Webinar on BizTalk server 2013

 

Live Webinar: Don’t Let Complex, Disconnected Systems Stifle Your Productivity Bring everything together with the new cross-platform capabilities of BizTalk 2013 Join Neudesic and discover how BizTalk 2013 can help you leverage your existing database, ERP, mainframe and custom investments and maximize business agility by eliminating costly point-to-point integration across on-premise, clouds and devices.   Register Here Date: Tuesday, April 16th, 2013 Time: 10:00 AM PST During This Webinar You will Learn How to: Reduce costs by eliminating platforms like WebMethods and TIBCO Create a more robust system that will scale to your specific needs Take advantage of tooling support for Visual Studio 2012 and SQL Server 2013 Leverage improvements in EDI/Ordered Delivery/REST /HIPAA /SFTP Simplify integration with Azure Queues and Topics Spin up virtual machines in less than 10 minutes Register for the Webinar Or, feel free to respond to Katy by CLICKING HERE and she will  take care of registering you. ​ Katie Ryckman | Sr. Marketing Manager (206) 650-8571 | katie.ryckman@neudesic.com Neudesic - 8105 Irvine Center Drive Suite 1200, Irvine, CA 92618

BizTalk 2013 hits RTM, MSDN Mar 21, GA Apr 1

BizTalk Server 2013 hits RTM .BizTalk Server 2013 makes it easier than ever to build hybrid applications that span on-premises and the cloud.

BizTalk Server 2013 will be available on MSDN starting tomorrow march 21st, with GA in April


This is the eighth release of BizTalk Server, another step in the on-going investments Microsoft is making in BizTalk. In this release focused on the “One BizTalk” vision there has been tons of investment in both the on-premises server and in the cloud. The cloud offerings, which will be released soon, include Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) capabilities as well as Platform as a Service (PaaS) capabilities. .

On the OnPrem Server side this means

· Better and faster Cloud Connectivity

· Ability to run existing BizTalk applications in the cloud (IaaS)

· Improved Performance

· Simplified Development and Management Experience

· Support for the latest platform and standards

In terms of features, this translates to

•Integration with Cloud Services – BizTalk Server 2013 Beta includes new out-of-the box adapters to send and receive messages from Windows Azure Service Bus, making it easy to build hybrid solutions. It also provides capabilities to host BizTalk endpoints in Azure through the Service Bus Relay providing a simple and secure way to connect external partners and application to BizTalk Server on-premises. New adapters include •WCF-BasicHttpRelay
•WCF-NetTCPRelay
•SB-Messaging

•RESTful services – BizTalk Server 2013 Beta provides adapters to invoke REST endpoints as well as expose BizTalk Server artifacts as a RESTful service.
•Enhanced SharePoint adapter – Integrating with SharePoint using BizTalk Server 2013 is now as simple as integrating with a file share. Microsoft has removed the dependency on SharePoint farms, while still providing backward compatibility.
•SFTP adapter –Enables sending and receiving messages from an SFTP server.
•ESB – The ESB capabilities previously introduced in the ESB Toolkit are now fully integrated with BizTalk Server and the ESB configuration experience is vastly simplified to enable a quick setup.
•Dependency tracking - The dependencies between artifacts can now be viewed and navigated in the Admin console.
•Improvements in dynamic send ports –You now have the ability to assign a host handler per adapter, providing better scales and performance for dynamic send ports.
•XslCompiledTransform – The mapping engine now makes use of the enhanced XslCompiledTransform API, which provides significant improvements in mapping engine performance for complex maps.
•Ordered Send Port improvements –have made changes to the BizTalk runtime engine which significantly increases the performance of ordered send port scenarios, for example in HL7 solutions that use the MLLP Adapter.
•BAM Alerts update – In previous releases of BizTalk Server, BAM Alerts feature had a dependency on SSNS (SQL Server Notification Services). With the current release of SQL Server (SQL Server 2012), SSNS is no longer available. However, Microsoft has made sure your existing BAM Alerts scenario work just the same even if your backend is targeting SQL Server 2012. If your backend is SQL Server 2008 R2, you will continue to require the dependency on SSNS.

· Support for latest LOB version and protocol standards - Additionally, the new version also support the latest LOB versions and protocol standards. For B2B, the enhancements include
•Support for X12 5040, 5050, 6020, 6030
•Support for EDIFACT D06A, D06B, D07A, D07B, D08A, D08B, D09A, D09B, D10A, D10B
•HL7 2.5.1

With this release, Microsoft  are also moving to a per-core licensing model to keep BizTalk consistent with our SQL Server licensing. The changes to BizTalk Server licensing reflect the evolution of the industry, along with new hardware deployment practices. With these changes, Microsoft will continue to offer industry-leading TCO to our customers.

Under the new Per Core licensing model, the net price impact to individual customers will vary based on how they deploy BizTalk Server 2013, their current capacity, and their future needs. For customers who are running BizTalk Server software on processors with four cores or less, the license cost for BizTalk Server 2013 remains consistent with BizTalk Server 2010, as core licenses are priced at one quarter the cost of a processor license. For customers running servers with higher capacity processors, licensing cost will grow with the increased power of their hardware.

BizTalk Server 2013 offers expanded virtualization rights, options and benefits to provide greater flexibility when deploying in virtual environments. When deploying BTS 2013 in a virtual environment, you have the choice of licensing either individual virtual machines (VMs) as needed or to license for maximum virtualization to support highly virtualized and private cloud environments.

 

BizTalk Summit 2012

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

 

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

 

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

      

Nice Regex Tool Espresso..

