SOA Thoughts, EAI Challenges

PaaS for SaaS

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:07:00 +0000

If you have been following what is going in cloud space, Microsoft is bringing its platform to the cloud. I witnessed its revelation called Windows Azure during PDC 2008 and it has improved a lot during last 12 months. Picture above resembles its technology stack as it now today. I found this picture from Roger Jennings blog site. A good resource to find a lot of information and so on if you like to know more about Windows Azure. I have some experience with Azure as I tried it out in the beginning and with later released CTP’s. It even inspired me to write an article about Windows Azure for a Dutch Magazine together with Microsoft’s Regional Director Anko Duizer.

Soon Microsoft will commercialize Windows Azure and it will be a fact after PDC 2009 this month. It will unveil a gateway to a consumption based pricing model, that will drive’s Microsoft’s cloud-computing platform. This will bring another acronym into the world if it has not already: Platform as a Service (PaaS), consisting of Azure Operating System, SQL Azure relational data storage and .Net Services connectivity. All of this can be used in Software as a Service (SaaS) way of pay as you go: the meter will start running as soon one deploys an application or storage account to the Azure staging environment, made up of virtual machines (VMs). Microsoft will provide a portal that will show usages and metrics.

If you wonder what you will pay, the pricing I have seen is as follows:

Compute = $0.12 / hour

Storage = $0.15 / GB stored / month

Storage Transactions = $0.01 / 10K

Bandwidth = $0.10 in / $0.15 out / GB

You can find this and more information at Windows Azure pricing.

If this is competing enough depends on scale of usage and size of business. Smaller organizations might use PHP or LAMP stack hosting. Microsoft expects that ISV’s will look at Azure to building and hosting SaaS. Therefore PaaS will be a need for Microsoft SaaS. Brilliant don’t you think, offer a platform in the cloud to enable software offering in it as a service. I think so and it show Microsoft’s vision and guidance on the future to come.

Technorati: :microsoft azure

Windows Groups and User Accounts in BizTalk Server on single Computer (Sandbox)

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:05:00 +0000

The Configuration Manager creates the necessary Windows group and user accounts for you by default if you install BizTalk Server and all prerequisite software on a single computer. BizTalk Server supports local group and user accounts only in single computer configurations. BizTalk Server gives you the ability to configure your server in one of two modes, Basic or Custom. Basic configuration is targeted for developers setting up single server installations for development preferable a sandbox virtual machine. What will happen is that the following will occur:

· All database names are generated by BizTalk Server under account provided that needs to have sysadmin rights in SQL Server database;

· All applicable database logon information is run under the account provided.

· All BizTalk Server services are generated by BizTalk Server.

· All BizTalk Server services run under the account provided. The configuration process grants this account the necessary security permissions on the server and objects in SQL Server

· All features are configured based on the prerequisite software you have installed on the computer.

· The Default Web Site in Internet Information Services (IIS) is used for any feature that requires IIS.

· The logged on user must be a member of the OLAP Administrators group on the OLAP server.

Custom configuration allows you to configure the server using advanced configuration options. With custom configuration, you can selectively configure or un-configure each feature.

Sysadmin rights for configuration

For single- or multibox installation of BizTalk you will need sysadmin rights for instance to set up the BizTalk Group. Danger this option is that you as a developer may not be aware when configuring BizTalk in a different environment than your development. For a test, acceptance and deployment of a production environment in a multi-computer environment you will be encountered with Active Directory. Then you do not use local groups, but domain groups and these will not be created for you and need to be done yourself. Once you have succeeded at this you have to create accounts for host instances, arrange for access to databases and so on. You may be tempted as a developer for simple solution and risky way to choose an account with too many rights on the SQL Server.

It is recommended that you study the following resources closely to get a sense of how to handle installation and configuration of BizTalk in different environments and security in mind. It also helps to gain some routine through setting up a sandbox environment and applying these practices. I use a BizTalk Setup User account to setup BizTalk and configure the environment. After this exercise I disable this account.

In picture above you will also notice that I created more user accounts for different services like Host Instances, BRE, SSO and Database Services.

