specified during configuration.

When storing and retrieving large messages from the MessageBox databases, BizTalk Server supports fragmenting the messages. Fragmenting the messages enables BizTalk Server to handle large messages (for example, messages that are gigabytes in size), while significantly enhancing the runtime performance. The BizTalk properties on the Large Message tab that determine when and how to fragment messages are:

• Threshold (in bytes). When the size of a message is equal to or greater than this threshold size, the message will be fragmented.
• Fragment Size (in bytes). When the message is fragmented, this is the size of the fragments into which BizTalk Server will divide a large message when its size equals or exceeds threshold size. The default is 102,400 bytes.

See Also

Managing the BizTalk Group

Adding a Server to a BizTalk Group

Moving a Server from One BizTalk Group to Another

Deleting a Server from a BizTalk Group

Modifying BizTalk Group Properties