Managing BizTalk Hosts and Host Instances

A BizTalk Server Host is a logical set of zero or more BizTalk Server run-time processes in which you deploy items such as adapter handlers, receive locations (including pipelines), and orchestrations. For more information about hosts, see Hosts.

A host instance is the process where the message processing, receiving, and transmitting occurs. You install a host instance on each server running BizTalk Server that has one or more hosts mapped to that server. For more information about host instances, see Host Instances.

Hosts have the following characteristics:

  • Hosts are the logical containers of BizTalk Server objects.

  • Only one instance of a specific host can exist on each server.

  • You can map one host to multiple servers.

    Host instances have the following characteristics:

  • Host instances are the physical containers of BizTalk Server objects.

  • You create a host instance when you map a server to a host.

  • Multiple host instances (of different hosts) can exist on a server when load balancing or for failover.

    The following figure shows the relationship between servers, hosts, and host instances.

    Hosts, host instances, and server relationships
    Relationship between hosts, host instances, and servers

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