Minimum security rights: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa559845(BTS.10).aspx

Installation manuals: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=9c697e02-d1bc-4684-8748-28b3a292d5bf

Basic Configuration: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa578006(BTS.10).aspx

Local groups: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa548071(BTS.10).aspx

PDC2009 BizTalk Sever Sessions

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:10:00 +0000

Last BTUG question was asked who will be going to PDC 09 this year. No one raised his hand compared to a lot of hands last year even though no BizTalk session was given. It will be the other way around this year; hence almost no one unfortunately is going there are BizTalk sessions planned this year. I am still secretly hoping I can go, but chances are slim. What session about BizTalk are planned this year at PDC09

Queuing and Publish/Subscribe in a Heterogeneous Environment by David Ingham, John O’Hara

Queuing and publish/subscribe are common patterns for building loosely-coupled, distributed applications. Learn how to use Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) the new Microsoft ASP.NET 4.0 routing service, the Microsoft .NET Service Bus, and Microsoft BizTalk Server to easily connect heterogeneous systems. We’ll then introduce AMQP (the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol), an important new open standard for interoperable message-oriented middleware, which will reduce the friction in connecting heterogeneous clients. A real-world scenario will show AMQP in action, connecting WCF, Microsoft Excel, and Java-based clients.

Microsoft BizTalk Server Futures and Roadmap by Balasubramanian Sriram

Learn how BizTalk Server 2009 lets you focus on writing the code to do the hardcore business logic and let BizTalk take care of moving the data. Hear how your development skills with Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) work seamlessly with the powerful integration platform of BizTalk. Find out how BizTalk aligns with the Microsoft application server in the longer term.

Connecting Applications with the Microsoft BizTalk Enterprise Service Bus by Syed Rasheed, Ron Jacobs

See how the BizTalk Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) enables you to build services that can be quickly located and connected, whether they live behind the firewall or in the cloud, without creating a brittle point-to-point link. Learn how to dramatically improve the service lifecycle of development, testing, and deployment by using the powerful messaging, routing, and transformation capabilities of the BizTalk ESB in your solution today, and get a glimpse of future plans for BizTalk service bus/pub-sub pattern.

Maybe I will go, otherwise I will be at home following it on channel 9. If you do go there is a prep guide for you.

Technorati:BizTalk BizTalk 2006 R2 BizTalk Server 2009 PDC09

BTUG Fall Session

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:42:00 +0000

Yesterday the last BTUG gathering took place at Unisys in Amsterdam. We had two sessions from Brain Loesgen who was over in Holland for SOA symposium and one from Gerben. Brain sessions:

· ESB Toolkit

· BizTalk Development Best Practices

Gerben session:

· HL7 Accelerator

A lot of people form BTUG community attended session and show that from its inception until today is in fact a strong one. Our little country is a big BizTalk country having a lot of customers using the product in their application landscape with many BTUG members as its implementers.

First session of Brain was around ESB Toolkit and few people still wondered what ESB actually is. I can explain in three sentences, because that all is takes:

ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) is an architectural style. It enables enterprises to obtain flexibility (or one can use buzz word agility) towards other systems by hosting services in the bus. Bus can be implemented with a variety of products like BizTalk in combination with the toolkit, open source ESB products/solutions, Oracle SOA Suite, IBM WebSphere and so on.

An enterprise can implement an ESB using BizTalk and ESB Toolkit. Even if an enterprise does not want to implement ESB, BizTalk can be used or play essential role in B2B, EAI, Rfid and still use parts of the toolkit like exception management portal. This offers customers more added value as they can be very flexible in a way how to use BizTalk and use it extra capabilities like ESB Toolkit or for instance the BizTalk Adapter Pack. This gives BizTalk a strong position in the market for application servers (see for instance my previous post on DTAP).

Second session by Brain was the best of three sessions regarding best practices for development in BizTalk. You can find similar session on channel 9, where Brian gives session to Swedish user group.

