Managing BizTalk Hosts and Host Instances

A BizTalk Host is a set of running engines—BizTalk Message Queuing (MSMQT), XLANG, and Tracking Data Decode Service (TDDS)—that communicate with the MessageBox database. A BizTalk Host is a logical set of zero or more BizTalk runtime processes in which you deploy items such as adapter handlers, receive locations (including pipelines), and orchestrations. A host instance is the place where the message processing, receiving, and transmitting occurs. You install a host instance on each Microsoft® BizTalk® Server computer that has one or more hosts mapped to that server.

Hosts have the following characteristics:

• Hosts are the logical containers of BizTalk objects.
• Only one instance of a specific host can exist on each server.
• You can map one host to multiple servers.

Host instances have the following characteristics:

• Host instances running on the servers are the physical containers of BizTalk objects.
• You create a host instance when you map a server to a host.
• Multiple host instances (of different hosts) can exist on a server.

The following figure shows the relationship between servers, hosts, and host instances.

This section contains:

• About Hosts
• About Host Groups
• About Host Instances
• Required User Rights for Managing BizTalk Hosts and Host Instances
• Creating a BizTalk Server Hosting Environment
• Creating a New Host in the BizTalk Administration Console
• Modifying Host Properties in the BizTalk Administration Console
• Removing a Host Group from a SQL Server Role
• Deleting a Host in the BizTalk Administration Console
• Adding Host Instances in the BizTalk Administration Console
• Starting a Host Instance in the BizTalk Administration Console
• Stopping a Host Instance in the BizTalk Administration Console
• Deleting a Host Instance in the BizTalk Administration Console
• Modifying the Properties of a Host Instance in the BizTalk Administration Console