Nice Regex tool .http://www.ultrapico.com/Expresso.htm

Sharepoint and BizTalk Goodness

Found this excellent post on Sharepoint BizTalk adaptor

How Enterprise Ready is SQL

I recently got into an interesting debate on Oracle vs SQL and my point was SQL is pretty rock solid and cheaper for most customers. I will let some statistic do some talking

BizTalk 2010 Beta available for Download

Folks get your hands on the new BizTalk 2010 Beta here

The mapper imporivements alone is worth the money if you do lot of complex maps , HIPPA maps , EDI maps.

Quick EDI Sample Reference

Just Bookmarking for my own use a good link while I mentor people on BizTalk EDI

Biztalk 2009 R2

Cant wait to get my hands on BizTalk 2009 R2 after the demo video from PDC .
See here

The mappergets a complete overhaul with help from MSR

Top Features
- Relevance Tree
- Auto Scroll
- Gray out out of focus links ( reduce clutter )
- Move to Page
- Search
- VS 2010 integration

Returning Data from SAP Tables.

After spending a few frustrating hours on why my SAP RFC call was not returning data and the call was successful . We founf this little gem here from the LOB adapter team blog




If you're sending messages using the channel model instead of using a .NET proxy (for example, in BizTalk) - if the table node is missing from the input XML, we interpret that as if you're not interested in that table. If you do want the rows from that table in the response message, you should pass in the node in the input XML (0 rows, just the starting and ending parameter tag).

DTC

I find myself referring to these mostly trying to analyze SQL issues with BizTalk using DTCPING.I thought I will bookmark these links


INFO: Configuring Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC) to
Work Through a Firewall
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/250367/EN-US/

How to configure RPC dynamic port allocation to work with firewalls
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154596/

How to troubleshoot RPC Endpoint Mapper errors
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=839880

Bing..

I have not been excited on anything related to search from Microsoft in a long time . But I am really excited about Wolfarm Alpha the new decision engine from Microsoft . Now named Bing. The site is not up yet and has a video on it's capabilities for now . I cant wait to get my hands on the real thing .

It is pretty cool actually. Check it out... www.bing.com and see the video here

SAP mapping and XSLT fun

If you are on a BizTalk , SAP project , Your XSLT skills can come real handy .
For e.g. here I needed to set a flag to true based on the existence of value in a  node. Normally this is  easy but in this case that node happens to be in a repeatable group node which can occur n number of times where n is unknown .

It would be a mapping nightmare or a custom Xml manipulation if not for XSLT

<xsl:for-each select="//*[local-name()='Receive' and namespace-uri()='http://Idoc/3/DEBMAS06//700/Receive']/*[local-name()='idocData' and namespace-uri()='http://Idoc/3/DEBMAS06//700/Receive']/*[local-name()='E2KNA1M005GRP' and namespace-uri()='http://Idoc/3/DEBMAS06//700']/*[local-name()='E2KNVVM007GRP' and namespace-uri()='http://Idoc/3/DEBMAS06//700']/*[local-name()='E2KNVPM002' and namespace-uri()='http://Idoc/3/DEBMAS06//700']/*[local-name()='PARVW' and namespace-uri()='http://Idoc/3/DEBMAS06//700']">

<xsl:variable name="nodeType"><xsl:value-of select="."/></xsl:variable>
<xsl:if test="$nodeType ='WE'">

<xsl:element name="shipToFlag">
Y
</xsl:element>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>

Visual Studio 2010

There are some cool channel 9 videos on Visual Studio 2010 out there .
Check them here here

BizTalk and Dublin

Where is Biztalk going Post OSLO , Have heard this being talked about in many forums lot of FUD out there .

For all those I say read Charles Youngs post on Biztalk and Dublin. Highly recommended read .

Playing with BizTalk 2009

I have started playing with BizTalk 2009 previously R3 bits and there is so much exciting stuff here . The one that I am most excited is

Support for Hyper-V virtualization

Support for Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio .NET 2008 and SQL Server 2008
MSbuild (finally )
EDI enchancements
Updated ESB guidance
New SQL and Oracle Apps adapters ( Connect natively to Oracle Financials)
UDDI 3.0
RFID LLRP protocol support (LERP), TDT / TDS standards
more .NET 3.5 /SWIFT enhancements


Check out the BizTalk Roadmap page for more.

BizTalk HTTP Chunked Encoding issues

You are probably reading this snippet because you have a perfectly working Biztalk App that works and performs in development and unit test but fails during volume tests with a downstream LOB app like say Peoplesoft with which you are trying to post via HTTP.

As you may have realized already this due to a chunked encoding issue with BizTalk . BizTalk uses chunked encoding when a message is larger than 48 KB by default.


Well when the message payload size is large HTTP/1.1 RFC implementation allows you to specify to the listener that I am going to send you my message in a series of packets each with it's own size indicator with an Optional trailer containing entity header fields
This is to allow the recipient to verify that it has received the whole message.

To do this the sender must set the in the HTTP Header a property called
transfer-coding = "chunked"

It can then send data in chunks and the recipient if HTTP 1.1 compliant will start collecting data until it gets a chunk with chunk-size set to zero indicating end of transmission.

Great , How does it affect me

BizTalk HTTP Adapter does not set this header when sending chunked data causing downstream listeners to assume this is a whole transmission for a partial data packet. Now you know why your app works in your development box where one tends to test with smaller test files not in server at load :-)

What do I do to resolve this

Since you don't have a way of setting this HTTP Header , the other option is to disable chunking altogether in 2004 with a QFE

BizTalk 2004 SP1 and BizTalk 2006 already has the QFE so in this case all you need to do is to set the registry key DWORD DisableChunkEncoding to 1
as specified here

If you want to learn more about chunked encoding read the HTTP RFC section 3.6.1 here

If you had a scenario this post helped leave me a note