Next session will be next year in January. Some interesting latest posts I discovered today are:

· PDF download regarding series by Kent Weare about integration BizTalk and Sharepoint

· WCF Extensibility Guidance on MSDN

Technorati BizTalk BizTalk 2006 R2 BizTalk Server 2009

My colleagues in motion

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:42:00 +0000

Previous post I mentioned the release of SP1 Beta for BizTalk Server 2006 R2. One of my colleagues at motion10 Rene has tried it out on one of his VPC’s, so if you are interested definitely check out his post, it’s very detailed. Another great blog post has been put out by another colleague Sander who explains in detail BizTalk AIF Adapter for Microsoft Dynamics 2009 AX. This post with the latest article in BizTalk Hotrod Magazine can give you a head start if you need to integrate with Microsoft Dynamics 2009 AX.

Technorati: BizTalk BizTalk 2006 R2 BizTalk Server 2009

BizTalk Server 2006 R2 SP1 Beta

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:45:00 +0000

If you working with BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and there are a lot of installation (instances) globally a new SP1 is coming out soon. Beta SP1 for BizTalk Server 2006 R2 has been released today. This service pack is an update for BizTalk Server 2006 R2. It includes fixes to issues that have been reported through customer feedback platforms towards Microsoft, as well as within Microsoft discovered issues. To get hold of the beta you need to go here. A guide for this service pack is also available on the download page.

Technorati:BizTalk 2006 R2 BizTalk Server 2006 R2

Monitoring BizTalk Solutions in an Enterprise

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:20:00 +0000

There are certain aspects (governance, support groups) that need to be understood when monitoring BizTalk solutions starts become necessary. One aspect is support groups with roles and responsibilities. I summarize here what in my opinion and experience these groups should be and which roles are mandatory:

Technical supports needs to monitor Operating System and SQL Server:
- System administrator (support, monitor health of system);
- Database administrator (support, monitor health of database).
Functional support to monitor messaging, orchestrations, ports:
- BizTalk Support (Interface Specialist, Process Specialist);
- BizTalk Operator (support deployment BizTalk applications, configuration);
- BizTalk Developer (BizTalk Application Specialist).
Business level support to monitor activity, throughput:
- Business Analyst (monitor activity/processes, analyze trends);
- Business Support Manager (monitor activity, report to business).

Note here that you can have a different view/opinion on which support groups there should be and/or which roles should be involved/mandatory.

Monitoring BizTalk solutions in an enterprise the above mentioned support groups are vital to achieve manageability and sustainability. Defining roles and responsibilities is one thing and using the right tooling for each is another. This can be a challenging, complex and hard task to accomplish to have the right people using the right tools to provide correct and swift support towards a BizTalk issue/call that is being raised. Regarding roles and responsibilities I will list a couple of resources here I found together with a list of tools that can be used.

Category	Technical Support	Functional Support	Business Level Support
Vendor	Microsoft	Microsoft	Microsoft
Roles & Responsibilities	MSDN	MSDN
Roles & Responsibilities	Operation Guide	Operation Guide
Tools			BAM (BizTalk)
Tools	BizMon	BizMon
Tools	SCOM (Mgmt Pack Catalog)
Tools	Avicode	Avicode
Tools	FRENDS Helium	FRENDS Helium
Resource	Tech-FAQ
Resource	Monitoring BizTalk Server	Monitoring BizTalk Server	Monitoring BizTalk Server

Also check following blog site for monitoring BizTalk and maintain a healthy BizTalk environment. I hope this post will give you a feeling about supporting BizTalk solutions and what Microsoft can offer and what alternatives there are.

TechnoratiBizTalk BizTalk 2006 R2 BizTalk Server 2009

BizTalk and SharePoint Services a good couple

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:03:00 +0000

About two years ago a walkthrough article was written by Arnulfo Wing about using BizTalk Server 2006 with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. And more were written from that time on and maybe even before. It shows that integration with SharePoint is very feasible and natural, being both Microsoft products with .NET technology. Some examples you can use as background or material to experiment with WSS 3.0 and BizTalk are:

