"Your password will expire in x days."

Remember seeing that string of scary words in a dialog box sometime before your BizTalk server stopped functioning? It's quite common in the enterprise space that an administrator specify how often you must change the password in the workstation's account policy. Your network administrator can force you to change your password every so often. By default, passwords are set to expire every 42 days in Windows Server 2003. Microsoft recommends having users change their passwords every 30 to 90 days. While this is definitely best practice and highly recommended, it can cause problems if you are using accounts for BizTalk Server in which the passwords are set to expire.

The following topic discusses what services and accounts need to be updated after a password change.

Note: This topic covers single server installations of BizTalk Server 2006 running on Windows Server 2003 SP1. The steps will differ slightly depending on the platform you are using. Although not all accounts are the same, the principle applies to BizTalk Server 2004 as well. In a multiserver environment, these changes must be replicated across all machines.

Services and Accounts You Must Change

The following is a list of Windows Services, BizTalk Host Instances, and IIS Application Pools that you must update after a password has been changed on an account that these are running under.

Windows Services

  • BizTalk Base EDI service
  • Enterprise Single Sign-On Service
  • MSSQLSERVER
  • NS$BAMAlerts
  • Rule Engine Update Service
  • SQLSERVERAGENT

BizTalk Host Instances

  • BizTalk Isolated Host Instance Account
  • BizTalk Host Instance Account

IIS Application Pools

  • BAMAppPool
  • BTSSharePointAdapterWSAppPool
  • HwsMessagesAppPool
  • HwsWSAppPool
  • MyAppPool (or the name of your application pool running a Web site extended with Windows SharePoint Services)
  • StsAdminAppPool
  • STSWebServiceAppPool
  • TpmWSAppPool
  • WSSAppPool (or the name of your application pool running the SharePoint Central Administration Web site)

How To Change

Step 1: Update the Windows Services

Note: Do not change the BizTalk Service here. You will do this in Step 2.

  1. Click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
  2. In the Services Window, under Name, double-click the service.
  3. In the Service Properties dialog box, select the Log On tab.
  4. Type the new password, confirm the password, and then click OK.
  5. Repeat this for all services listed above.

    Tip: You can easily view all services in which this account is being used by sorting the Log On As column.

Step 2: Update the BizTalk Host Instances

  1. Click Start, Programs, Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006, and then click BizTalk Server Administration.
  2. In the BizTalk Server 2006 Administration Console, expand BizTalk Server 2006 Administration, expand BizTalk Group, expand Platform Settings, and then click Host Instances.
  3. Double-click the BizTalkServerApplication In-Process Host Instance.
  4. In the Host Instance Properties Window, click Configure.
  5. In the Logon Credentials dialog box, type the new password, and then click OK.
  6. Click OK to close the Host Instance Properties Window.
  7. Repeat this for all In-Process and Isolated Host Instance Accounts that are running under the account in which the password changed.

Step 3: Update the IIS Application Pools

  1. Click Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
  2. In the IIS Manager, expand the local computer, and then expand Application Pools.
  3. Under Application Pools, right-click one of the pools listed above, and then click Properties.
  4. In the Application Pool Properties dialog box, select the Identity tab.
  5. Type the new password, confirm the password, and then click OK.
  6. Repeat this for all Application Pools listed above.