BizTalk Business Rule composer tool now on Web

Now BizTalk Business Rule could be created and managed via Web instead of standard Business Rule composer tool. In this you can edit, delete, Publish and deploy your vocabulary and polices.

For more information, please visit the link given below

http://blogs.msdn.com/pkelcey/archive/2008/05/10/web-based-version-of-the-biztalk-rules-composer.aspx

http://www.biztalkgurus.com/blogs/biztalksyn/archive/2008/05/10/a-web-based-version-of-the-biztalk-rules-composer.aspx

BizTalk Server 2006 - Host Instance creation and Adapter configuration Tool

I have find a great utility which help you to setup new environment easily. This utility helps in creating all Hosts, Host Instances and configuring Adapters to this new hosts. It also helps in reset the adapter configuration settings back to default host.

It also helps you to design and build your solutions by making it easy to separate out processes into multiple Host. This also allowed one developer to create the solution host layout and easily distribute to others.

Click here to download

For more information on the same please visit the link given below

http://www.biztalkgurus.com/blogs/biztalk/archive/2008/04/30/biztalk-host-creation-and-adapter-assignment-tool-available-for-download.aspx

Document BizTalk Applications

I have found a great utility to easily document BizTalk Server 2006 application in CHM or Word 2003 format. This utility can create documentation for

1. Schemas
2. Maps
3. Ports
4. Pipelines
5. Orchestrations
6. Rule Engine. Etc.

The name of the utility is BizTalk 2006 Documenter (Microsoft.Sdc.BizTalkDocumenter.exe). You need to explicitly download and install this utility (Download).

For more information about the same please visit the link given below

http://www.codeplex.com/BizTalkDocumenter

Enterprise Service Bus Overview

ESB stands for Enterprise Service Bus. There are number of definitions given by different groups on ESB.

1. A web - services capable infrastructure that supports intelligently directed communication and mediated relationships among loosely coupled and decoupled biz components
2. A standard based integration backbone, combining messaging, web services, transformation, and intelligent routing

In recent years the ESB has become a new segment in the EAI market that attempts to address the intersection of web services and traditional message oriented middleware.

The Microsoft ESB guidance provides architectural guidance, patterns and practice and set of BizTalk Server and .NET components to simplify the development of an Enterprise Service Bus on the Microsoft Platform and to allow developers to extend their own messaging and integration solutions.

I have found some good presentations on ESB overview. Click here to download the presentation files and other details on ESB.

On Demand WebCast links on BizTalk Server 2006 R2

I have found some of the On demand webcast links on BizTalk R2. Following are the details for the same.

1. BizTalk 2006 R2 Technical Overview

https://www112.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/view?id=Jumpstart-01&pw=BTS06R2

2. Building EDI Solutions with BizTalk Server 2006 R2

https://www112.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/view?id=Jumpstart-02&pw=BTS06R2

3. Orchestrating the real-time enterprise with the BizTalk RFID platform

https://www112.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/view?id=Jumpstart-03&pw=BTS06R2

4. AS2 Adapter & EDI Business value

https://www112.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/view?id=Jumpstart-04&pw=BTS06R2

5. Building device providers for the BizTalk RFID platform

https://www112.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/view?id=Jumpstart-05&pw=BTS06R2

6. Design and Deploying BizTalk RFID Business Processes

https://www112.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/view?id=Jumpstart-06&pw=BTS06R2

7. Using BAM interceptors for WCF and WF

https://www112.livemeeting.com/cc/microsoft/view?id=Jumpstart-07&pw=BTS06R2

SOA Webcast series for Architects

I found a series of webcasts for Architect on SOA on Microsoft website. Following are the details for the same.

1. Real world SOA: Enabling a New Generation of Dynamic Application Through Service-Oriented Architecture.
2. SOA Workshop for Architects: SOA Overview
3. SOA Workshop for Architects: Messaging and Communications
4. SOA Workshop for Architects: Business Process and Workflow
5. SOA Workshop for Architects: Tools and Modeling
6. SOA Workshop for Architects: User Experience
7. SOA Workshop for Architects: Enterprise Service Bus
8. SOA Workshop for Architects: Federated Data
9. SOA Workshop for Architects: Identity and Access
10. SOA Workshop for Architects: Governance and Management
11. SOA Workshop for Architects: Demo Marathon

Click here for more information

BizTalk Server 2006 Code Samples

I find a new set of BizTalk 2006 code samples on Microsoft website. Following are the details for the same.