Last one a whitepaper was written by my colleagues Wesley and Gijsbert of Motion10. There are many scenarios thinkable where you might to integrate SharePoint with BizTalk. For instance monitoring of BizTalk solution(s) with a dashboard inside SharePoint is possible scenario. From technical viewpoint BizTalk can be monitored through SCOM, but functional perspective SharePoint Services is a good candidate. Whitepaper will give you the answers if you wonder why. Exception Management Portal (how to configure by Saravan Kumar) provided through ESB Toolkit 2.0 is an example of monitoring exceptions, portal itself though is asp.net and not WSS unfortunately (thanks Thiago for the remark). It is not inconceivable that SharePoint and BizTalk will go through life as a couple in a lot of Enterprise architectures today and tomorrow. I myself have not yet experimented with WSS 3.0 and BizTalk, but given the momentum both are having right now I will soon. What I've found on sources, I would like to share with you.

Technorati: BizTalk BizTalk 2006 R2 BizTalk Server 2009 Sharepoint Services 3.0

Some More BizTalk Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:50:00 +0000

From time to time I keep looking around the internet, blogs, articles and so to find new or more BizTalk Resources. There are some interesting videos for BizTalk Server available through BizTalk Server Development Center. Definitely something you can check out if you have not stumbled on it already. Other thing I found very use full is the BizTalk Posters. At my office at Motion10 there are loads of them on the wall. One l really like is BizTalk Adapter Pack 2.0 Interactive Poster (in Silverlight). Another thing I found today was a post by Thiago who posted or at least gives you pointer to BizTalk Visio icons, very handy indeed. So there you go more resources to add on the every growing heap of information.

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009

HL7 Accelerator on my BizTalk Server 2009 Sandbox Machine

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:32:00 +0000

There is a project opportunity for me for BizTalk Server and HL7 implementation. I therefore am trying to get familiar with HL7 accelerator. There is a webcast BizTalk Light and Easy about HL7 by Mark Brimble, which was a excellent starting point for me. I have a sandbox with BizTalk Server 2009, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 installed on it (all x86). Accelerator can be found through your MSDN account (en_biztalk_server_2009_accelerators_enterprise_edition_x86_and_x64_cd_x15-48264.iso; named BizTalk Server 2009 Accelerators), if you wonder how to get your hands on it.

Installation is pretty straight forward, though installation has to be done with an account that is member of BizTalk Administrators Group. Below are some screenshots that matter and give you an idea what to expect.

Select features you want; I selected them all.

Account for logging service; I choose my administrator account.

Summary of features that are installed on my Sandbox.

Database for logging; here you can test connection to your database. In the end you will a have fully configured HL7 Accelerator in your Sandbox.

I have got my environment now setup complete and time has come to star experimenting and figure out how it works.

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009

Pro BizTalk Server 2009 Book

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:35:00 +0000

New BizTalk Server 2009 Pro is out. I am currently reading it and it’s a good read and does have some overlap with its predecessor, which was a big success. Updated book for BizTalk Server 2009 is based upon real feedback from BizTalk developers. It is written by recognized experts George Dunphy and Sergei Moukhnitski, backed by a team of top-notch coauthors. In the book the authors share their experiences and expertise to teach readers the art of creating a BizTalk solution using the right tools from the BizTalk 2009 toolbox.

Fully updated to cover the latest developments in BizTalk 2009
Focuses on the art of creating a BizTalk solution by helping readers choose the right tool from the BizTalk toolbox for the task at hand
Based upon the real–life experience of authors with many years of practice implementing BizTalk solutions for large enterprises.

Technical editor of this book is Richard Seroter, who has written excellent SOA Patterns with BizTalk Server 2009. Read his post about the book. I know many of you out there will have this book and/or the new BizTalk Pro book, if not get. It easy to get hold of through Amazon for instance, it is not expensive and above all worth the investment!

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009

BizTalk Server 2009 Pattern Wizard

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:21:00 +0000

Jon Flanders released a new update for Pattern Wizard for BizTalk Server 2009. I downloaded the wizard from Codeplex and tried it out VPC running BizTalk Server 2009 on Standard Windows 2008 OS (x86), SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition and VSTS 2008. I created a project called BizTalkAsyncAggPatternWizardTest and tried Wizard out.

It works like a charm and it is helpful in learning/mastering some BizTalk Patterns as in implementing them in your solutions.

