BT File Receive Adapter Test

The file receive adapter is used to read messages from files and submit them to the server. The receive adapter reads the file and creates a BizTalk message object, so that BizTalk server can process the message. While reading from the file, the adapter locks the file to ensure that no modifications can be made to the file content. The file receive adapter does not pick up read-only files or system files.

This test reports how efficient the file receive adapter on each host instance is. The test monitors the inflow of messages to the file receive adapter, measures the load on the adapter, and reveals how well the adapter handled the load; lock failures encountered by the adapter while attempting to read files are also revealed by this test, so that reasons for the same can be diagnosed.

Target of the test : A BizTalk Server 2010

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each host instance on the BizTalk server being monitored

Configurable parameters for the test

Parameters	Description
Test period	This indicates how often should the test be executed.
Host	The host for which this test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the host listens to.
Ispassive	If this parameter is set to Yes, then it means that, by default, all BizTalk servers being monitored by the eG system are the passive servers of a BizTalk cluster. No alerts will be generated if the servers are not running. Measures will be reported as "Not applicable" by the agent if the servers are not up.

Measurements made by the test

Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Bytes received	Indicates the total number of bytes received by the file receive adapter on this host instance.	Bytes	The counter is incremented after a message is completely read by the adapter from the file system.
Bytes received rate	Indicates the rate at which bytes were received by the file receive adapter on this host instance.	Bytes/Sec
Messages received	Indicates the number of messages received by the file receive adapter on this host instance.	Number	The counter is incremented after a message is completely read by the file receive adapter from the file system.
Messages received rate	Indicates the rate at which messages were received by the file receive adapter on this host instance.	Msgs/Sec	The counter applies only to messages that have been completely read by the file receive adapter from the file system. Ideally, the value of this measure should be high. A low value indicates that the file receive adapter is not reading files quickly. Further investigation may be required to diagnose the root-cause of the slowdown.
Lock failures	Indicates the number of times the file receive adapter on this host instance failed to lock the file.	Number	Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0. A non-zero value indicates a lock failure. This in turn implies that the adapter could not prevent changes from being made to one/more files that were being read.