Effortless ActiveMQ Queue Monitoring in BizTalk360

Introduction

ActiveMQ is an open-source message broker that facilitates asynchronous communication between different systems, making it a popular choice for integrating applications in a BizTalk environment. It supports multiple protocols, JMS, AMQP, MQTT, and STOMP, ensuring compatibility with various applications. With features like message queuing, publish-subscribe messaging, and high availability, ActiveMQ plays a vital role in enterprise integration.

The integration typically works as follows:

• BizTalk consumes messages from an ActiveMQ queue (Receive Port).
• BizTalk processes the messages and sends responses via another ActiveMQ queue (Send Port).

Let see the Detailed Use Case of Order Management in a Supply Chain System

In a supply chain environment, BizTalk Server serves as the main integration hub. It connects systems such as inventory management, order processing, and shipping. ActiveMQ acts as the message broker. It helps BizTalk communicate with the external systems listed below.

1. When a customer orders online, the system sends the order details to the ActiveMQ broker. It stores these details in an OrderQueue.
2. BizTalk Server gets messages from OrderQueue. It checks order details. Then, it sends orders to the inventory system. Finally, it routes them to the shipping system to schedule delivery.
3. The inventory system checks stock availability. Then, it sends a response to BizTalk using another ActiveMQ queue, like InventoryResponseQueue. Similarly, the shipping system updates delivery status through a queue (e.g., ShippingStatusQueue).

Below Challenges may occur if you missed to monitor the Queues

• Message Build-Up in Queues: High traffic in OrderQueue or slow BizTalk processing can cause messages to pile up. This delays order fulfilment.
• Stale or Unprocessed Messages: Unmonitored queues retain old messages, affecting system performance.
• Queue State Mismatches: If critical queues like OrderQueue or InventoryResponseQueue pause or stop unexpectedly, operations halt, leading to missed or delayed orders.
• Connection Failures: When BizTalk and ActiveMQ lose connection, it disrupts message flow. This leads to incomplete workflows.

Monitoring ActiveMQ Queues with BizTalk360

To prevent such issues, BizTalk360 provides monitoring capabilities for ActiveMQ queues.

This blog post details how to configure ActiveMQ monitoring and receive alerts for mismatches.

Configuration Steps

1. ActiveMQ Host Configuration:

First, configure the host settings to connect to the ActiveMQ server. This setup includes the host name, port, and broker name. Upon successful connection, BizTalk360 integrates ActiveMQ and lists all available queues for monitoring.

2. Queue Mapping and Monitoring:

You can monitor the state and also the metrics of queues based on the business usecase.

State Based Monitoring

Map queues such as OrderQueue, InventoryResponseQueue, and ShippingStatusQueue by setting the expected state to either Resume or Paused.

Resume: For queues actively processing messages.

Pause: For queues intentionally halted during maintenance.

If the current state does not match the expected state, BizTalk360 marks the monitoring status as critical and notifies users.

Threshold Monitoring

The Rule Monitoring helps to identify threshold violation of Queue metrics. You can set up advanced monitoring by configuring the monitoring rule for below queue metrics. you will receive notifications if any threshold is violated.

• Message Dequeued
• Message Enqueued
• Messages Size
• Message in Queue
• Number Of Consumer
• Number of Producers
• Memory Percentage Usage
• Message Expired

You monitor multiple metrics by configuring the Rules. For example, configure a threshold rule to monitor messages in a queue, setting a limit of 500 messages count and an expired message limit of 50. If the queue exceeds these limits, BizTalk360 triggers an alert, allowing administrators to take proactive action.

If there is any violation you will be notified through an email alert.

Automated Actions

Autocorrect the Queue State

For critical queues, enable the Auto correct feature to automatically restore the queue to its expected state in case of deviations.

Say, if you expect InventoryProcessQueue to be up and running always, you can set its expected state as Resumed and enable Auto correct. If suppose inventory queue goes down, the system will attempt to resume it automatically and notify you of the action.

Action based on Rule Configuration

Additionally, you can integrate Automated Tasks to respond to rule violations. For instance, if a queue gets overloaded, you can trigger a task to restart the receive location. Similarly, you can configure tasks to manage BizTalk Applications, Artifacts, Host Instances, NT Services, IIS App Pools, or execute PowerShell scripts.

Refer this article to learn more about integrating the Automated Tasks with Alarms.

Benefits of Monitoring ActiveMQ Queues in BizTalk360

• Proactively detecting and resolving issues ensures uninterrupted workflows.
• Administrators are notified instantly about potential problems.
• Auto Healing minimizes manual intervention and ensures critical queues are always operational.
• Monitoring prevents message build-up, ensuring efficient use of system resources.

Conclusion

Integrating ActiveMQ monitoring with BizTalk360 helps organizations maintain seamless communication between BizTalk and external systems. Try out this feature in our latest version. Reach out for a free trial.