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009

A busy man with BizTalk challenges

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:26:00 +0000

From time to time I read interesting blog posts about BizTalk. I found a few that are interesting:

- Notification when Receive Locations/Send Ports change

- Configuring BizTalk Backup for Disaster Recovery – Part 2

- BizTalk Orchestration – Orchestration debugging inside Visual Studio

- SCOM pack for BizTalk Server 2009

A lot is happening out there in BizTalk community and hopefully I have somethings to add in the near future.

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009

Installation of SSO on SQL Cluster continued

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:35:00 +0000

Couple month ago in June I described in a post how to cluster SSO. This was SQL Server 2005 cluster on Windows 2003 R2 scenario. How to cluster SSO for BizTalk Server 2009 is described here in online documentation. I have not yet have experience with clustering SSO on Windows 2008, but Kent wrote an interesting post about it. If you want to cluster SSO Single Sign On with BizTalk Server 2009 on Windows 2008, check online documentation before you start and check out this post and some other resources available on web right now discussing SSO, clustering, BizTalk 2009:

BizTalk Server 2009 Installation Errors (blog post) – Johan Hedberg;
BizTalk High Availability (PowerPoint) - Kent Weare;
Pricing and Licensing FAQ (SSO questions, website) – Microsoft';
SSO Configuration MCC Snapin – Teekam Gloyal.

Technorati:enterprise sso BizTalk Server 2009

Complex Event Processing Technology

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:25:00 +0000

I read some posts today around Complex Event Processing (CEP) where Microsoft has provided a solution for. This solution is Microsoft’s new Complex Event Processing technology to help businesses derive better insights by correlating event streams from multiple sources with near-zero latency and called: ‘Microsoft® SQL Server® StreamInsight’. A CTP can be downloaded from Microsoft.I have not yet been able to try this out, but I will as soon as time is available. Some bright minds in the BizTalk community already made some comments like Charles Young and Richard Seroter mentioned in his recent post. Latter also written about CEP in BizTalk in his SOA Patterns with BizTalk 2009 book. So it is worth checking out if you have the time.

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009

BizTalk Configuration Manager

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:03:00 +0000

Michael Stephenson has released a new version of configuration manager for BizTalk. I myself was not familiar yet with this tool. I downloaded it from CodePlex and tried it out on one of virtual machines. To use the tool there is a video out that explains the tool. Tool itself is used to help you manage the different settings needed for binding and configuration files across different environments and allows you to connect this with your build process.

Once you have downloaded the tool in zip file, you need to unzip it. There is a compiled help file that will tell you about the tool, how to set it up and install it, walkthroughs and utilities. I did a quick and simple install, setting up the database and application. In VPC I used was BizTalk 2006 R2 environment with VS2005 and SQL2005. Setting up database will result in following database schema

Application will need its connection string set to database (ConfigurationManagement) on your server. I added the test data and started the application (ConfigurationManagement.Administration.exe).

Setup is easy and straight forward. This kind of tool will come very handy in DTAP environment and will something to introduce this week at customer I work for now to use it in DTAP. We have a deployment framework now in place using Excel sheet for keeping configuration settings.

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009:BizTalk 2006 R2 BizTalk Server 2006 R2

BizTalk Development Center

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 13:51:00 +0000

BizTalk support team has started adding content to BizTalk Development Center on MSDN.

Their goal is continually update with information:

Common call generators, including Symptoms and potential Resolutions

Potential scenarios and their fixes

Contributing to the monthly theme

Providing learning materials, including some of the same BizTalk 2009 training materials that the BizTalk support team used:

BizTalk Server Training from Microsoft Customer Service and Support. The last offers training information about BizTalk Server. There I found some interesting documents, which you can download from there:

Learning the New EDI Features of BizTalk Server 2009
Learning the New EDI Features of BizTalk Server 2009
Understanding the New BizTalk Adapter for Oracle E-Business Suite
Understanding the New BizTalk Adapter for SQL Server

