Biztalk (RSS)

Biztalk 2004 and 2006 by DECATEC BizTalk Consulting

Grid Computing for BizTalk

Recently I've come across several projects using custom pipelines to receive, uncompress and parse all sorts of legacy formats and to create billing statements as PDF. I believe such custom pipelines to be ideal for grid computing to offload serious CPU work to other boxes and to keep it all super scalable.

grid computing

Agile BizTalk Development

Agile BizTalk Development
Lately I was tasked to prepare a project plan for a BizTalk development.
Since the deadlines were very tight, but had no issues with budget/resourses, I had to parallelize everything as much as possible.
To make it I adopted an Agile/XP metodology with CRC cards:
I essentially created 2 matrix Word templates:
1) Overview Template: For each message I had an axis for field items and systems
2) Detailed View : For each message and each step in a BizTalk orchestration I have the field items, and 3 columns: the incoming filed values, the actions applied to it and the output values for the fields.
So by creating the matrices/CRC cards each single item can be analyzed as information becomes available, developed (schemas, code) and tested, Each of these CRC cards have additional info like Orchestration, Message, WorkFlow, Project Phase, Owner. And also, each document from these templates can be printed out.

FeedBack? What could be done better?

Other Agile BizTalk posts:
http://www.winterdom.com/weblog/2006/07/17/AgileBizTalkDevelopment.aspx
http://www.theagiledeveloper.com/articles/2006/03/02/biztalk-orchestration-to-bpel
http://codebetter.com/blogs/gregyoung/archive/2006/07/13/147347.aspx

Overview of Microsoft's Integration Tecnologies

Microsoft's Integration Tecnologies


taken from : http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/BTS_2004WP/html/14bc36a8-69a9-48ed-8e4c-1c85202544c0.asp

 

 

Appendix: Summarizing Microsoft Integration Technologies

Integrating Applications Directly

Technology Primary Integration Scenarios

ASP.NET Web Services (ASMX)

Connecting Windows applications with Windows and non-Windows applications via SOAP

.NET Remoting

Connecting Windows applications with other Windows applications via distributed objects

Enterprise Services

Connecting Windows applications with other Windows applications that use distributed transactions, object lifetime management, etc.

Indigo

Connecting Windows applications with Windows and non-Windows applications using web services, distributed transactions, lifetime management, etc. (subsumes ASMX,.NET Remoting and Enterprise Services)

Integrating Applications Through Queues

Technology Primary Integration Scenarios

Microsoft Message Queuing

Connecting Windows applications with other Windows applications using queued messaging

SQL Service Broker

Connecting SQL Server 2005 applications with other SQL Server 2005 applications using queued messaging

Indigo

Connecting Windows applications with other Windows applications using queued messaging (via MSMQ and/or SSB)

Integrating with Applications and Data on IBM Systems

Technology Primary Integration Scenarios

Host Integration Server 2004

Connecting Windows applications with IBM zSeries and iSeries applications and data

Connecting MSMQ with IBM WebSphere MQ

Integrating Applications Through a Broker

Technology Primary Integration Scenarios

BizTalk Server 2006

Connecting Windows applications and non-Windows applications using diverse protocols

Translating between different message formats

Controlling business processes with graphically-defined orchestrations

Connecting with business partners using industry standards, such as RosettaNet and HL7

Providing business process services, such as Business Activity Monitoring and a Business Rules Engine

Integrating Data

Technology Primary Integration Scenarios

SQL Server Integration Services

Combining and transforming data from diverse sources into SQL Server 2005 data

SQL Server Replication

Synchronizing SQL Server data with copies of that data in other instances of SQL Server, Oracle, or DB2