1. BizTalk Server 2006 Code Samples Collection
2. Integrating BizTalk Server 2006 and Windows Workflow Foundation (BizTalk Server Sample)
3. Publishing and Consuming Web Services with SOAP Headers
4. BAM and HAT Correlation
5. Consuming Web Services with Array Parameters
6. Extending the BizTalk Server Administration Console
7. Viewing Failed Tracking Data
8. Inserting XML Nodes from Business Rules
9. Using the Mass Copy Functoid
10. Using Role Links
11. Split File Pipeline
12. Using Enterprise Library 2.0 with BizTalk Server
13. Consuming Web Services
14. Console Adapter
15. Delivery Notification
16. Using Long-Running Transactions in Orchestrations
17. Using the Looping Functoid
18. Mapping to a Repeating Structure
19. Parallel Convoy
20. Policy Chaining
21. Recoverable Interchange Processing Using Pipelines
22. Using the Table Looping Functoid
23. Using the Value Mapping and Value Mapping (Flattening) Functoids
24. Direct Binding to an Orchestration
25. Direct Binding to the MessageBox Database in Orchestrations
26. Using a Custom .NET Type for a Message in Orchestrations
27. Writing Orchestration Information as XML Using the ExplorerOM API
28. Correlating Messages with Orchestration Instances
29. SSO as Configuration Store
30. Atomic Transactions with COM+ Serviced Components in Orchestrations
31. Exception Handling in Orchestrations
32. Implementing Scatter and Gather Pattern
33. Using the SQL Adapter with Atomic Transactions in Orchestrations

Click here for more details and to download the above sample code

Processing Interchanges in BizTalk Server 2006

In BizTalk terms, an interchange refers to a message being processed by BizTalk Server. When an interchange contains two or more documents—which is typical when receiving a batch—BizTalk parses the interchange, which results in multiple messages. How these messages are handled depends on the type of interchange processing selected on the pipeline. With BizTalk Server 2006, a developer can select to use standard interchange processing or recoverable interchange processing when developing a custom pipeline.

Standard Interchange

When an interchange arrives at a receive location the configured pipeline will decompose the interchange into one or more messages. Messages are then individually validated by the pipeline but then collected within the EPM (End-point Manager) inside BizTalk. If at any time any message within the collection fails, the entire interchange will be suspended. The suspended message will appear as the complete interchange, not the separate parts.

Recoverable Interchange

When a new interchange arrives, and this option is selected on the active pipeline, it is broken down into individual messages and passed through the pipeline for disassembly and validation. When an interchange with bad documents is processed in recoverable mode, the bad documents will not cause a pipeline failure. Instead, they are marked as “messages to be suspended”. After the individual messages have been processed by the pipeline, the end point manager submits all the messages to the Message Box in a single transaction: good messages go to the work queue and bad messages go to the suspended queue.

Failed Message Routing

When a new receive port is created, a property can be set called "Generate error report for failed message". When this property is checked, failed messages will not be suspended. Instead, they will be sent to the message box, and the following additional properties will be set:
1. ErrorReport.ErrorType
2. ErrorReport.FailureCode
3. ErrorReport.MessageType
4. ReceivePortName
5. SendPortName
6. InboundTransportLocation
7. OutboundTransportLocation

By taking advantage of these additional context properties you can now create end-point filters, on an orchestration or sent port, that subscribe to these failed messages.

Microsoft has written a very good document, explaining processing interchanges in detail with example. Click here to download

BizTalk Server 2006 Developer Guide

I find a developer guide on one of the BizTalk community. This is a 133 page troubleshooting and development guide which covers BizTalk from end to end.

Some of the main topics includes in this guide are:

• Custom codings
• Working and Troubleshooting different Adapters
• BAM
• Common Errors through out BizTalk
• Troubleshooting Web Services
• Much much more.

Click here to download the guide.

A to Z of Business Rule Engine in BizTalk Server

Business rule engine can be used to dynamically add, edit, and delete business rules that are being applied to the business processes. Most of the time the business process remain the same but business logic changes, for example in a typical Loan processing example interest rate will change every day, discount will change, promotions may be given etc.

Business rules give business users (information workers) to control of business logic with any knowledge of coding and rebuilding the existing process.

