BizTalk Server 2016 Feature Pack 1: How to publish BizTalk operational data on Power BI – Step-by-step configuration (Part 2)

by Sandro Pereira | May 5, 2017 | BizTalk Community Blogs via Syndication

Following the sequence of my last post: BizTalk Server 2016 Feature Pack 1: How to publish BizTalk operational data on Power BI – Step-by-step configuration (Part 1), here we will see how we can enable BizTalk operational data feed and how we can use the BizTalk Server Operational Data Power BI template provided by Microsoft to easily publish the report to Power BI.

Step-by-step Configuration to Enable BizTalk Server 2016 Operational Data Feed

Second step: Enable BizTalk operational data feed

To enable BizTalk Server 2016 operational data feed, you should:

• Run Windows PowerShell as Administrator by:
  • Press the “Windows key” to open the Start menu and type “PowerShell”
  • Right click on “Windows PowerShell” option and select “Run as administrator”.

• Browse to the BizTalk Server 2016 is installation folder, normally:
  • C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft BizTalk Server 2016
• And run the following command. Be sure to update your website, domainuser, password, and domaingroup with your values:
  • Service: The service to be configured: “Management” or “OperationalData”.
  • WebSiteName: The existing Web Site where the service will be configured. The default value is “Default Web Site”
  • ApplicationPool: The Application Pool to be used by the service. If exists, will not be created. The default value is “DefaultAppPool”
  • ApplicationPoolUser: Configures the application pool to run as this user identity. Must have BizTalk Server Operator or higher privileges.
  • ApplicationPoolUserPassword: Password for the ApplicationPoolUser
  • AuthorizationAccount: List of authorized Groups or Users to use this service

FeaturePack.ConfigureServices.ps1 -Service operationaldata -WebSiteName ‘<Default Web Site>’ -ApplicationPool <operationalDataServiceAppPool> -ApplicationPoolUser <domain><user> -ApplicationPoolUserPassword <password> -AuthorizationRoles ‘<domain><group>, <domain><user>’

If everything go well, after you run the script, if you browse the new IIS Application by:

• Open your web browser
• Go to http://localhost/BizTalkOperationalDataService

You will see a JSON file – BizTalkOperationDataService.json – being download.

Third step: Use the BizTalk Server Operational Data Power BI template to publish the report to Power BI

To access the Power BI Template file, and use the provided visualization from Microsoft, use the following steps:

• Browse to “OperationalDataService” folder under the BizTalk Server 2016 is installation folder, normally:
  • C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft BizTalk Server 2016OperationalDataService

• And double click to open the “BizTalkOperationalData.pbit” file.
• When prompted from Power BI Desktop, paste the http://<BizTalkServer>/BizTalkOperationalDataService URL that you created for your OData feed.
  • Normally: http://localhost/BizTalkOperationalDataService

• And then click “Load” to populate the fields in your Power BI report.

The Template file automatically generates the information and tables available from the OData feed.

The operational data is exposed through the computer and can be accessed and executed by other applications based on permissions.

Publishing your reports to the Power BI service is fast and easy. Once the data have been load you need to:

• Save the file by selecting the menu “File” and click “Save”
• And then select the “Publish” button on the Home tab in Power BI Desktop, and the process begins.

• The first step, of course, is to provide your Power BI account

• After you authenticate on Power BI, a list of destinations that you have access will be presented so you can select the destination to where you want to publish BizTalk Operational Data report.
  • Select your destination, in my case, “My workspace”
  • and then click “Select”

• The then the publishing process will start

• Once the upload is complete, a dialog box tells you the publishing process succeeded and a link is provided in that dialog to take you directly to your report in the Power BI service, in a web browser.

• If you access to PowerBI.com you will see that you will have BizTalk Operational Data (BizTalk Operational Data report) report available.

And if you click on it, you will be able to see the data that was load and publish by the Power BI desktop.

But the most important question is: Are this data being updated?

And the answer is: No. For that, you will need additional steps.

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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