Tuesday, December 11, 2012

BizTalk Summit 2012

I will be speaking at the BizTalk summit 2012. Ping me if  you would like a copy of my deck.
 

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Spin up a a BizTalk server in 10 steps BizTalk IaaS

I assume you already  have an account on Windos Azure. Navingate to  https://manage.windowsazure.com/
 
 
Click on Virtual machines and select from Gallery

 
Pick the stock Image.

 
Configure your VM , Pick What size you need
Options are
Extra Small  ( Shared Core , 768 MB memory )
Small ( 1 Core , 1.75 GB)
Medium ( 2 Cores , 3.5 GB)
Large ( 4 cores,  7 GB)
Extra Large ( 8 cores 14 GB) .
 


 
I picked a large and made it a standalone VM


             Create an availability set ( You can skip this )
 
 
 
We will put them in an availability set the main thing to understand is that your VMs in a set will be physically on separate racks in the data center and when tech's upgrade host OS beneath your VMs they will never upgrade all of the VMs in the set at the same time so only part of your app is taken down for maintenance.


Click Finish


and a few minites later , your BizTalk server in the cloud is ready
 

 RDP into your box if your firewall allows ( if you are behind corporate firewalls)

 
Voila, The barrier to innovation has just been lowered folks
 
 

10 Things to get excited about the BizTalk 2010 R2 CTP



Microsoft officialy announced the CTP of BizTalk server 2010 R2 yesterday.

I am personally excited about this release due to multiple reasons , the first of which I had used the pre-CTP bits on my earlier webcast and I had mentioned some of this would be landing pretty soon.
So I am glad to see that come true and the early access to everyone.

The second thing I am excited about is despite the new version note getttting a new name upgrade and and is relegated to a Release 2 of 2010, there are such huge investments and proming set of tools that is getting added to your arsenal , that it makes  hybrid connectivity scenarios a real first class citizen in the BizTalk middleware platform.

What that means is really intuitive integration with  Windows Azure Service Bus Queues/Topics/Relays.  by the introduction of the  following adapters and Bindings
  • SB-Messaging, for sending/pulling data from Service Bus Queues/Topics
  • WCF-NetTCPRelay, for hosting relays or sending data to NetTCPRelay end points 
  • WCF-BasicHttpRelay, for hosting relays or sending data to BasicHttpRelay end points
The third thing that I am excited is that with this CTP , BizTalk now has native support for ACS authentication and is extensible to other auth mechanisms from other identitiy providers
 
The fourth thing that I am excited is REST support ( frankly this came a little late  considering how prevanlent RESTful services are today. so ability to consume was a no brainer ) So with the new WCF-WebHttp adapter. All the HTTP operations like GET,/PUT/DELETE/POST are now supported natively.
 
The fifth thing that make me excited is ( I will harp on REST a little bit more)  now not only can you consume , you can also expose RESTful Services from BizTalk Server.
 
The sixth thing would be  BizTalk IaaS, I have lived through enough years in my consulting life when I have always felt we are the mercy of procurement in the ability to chamipion innovation. Now that you can spin up your own BizTalk infrastructre in the cloud with a few clicks and a Credit Card suddenly procuring a few servers to load test becomes a snap . It also now becomes a Opex cost rather than a capex cost , that should make some CFO's ad CIO's drool on ability in Azure.
 
Seventh  would be platform updates  Windows 2012 / 2008 R2 , SQL 2012/2008 R2 , VS 2012.
SAP 7.2/Oracle DB 11.2 and Oracle EBS 12.1,
 
Eight  since I  am now a Houtonian after having bougtht  a house here and we are big on Medical  and Health in this town so it is heartening to see more robust  support for HL7 2.5.1 , improvements in the MLLP adapter and a commitment to HL7 2.6 schema update in Beta timeframe .
 
Ninth would be no surprise If you have listened to my talk last week , you would know that I am pretty passinate around EDI in general and how much of a strong case I have made for BizTalk to be your middleware of choice when it comes to implementing EDI solutions that gives you most bang from the buck.  So in that area I am happy to see B2B enhancements to support latest standards natively
 ◦Support for X12 5040, 5050, 6020, 6030
 ◦Support for EDIFACT D06A, D06B, D07A, D07B, D08A, D08B, D09A, D09B, D10A, D10B
  Support for 999
 
 
Last but not the least would be the messaging from Microsoft and the stability of the build ( which I have been playing with for a while ) for which our the Microsoft Product team  should recieved Kudos is . This release has dispelled many myths and conspiracy theories , This takes the BizTalk brading to a much broader messaging and is maximizing the BizTalk brand value to new level which has today 12,000 plus customers and growing and with the new ability to run BizTalk in the cloud make it a commodity that even new companies can innovate on without investing in big iron which has essentially lowered the barriers to innovation. The team has also done a fantastic job of listening to customers and really taken the platform to address all the top concerns from current customers who have made huge bets on the platform. So kudos to the PG Team
 
So in that sense I believe BizTalk 2010 R2 which is promsed to land 6 months post Win8  is a new landmark release of BizTalk Server just like waht BizTalk 2004 was , improved and ready  with changes to take it through the next 10 years.

You can read the full announcement here
 

Sunday, August 05, 2012

Webcast covering EAI and EDI Services capabilities


Integration Evolved - EDI


Defying analyst predictions pronouncing the death of EDI more than a decade ago, IT investment continues to grow. Today 80 percent of B2B transactions, representing between $5 trillion and $7 trillion in trade, are conducted with EDI.

Developing mature EDI and AS2 capability is a strategic imperative for organizations that engage in electronic commerce or must comply with regulatory requirements. As the cost of traditional, secure networking both on-premise and in the cloud continues to drop, and the economies of scale delivered by cloud computing become more compelling, there's never been a better time to consider how the Microsoft platform can help you plan and future proof your EDI strategy.

Join Abhilash Shanmugan, Neudesic's Connected Systems Practice Director, Microsoft Virtual Technology Specialist, and two-time BizTalk MVP, for a look at how the exciting new EDI capabilities of the Microsoft platform can lower barriers of entry, whether your EDI strategy is purely focused on-premise or you're interested in the benefits that PaaS can deliver.

Whether you're looking to reduce operational costs of your EDI infrastructure, have suppliers that demand EDI integration in manufacturing, retail and supply chain management, or need to comply with healthcare regulations such as HIPPA, you'll learn how to plan your EDI investment and realize the benefits of contemporary capabilities available both on-premise and in the cloud
 

Thursday - August 9, 2012
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PDT



SPECIAL OFFER
With the landscape shifting to a platform-oriented, capability-driven approach to application integration, more of our clients are seeking guidance as they plan for the future.
Be one of 3 registrants to receive a complimentary 90-minute briefing with a Connected Systems architect to review how current capabilities of BizTalk Server, WCF, WF, Windows Server AppFabric, Neuron ESB and Azure Service Bus can help your organization build best-in-class, on-premise and hybrid composite solutions that will shape your future platform strategy.

Watch past installments of our Integration Evolved series:

Enabling Hybrid Composition On-Premise and Beyond

Maximize Customer Experience with Dynamics CRM Application Integration

Driving Innovation with SAP On-Premise and Beyond
      


Thursday, February 09, 2012