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009

BizTalk Adapter Pack 1.0 on x64 Considerations

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:50:00 +0000

Last week I posted an issue around BizTalk Adapter Pack 1.0 in x64 environment. Now I like to clarify a couple of things concerning installation BizTalk Adapter Pack 1.0 in x64 environment and running the adapter in x64 host instance. One thing to consider is having an Oracle specialist around and someone with access to meta-link, because for x64 environment you will need patch 5337014 and 6344569, latter being a OPatch. For 64-bit according to installation guide a Oracle 10.2.0.3 64-bit client is required, which supposed to be a part of one of the mentioned patches. This is how I interpreted, but this is not the case. The patches do not contain a 64-bit Oracle client. You will need to download and install 102010 win64 x64 client first and then install ODAC and apply patch 5337014 and oPatch 6344569 in same directory as ODAC. Applying patch 5337014 is pretty straight forward, but oPatch something different. First you will to need to copy patch in oPatch directory of 64-bit client and then through command prompt navigate to <directory oracle 64-bit client>\OPatch directory and type following command:

set ORACLE_HOME=”<directory oracle 64-bit client>\OPatch” enter and then optach apply.

Note: confirm with Y when asked!

Before applying patches and installing Oracle clients, you need to consider that first 32-bit software needs to be in installed before to proceed to 64-bit. Table below from installation guide with scenario’s will make that clear.

To summarize a 64-bit Platform you will need the necessary Oracle clients (x86,x64), Oracle Patches, WCF LOB SDK (x86,x64), BizTalk Adapter Pack 1.0 (preferable to get official licensed one, because download is 120-evaluation!). Hope this will help you if you require a 64-bit environment (scenario).

Technorati:BizTalk 2006 R2 BizTalk Server 2006 R2 BizTalk

Multiple Sandboxes for Development

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:09:00 +0000

Some of latest posts I read where quite interesting. One is about unattended/silent install of BizTalk 2009 by Kent Weare. Some background on him can be found at Richard Seroter’s interview series on his blog. Brought back a thought of other post months ago from Thiago Almeida about syspreping VHD with BizTalk. Creating BizTalk installation on virtual machine is fun, but also complex depending on what one want to develop solutions for. Developing integration solution for Oracle demand other set of software (LOB Adapters, BizTalk Adapter Pack) than developing solution integrating Dynamics AX 2009 for instance. Having multiple sandbox’s with different set of prerequisite software helps a lot I think and using sysprep or an unattended install of BizTalk helps speedup the process. Having everything on one sandbox to develop any kind of BizTalk solution is not wise idea and a lot dependencies will make it complex. This is just a thought I like to share; comments are welcome.

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009

Creating Hosts in BizTalk Script

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:37:00 +0000

Creating Hosts and host instances can be done with scripts. Below is script for creating hosts:

This script will result in following outcome:

Looking at properties it, 32-bit only is checked and others are unchecked. The same behaviour occurs if this script is performed in 64-bit environment and something you might not want.

Script I showed at begin is one I have been provided with by a colleague and useful to create one or more hosts. Key here is MSBTS_HostSetting that has a couple properties like AuthTrusted, HostType, HostTracking, IsDefault and IsHost32BitOnly (there are more). This gave some insight that script can be altered to have a more desirable outcome. I altered the script by adding setting for HostTracking, Isdefault and IsHost32BitOnly.

Running this script gave me a more desirable outcome:

As you can see there is a lot flexibility here as you can alter the script to any possible outcome depending on the situation required. There is also a tool available to create hosts and some explanation (background) that is very useful.

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009:BizTalk 2006 R2 BizTalk Server 2006 R2 BizTalk

Process Monitor 2.5

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:22:00 +0000

On my sandbox with BizTalk 2009 on it I wanted to download and install FileMon and RegMon. I got this message when I wanted to run FileMon.

There is tool now called Tool ‘Process Monitor’2.5. I got the wrong version of FileMon, but it showed me this tool is available now.

This UI contains views for Registry, FileSystem, Network, Process and Profiling Events. This 2.5 version has been released about three weeks ago. Excellent tool for monitoring what is going on your machine and very useful for troubleshooting an environment. For me my sandbox.

