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

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

With the announcement that BizTalk Server 2009 R2 is being renamed to BizTalk Server 2010, there is an impact on the ESB Toolkit 2.0 component. The ESB Toolkit 2.0 has a dependency on Visual Studio 2008. However, BizTalk Server 2010 will only support Visual Studio 2010, meaning that the ESB Toolkit 2.0 component won’t function. As a result the ESB Toolkit will be updated to version 2.1 and will be released in conjunction with BizTalk Server 2010.

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2010, ESB, ESB Toolkit 2.1

Microsoft announced that the upcoming release of BizTalk Server 2009 R2 will be renamed to BizTalk Server 2010. Why was this done – well, Microsoft says that initially the release was meant to provide support for Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2 and Visual Studio 2010. Since then they have included a key features, thereby expanding on the scope of the release. These features include:

• Enhanced trading partner management – enabling customers to manage complex B2B relationships with ease.
• Enhanced BizTalk Mapper – critical to increasing productivity in both EAI and B2B solutions.
• Enable secure data transfer – across business partners with FTPS adapter
• Updated adapters for SAP 7, Oracle eBusiness Suite 12.1, SharePoint 2010 and SQL Server 2008 R2.
• Improved and simplified management – including an updated System Center management pack.
• Simplified management through single dashboard – further enabling backup and restore BizTalk configuration.
• Enhanced performance tuning capabilities – at Host and Host Instance level.
• Out of box event filtering and delivery of RFID events.

One benefit customers will see is the support window being reset to 10 years (5 years mainstream and 5 years extended support).

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2009 R2, BizTalk 2010

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Service Pack 1 is available for download. Included in this service pack are the following key (in my opinion) fixes:

• The SQL Adapter supports calling from a dynamic sent port.
• Integrated tracing in debugging EDI specific issues.
• Support for using multiple certificates to sign outgoing AS2 messages.

To download the service pack and see a full list of implemented fixes and enhancements follow this link: BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Service Pack 1

BizTalk Server 2006 R2, Service Pack, BizTalk

While working on an BizTalk EDI project, I needed to count dependents on 834 documents. What made this difficult was that the document would contain users and their dependents intermittently. I could have a user with no dependents followed by one with three. I wanted to be able to count the dependents so that I can make some logical decisions during the orchestration. I ended up using an Inline XSLT Call Template to implement the transformation.

The map called a Scripting functoid as shown below:

The transformation script I used looks as follows:

<xsl:template name="Dependents">
    <xsl:param name="parIsEmp" />
    <xsl:param name="parEmpID" />
    <xsl:element name="Dependents">
    <xsl:if test="$parIsEmp = ‘N’">
        <xsl:text>0</xsl:text>
    </xsl:if>
    <xsl:if test="$parIsEmp = ‘Y’">
        <xsl:call-template name="CountDependents">
        <xsl:with-param name="par_EmpID" select="$parEmpID" />
        </xsl:call-template>
    </xsl:if>
    </xsl:element>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template name="CountDependents">
    <xsl:param name="par_EmpID" />
    <xsl:value-of select="count(//s0:INSLoop1/s0:INS/INS01[$par_EmpID = ../../s0:REF_3/REF02/text() and 'Y' != ../../s0:INS/INS01/text()])" />
</xsl:template>

BizTalk, BizTalk Server Map, XSLT, XSLT Call Template

   On Monday Microsoft announced the release of the next version of the ESB Toolkit (renamed from the ESB Guidance). The toolkit and it’s documentation is available for download, there is a ESB Toolkit MSDN site as well as a forum.

The ESB Toolkit 2.0 provides key building blocks required for implementing a service-oriented infrastructure (SOI) including:

• Endpoint run-time discovery and virtualization. The service consumer does not need to be aware of the service provider location and endpoint details; a new or modified service provider can be added to the ESB, without interruptions to the service consumer.
• Loosely coupled service composition. The service provider and service consumer do not need to be aware of service interaction style.
• Dynamic message transformation and translation. The mapping definition between distinct message structure and semantics is resolved at run time.
• Dynamic routing. Run-time content-based, itinerary-based, or context-based message routing.
• Centralized exception management. Exception management framework, services, and infrastructure elements that make it possible to create, repair, resubmit, and compensate fault messages that service consumers or BizTalk components submit.
• Quality of service. An asynchronous publish/subscribe engine resolves different levels of service availability and provides high availability, scalability, and message traceability for ESB implementations.
• Protocol transformation. Providing the ability for service provider and service consumer to interact via different protocols including WS-* standards for Web Services. For example, a service provider can send an HTTP Web Service request, which will result in sending a message via Message Queuing.
• Extensibility. Provides multiple extensibility points to extend functionality for endpoint discovery, message routing, and additional BizTalk Server adapters for run time and design time.

For more information, see SOA and Web Services section in the New Features in BizTalk 2009 Web page.

Links:
ESB Toolkit 2.0
Documentation
MSDN ESD Toolkit site
ESB Toolkit Forum

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server, BizTalk Server 2009, SOA, Service Oriented Architecture, SOI, Service Oriented Infrastructure, ESB, Enterprise Service Bus

Microsoft released BizTalk Server 2009. New features in BizTalk include the following:

• Support for the latest platform technologies - including Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 SP1, and the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1.
• Support for Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 and Team Foundation Server. This enables the following capabilities:
  • Support for team development (including project manager, architects, developers, tester and ITPros.)
  • Seamless integration with Microsoft Project Server
  • Consistent automated application builds for ITPros with Microsoft build engine: MSBuild
  • Integrated source control
  • Bug tracking system
  • Support for unit testing
• Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Guidance 2.0 – extends the capabilities of Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009 to support a loosely coupled messaging architecture.
• BizTalk Adapter Pack - The Windows Communication Foundation Line of Business (WCF LOB) SDK & BizTalk Adapter Pack 2.0 is now upgraded to the latest platform. In addition to enhancements to the existing adapters, the pack includes two new adapters:
  • The BizTalk Adapter for SQL Server
  • BizTalk Adapter for Oracle eBusiness Applications
• Improvements to Host Integration Server 2009 and the BizTalk Adapters for Host Systems.
• Enhanced Business Activity Monitoring (BAM).
• Extended BizTalk RFID capabilities.
• Enhance support for EDI and AS2.

Interestingly, the following BizTalk 2006 features were replaced in BizTalk 2009:

• Base EDI Adapter – BizTalk Server 2009 includes support for processing EDI and AS2 messages using XSD-based EDI schemas and pipeline components. This feature replaces the Base EDI Adapter and schemas included in previous releases of BizTalk Server.
• The MSMQt adapter - to communicate with Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ,) use the MSMQ adapter.
• Human Workflow Services (HWS) – as an alternative for Human workflow solutions, you should now use Office SharePoint Server.
• Business Activity Services (BAS) - You can use the EDI and AS/2 features for this functionality.
• Health and Activity Tracking (HAT) Tool – The tracked services and tracked messages reports that used to reside in the HAT module are now part of the New Query tab of the HUB group page.

Links
A 120 day trial of BizTalk Server 2009
Detailed feature list of BizTalk Server 2009

Microsoft, BizTalk Server 2009, BizTalk

Published earlier this month is the BizTalk Server 2009 Technical Overview. This word document is a technical overview providing a guided tour of BizTalk Server 2009. It includes the important features and business benefits that BizTalk Server provides and contains a detailed primer on how developers, administrators, and business users use BizTalk Server to develop and manage business process solutions.

Link: BizTalk Server 2009 Technical Overview 

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2009