I have found one presentation along with a wmv file on Microsoft website which describes a Business Rule Engine in detail. It covers each topic and fact related to Business Rule Engine deeply. This presentation is related to BizTalk Server 2004 but we can relate the same in BizTalk Server 2006.

Following are the topics covered in this presentation

• Introduction to Business Rule Engine
• Developing a business rule
• Invoking rules from orchestration
• Advance Concepts (describing different execution models, design pattern, architecture and scalability)
• Rules and orchestrations

You can view/download both the WMV/PPT files by visiting the given link below.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/838412

Note: If you are trying to view the WMV file online, make sure that you have disabled pop up blocker for this site.

Understanding Application deployment & Up gradation in BizTalk Server 2006

This section will call attention to specific features which have been added or improved in the Application Deployment space which should be especially helpful to those working often with BizTalk Server. It also describes if any BizTalk application need to updated. Perhaps a partner’s schema will change so your schema and map will have to be changed accordingly. Or maybe the business will require a new auditing API to be called during one part of the business process’s execution. And for as good as our BizTalk Server developers are, there are always code defects in application code that will need to be fixed.

Application Concept

In BizTalk application is a logical container for application artifacts, allowing you to bucket related components. By being able to deploy, manage, start/stop, and troubleshoot all at the application level. The application container contains BizTalk Server assemblies which are deployed to it by Visual Studio or users can manually add BizTalk Server assemblies to the application, or move BizTalk Server assemblies from other applications. Likewise, they can also add non-BizTalk Server assemblies to the application. The application may also contain receive ports, receive locations, send ports, property tracking settings, and role links, to name a few. Implicitly, the application also contains all of the bindings that are represented by their current settings. And other BizTalk Server artifacts can also be added to applications, such as BRE (rules) policies and BAM definition files.

For example, a developer can specify an application to deploy to by editing the “Application Name” property of a Microsoft Visual Studio project. By doing so, their artifacts will be deployed to the said application.

For the IT Pro, they can use the Administrative MMC Console to configure and start an entire application.the application concept allows the IT Pro to manage and troubleshoot selectively at the application level.

Deployment and Staging

Deployment is the logistical distribution of application artifacts to ensure all necessary components are available to the systems that require them. Staging, more specifically, refers to the moving of application artifacts from environment to environment, say from development to a test environment, or from staging to production to undergo different levels of testing at each stage.

Up gradation

There are couple of different ways BizTalk server accommodate application upgrades. Following are the details for the same.

1. Simple Upgrade: - This scenario requires no downtime, requires no code changes, and can be performed by an IT Pro or Business Analyst (BA) single-handedly.
2. Patching Scenario: - In this existing application binaries in production must be edited and swapped with updated ones.
3. Side by Side Versioning: - This allows two versions of the same application artifacts to be running side-by-side. The .NET runtime inherently allows for same-named but different versioned assemblies to be deployed and running.


Microsoft has written a very good document describing all the above facts in detail. Click here to download the document.

What’s new in BizTalk Server 2006?

Microsoft has done lots of enhancements in BizTalk Server 2006 comparative to their previous three version of BizTalk 2000, 2002 & 2004.

BizTalk Server 2006 includes new capabilities and engine improvements that allow a developer to create more robust solution for integrated Business Process. It also empowers and enables administrators and business users to more efficiently monitor ongoing business process.

Following are the areas describe some improvements included in BizTalk Server 2006.

1. Setup and Migration
2. Management, Operations and Deployment
3. Business Activity Monitoring (BAM)
4. Developer Tools Enhancements
5. BizTalk Messaging Engine Enhancements

A great article published on Microsoft website briefly describing the above mentions features. Click here to read.

About BizTalk Server 2006

Microsoft BizTalk Server is a server product by Microsoft which is used in for following functions:

1. Business Process Automation
2. Business Process Modeling
3. Business-to-Business communication
4. Enterprise Application Intergarion
5. Message broker

BizTalk server is desgined specially to intergrate systems in loosely coupled way. It provides tools and infrastrucutre companies require to exchange business document among various platforms and operating Systems, regardless of application being used to process the document within or across organizational boundaries.

Most enterprises are looking for BizTalk to solve a particular problem related to having unrelated and disconnected systems exchange data in a standard, consistent, and reliable way. Tools provided in BizTalk allow us to design reliable and robust solutions faster than is often achievable by custom coding a solution from scratch.