BizTalk Hotrod Magazine Issue 7

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 08:04:00 +0000

New BizTalk Hotrod Magazine is out. I have been reading this magazine in the beginning and it is a good resource to read and absorb knowledge provided in there. This issue contains article about:

B2B 2.0 Azure
Unit Testing Schemas and Maps in BizTalk Server 2009
Book Review for "SOA Patterns with BizTalk Server 2009"
How to Throw Typed Fault Exceptions from Orchestrations Published as WCF Services
Microsoft Dynamics AX integration using Microsoft BizTalk Server (I am interested in that one, cause I like to try something's out with AX 2009)

Great work guys (authors and publisher).

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009

BizTalk Adapter Pack 1.0 Issues

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:43:00 +0000

You can run into some trouble installing BizTalk Adapter Pack 1.0. I stumble upon the following:

1: Messaging Engine

The Messaging Engine failed to add a receive location "MyReceiveLocation" with URL "oracledb://xxxx" to the adapter "WCF-Custom". Reason: "Microsoft.BizTalk.Adapter.Wcf.Converters.CreateBindingException: Unable to get binding type for binding extension "oracleDBBinding". Verify the binding extension is registered in machine.config.
   at Microsoft.BizTalk.Adapter.Wcf.Converters.BindingFactory.GetBindingType(String bindingName, Type& bindingElementType)
   at Microsoft.BizTalk.Adapter.Wcf.Converters.BindingFactory.CreateUserBinding(String bindingName, String bindingConfiguration)
   at Microsoft.BizTalk.Adapter.Wcf.Converters.BindingFactory.CreateBinding(String bindingName, String bindingConfiguration, String bindings)
   at Microsoft.BizTalk.Adapter.Wcf.Config.CustomRLConfig.CreateBinding(RHConfig rhConfig)
   at Microsoft.BizTalk.Adapter.Wcf.Runtime.BtsServiceHostBase.InitializeRuntime()
   at System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostBase.OnOpen(TimeSpan timeout)
   at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Open(TimeSpan timeout)
   at Microsoft.BizTalk.Adapter.Wcf.Runtime.WcfReceiveEndpoint.Enable()
   at Microsoft.BizTalk.Adapter.Wcf.Runtime.WcfReceiveEndpoint..ctor(BizTalkEndpointContext endpointContext, IBTTransportProxy transportProxy, ControlledTermination control)
   at Microsoft.BizTalk.Adapter.Wcf.Runtime.WcfReceiver`2.AddReceiveEndpoint(String url, IPropertyBag adapterConfig, IPropertyBag bizTalkConfig)".

2: Warning

The receive location "MyReceiveLocation" with URL "oracledb://xxxx is shutting down. Details:"The Messaging Engine failed while notifying an adapter of its configuration. "

There is a site, where you can find useful information to resolve issues with Oracle Adapter Pack 1.0. I had to change some things in machine config (as explained on website).There is also information available concerning adapter pack in x64 environments, so definitely check this inforation out!

Technorati:BizTalk 2006 R2 BizTalk Server 2006 R2 BizTalk

BizTalk Adapter Pack 2.0: OracleBinding

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:49:00 +0000

In previous post before my holiday to France I tried out BizTalk Adapter Pack 2.0 with SQL Binding. As said back then I also wanted to try out the Oracle Binding. On my Sandbox I installed Oracle 10G Express Database (similar to SQL Express). To download this database you will need to register to Oracle Technology Network (OTN). For Oracle Database 10g Express Edition installation I did the following:

Password voor SYSTEM database e.a. I used: welkom.

Destination Folder: D:\oraclexe\
Port for 'Oracle Database Listener': 1521
Port for 'Oracle Services for Microsoft Transaction Server': 2030
Port for HTTP Listener: 8080

After installation Oracle Database Express Edition browser UI is fired up. I logged in with username system and password welkom.

I then unlocked sample user by following the procedure below:

To unlock the sample user account:

1.Make sure you are still logged on as the database administrator, as described in the previous section.

2.Click the Administration icon, and then click Database Users.

3.Click the HR schema icon to display the user information for HR.

