Sergio Del Piccolo

I was looking into the options for upgrading BizTalk Server 2006 applications to BizTalk Server 2009, and came across this great BizTalk Server 2009 Upgrade Migration Chart.

Link: BizTalk Server 2009 Upgrade Migration Chart

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2009

Recently I ran into an installation problem with BizTalk Server 2009 and the ESB Toolkit 2.0 on a 64-bit Windows 2008 R2 server. There are two issues to deal with here:

1. BizTalk Server 2009 is not supported on Windows Server 2008 R2, only Windows Server 2008.
2. On the 64-bit environment, the powershell command scripts use BTSCalatogExplorer OM which is only available in 32-bit mode. After manually loading the 32-bit powershell console and running the script, all is well.

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2009, ESB Toolkit 2.0, Windows Server 2008 R2

One of the enhancements included in the K2 blackpearl 4.5 release is the fact that K2 Reports are no longer dependent on SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS). This is true for the Workspace Report Designer Reports and Out of the Box Reports that are hosted in the K2 Workspace or in the SharePoint Process Portal.

Of course SQL Server Reporting Services is still supported where customers wish to publish reports to externally, i.e. not in the K2 Workspace or SharePoint Process Portals; or want to develop reports with alternate design tools and then import the reports into the K2 Workspace. In this case the K2 Reporting Component for SQL Server Reporting Services needs to be installed on the SQL Server.

It is also possible to remove the dependency on SSRS completely. The K2 Knowledge Center has an article explaining how to do it in more detail here.

K2, K2 blackpearl 4.5, SQL Server Reporting Services, SSRS

With the announcement regarding the release of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 on April 12th, I started thinking about some conversations that I’ve had with clients over the last couple of months. Many have expressed interest in getting to use the new development environment and were eagerly waiting for its release. In two cases these clients didn’t have source control systems. I would never have believed it, however I’ve seen it (or the lack of it). To make it worse, one of these is an enterprise level organization with scores of development teams, developing everything from their corporate web site to large scale EAI initiatives. Their reason for not using source control – Team Foundation Server is too complex to install and manage. And they do daily backups. Well, okay then!

Back to Visual Studio. Visual Studio is much more than just a development environment these days, in conjunction with Team Foundation Server, it’s an application lifecycle management system. It’s features include version control, build automation and work item tracking to name but a few. As far as I’m concerned, having these capabilities is essential to organisations that do a lot of in-house development. One option that I often recommend is to use a hosted solution. Let the experts take care of it! Over the past year I’ve made use Praktik Hosting for work with some of my clients, especially the small to midsize and remote clients. They have a great monthly subscription plan and have never been down. So, get Visual Studio 2010, and leave Team Foundation Server to the experts.

Microsoft, Visual Studio 2010, Team Foundation Server, Praktik Hosting

The BizTalk ESB Architecture Poster is now available from the Microsoft Download Center.

Link: BizTalk ESB Toolkit Architecture Poster

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2009, ESB Toolkit, Microsoft Download Center

On Monday K2 announced the release of K2 4.5. K2 4.5 includes several new features and enhancements to the family of K2 products, K2 blackpearl, K2 blackpoint and K2 connect. K2 4.5 is  geared to increase versatility and scalability, as well as simplifying maintenance.

K2 4.5 contains several new features and enhancements including:

• An updated, more powerful Web-based designer, K2 Designer for SharePoint and K2 Studio
• Inline functions, allowing process designers to include functions and calculations in processes without having to write code
• Enhanced SmartObject functionality
• Memory and performance improvements, across design time and runtime
• A simplified installation experience

My top 3 new features are:

1. K2 Studio – the new standalone designer that can used to build quick process driven applications (regular and SharePoint based applications).
   
2. The K2 Designer for SharePoint – providing a simplified design environment to build workflow processes in SharePoint.
   
3. Inline Functions – allowing for complex logic and calculations within the design canvas – no more calling code functions.
    

K2, K2 blackpearl, K2 blackpoint, K2 connect, K2 Studio, Inline Functions, K2 Designer for SharePoint