Installed BizTalk Server 2006 R2 – Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Installed the SP1 in our test server yesterday. It was pretty much a smooth ride with minor hurdles. I started off without reading the installation notes (as it’s in *.docx version and we still need to upgrade our MS-Word to latest version. We never felt the need of upgrading the MS-Word until now)

And these error messages didn’t provide much information to resolve. And same as the 13.6 MB log file.

Since our servers are not maintained properly in the recent time with regular reboots, I just rebooted the server and followed the instructions in the installation guide this time (Thought I would perform the installation properly this time, though the document doesn’t provide any clues for the above error).

I’ll emphasis on the followings to be considered before starting the installation:

• SP1-Updates the database schemas:
  • All BizTalk servers in a server farm or group should be updated with the service pack as this updates the database schemas.
  • Backing-up the BizTalk databases are important (as it’s the case for every service pack). If you want to uninstall the SP1 later for any reason, you must restore the BizTalk Server databases with your backup.
• I would always suggest to backup the master secret file.
• All BizTalk Server 2006 R2 hotfixes that are currently installed on the computer will be automatically removed by the service pack installation. Some of the hotfixes are part of the service pack, where some are not. So keep a note of all the BizTalk hotfixes in your server before the installation and compare it against the hotfixes which are part of this service pack(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974563). If any of your hotfixes are not part of this service pack, you can install the SP1-compatible version later..atleast your note will help you to double check later.

  

• Installing BizTalk Server 2006 R2 SP1 does not change the version number of your BizTalk Server installation. Ours is still “3.6.1404.0” after the service pack installation. (the service packs of previous versions of BizTalk server updates the product version number) So to identify its existence later, Go to “Add or Remove Programs” check the “Show updates” check box and look under “Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 <<Developer Edition>>”