This post was originally published here

Happy to announce the birth of a new SSO Application Configuration tool that will provide the ability to easily add and manage configuration applications, add and manage key-value pairs in the SSO database, as well as securely import and export configuration applications so that they can be deployed to different environments.

SSO Application Configuration Tool for BizTalk Server 2016

BizTalk Server leverages the Enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO) capabilities for securely storing critical information such as secure configuration properties (for example, the proxy user ID, and proxy password) for the BizTalk adapters. Therefore, BizTalk Server requires SSO to work properly. BizTalk Server automatically installs SSO on every computer where you install the BizTalk Server runtime.

But it also can keep your own application configuration data in SSO database, let say the usual configurations that we normally keep in a configuration file (“app.config”)). If you’ve been in the BizTalk world long enough, you’ve probably faced this challenge or need and until 2009 there wasn’t an easy way to archive that and Richard Seroter’s BizTalk SSO Configuration Data Storage Tool was the go tool to store and manage Single Sign-On (SSO) applications – this is still a valid tool and if you rebuild the code in the last version of BizTalk Server it still works perfectly.

In mid-2009 Microsoft released an MMC snap-in to tackle this exact issue: SSO Configuration Application MMC Snap-In provides the ability to add and manage applications, add and manage key-value pairs in the SSO database, as well as import and export configuration applications so that they can be deployed to different environments. It wasn’t nor is it the perfect tool in my opinion since it as several UI limitations but it worked perfectly until… a new version of BizTalk Server was released.

Unfortunately, this tool will not work properly at least from BizTalk Server 2013 forward. At first sight, it seems that everything is working properly but when you try to create a key-value pair you will see that nothing happens and no key is created.

At the time I published a hotfix for the tool:

And M.R.Ashwin Prabhu published the same hotfix for BizTalk Server 2016: BizTalk Server 2016: Fix for SSO Configuration Application MMC Snap-In.

In part, these hotfixes solved the issue but I recently realized that the tool even with the hotfix doesn’t work properly in multiple environments and to try to uninstall the Microsoft snap-in after the hotfix is “installed” it is a nightmare.

Again, Richard Seroter tool is a great tool but is not fully compatible with Microsoft tool and in some parts, I liked that tool. So me and my team decided to “recreate” and improve SSO Application Configuration and the result is this:

  • Fully resizable windows (you will understand if you are a BizTalk Developer);
  • You can securely export and import Application configurations and it is compatible with MSFT SSO snap-in;
  • You can duplicate Applications (copy and past);
  • You can rename Applications;
  • You can easily add new key-values without the need to always perform a right click and select new key option;
  • You can easily add edit key-values without the need to always perform a double-click to open a new window;
  • You can refresh the Applications tree view
  • You can configure you system settings

SSO Application Configuration Tool for BizTalk Server 2016: Settings

  • You can search!

THIS TOOL IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

You can download BizTalk Server SSO Application Configuration Tool for BizTalk Server 2016 from:
BizTalk Server SSO Application Configuration Tool for BizTalk Server 2016 (45 KB)
Microsoft | TechNet Gallery

Author: Sandro Pereira

Sandro Pereira lives in Portugal and works as a consultant at DevScope. In the past years, he has been working on implementing Integration scenarios both on-premises and cloud for various clients, each with different scenarios from a technical point of view, size, and criticality, using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft BizTalk Server and different technologies like AS2, EDI, RosettaNet, SAP, TIBCO etc. He is a regular blogger, international speaker, and technical reviewer of several BizTalk books all focused on Integration. He is also the author of the book “BizTalk Mapping Patterns & Best Practices”. He has been awarded MVP since 2011 for his contributions to the integration community. View all posts by Sandro Pereira