Description of the illustration gs_hr_icon.gif

4.Under Manage Database User, enter the following settings:

•Password and Confirm Password: Enter hr for the password.

•Account Status: Select Unlocked.

•Roles: Ensure that both CONNECT and RESOURCE are enabled.

5.Click Alter User.

After unlocking the sample user account I logged in with HR and am able to view for instance Employees TABLE.

To work with Adapter Pack 2.0 and Oracle you will need Oracle.DataAccess.dll version 2.111.7.0 (check out this tread!). This is included in ODAC 11g Beta 11.1.0.7.10. I installed this on my Sandbox environment, selecting only Oracle Data Provider for .NET 2.0.11.1.0.7.10 Beta and Oracle Instant Client 11.1.0.7.0.

I checked GAC and Oracle.DataAccess.dll (proper version) was there. Now I started my project I used also for testing BizTalk Adapter Pack (SQL binding) and tried to connect to Oracle.

Right click project and select Add Adapter Service Reference, select oracleDBBinding and click Configure. You will get something like screenshot above. Fill in ServerAddress and ServiceName (you can find these in OracleTNS : //OracleXE/app/oracle/10.2.0/server/NETWORK/ADMIN). Next Security Tab and select credential type UserName and fill in username (unlocked HR) and password.

Click Connect and connection is there. I then selected in category HR, choose Select in Available categories and operations and click on Add.

Finally I clicked OK. I then implemented some code (based on provided sample from Microsoft) to get some data from Employees table based on selection criteria: Last Name.

Code under test button is as follows:

            private void btnTestOracle_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            EMPLOYEESRECORDSELECT[] selectRecords = new EMPLOYEESRECORDSELECT[0];
 
            // Initialize WCF client variables
            HR_Table_EMPLOYEESClient aaTableClient = null;
 
            try
            {
 
                // initialize the EMPLOYEES table client
                aaTableClient = new HR_Table_EMPLOYEESClient("OracleDBBinding_HR_Table_EMPLOYEES");
                //Security Credentials
                aaTableClient.ClientCredentials.UserName.UserName = "HR";
                aaTableClient.ClientCredentials.UserName.Password = "welkom";
                //Open Client
                aaTableClient.Open();
                // Select all records and write them to the textbox result
                selectRecords = aaTableClient.Select("*", "LAST_NAME = '" + txtLastName.Text + "'");
                txtResultOracle.Text = "First Name :" + selectRecords[0].FIRST_NAME + "\r\n" + "Email :" + selectRecords[0].EMAIL + "\r\n" + "Phone Number : " + selectRecords[0].PHONE_NUMBER;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
            }
            finally
            {
                aaTableClient.Close();
            }
 
}

        

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Filling in Last Name King will result in screenshot below:

After Adapter Service Reference is added the app.config is altered, so configuration is done for you.

Also do not forget to include namespaces in your code:

// Include this namespace for Adapter LOB SDK and Oracle exceptions

using microsoft.lobservices.oracledb._2007._03.HR.Table.EMPLOYEES;

using microsoft.lobservices.oracledb._2007._03;

As you can see working with BizTalk Adapter and OracleBinding is fairly easy, but you need to do some configuring in your environment to make it work.

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009 biztalk adapter pack 2.0

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009 Operations Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Steef-Jan Wiggers) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:58:00 +0000

During my holiday I missed out the release of new BizTalk Server 2009 Operations Guide. BizTalk Server Operations Guide is a valuable resource for anyone involved in the implementation and administration of a BizTalk solution, particularly IT professionals. The guide provides detailed information for planning a BizTalk Server environment, as well as recommendations and best practices for configuring, testing, maintaining, and monitoring this environment. The Operations Guide contains checklists for all the key tasks to help BizTalk users. Guide is for BizTalk deployments on following supported operating systems:

Windows Server 2003;
Windows Server 2008;
Windows Vista;
Windows XP.

I reckon guide will be updated for Windows 7 that will be released this fall probably and for Windows 2008 R2. For documentation of guide there is an pdf, docx and executable available. Besides the Operation Guide that can be downloaded there is a site that contains links to all sorts of checklists.

Technorati:BizTalk Server 2009