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PDC09 Annoucements – Biztalk 2009 R2

 

Can’t wait to get my hands on BizTalk 2009 R2 changes / enhancements after the demo video from PDC .
See the video here

The mapper gets a complete overhaul with help from Microsoft Research.

Top Features / changes / enhancements/ Productivity Improvements
- Relevance Tree
- Auto Scroll – Click on the map node or functoid,  and the map would scroll itself to the respective nodes.
- Gray out out of focus links ( reduce clutter )  –> this one will make my life easier

- Clicking on a node would highlight the related associations (Reduce clutter) –> I had requested this feature for BTS 2009.. Thanks Microsoft you have listened.

- Move functiods to other Pages –> this one tooo..

- Search – for tags within the map: “Loop” would highlight the filtered nodes and functoids.
- VS 2010 integration –> awesome finally Microsoft will bring BTS developers to use the latest and greatest VS2010 tools.

- new out-of-the-box FTPS adapter

- Adding hosted workflows in BizTalk

 

for screenshots of the above features go here 

 

Many more features in BTS 2009 related to WF, WCF and AppFabric… Watch Microsoft PDC 09  Video: Click Here

 

BizTalk 2009 Upgrade error: Invalid object name ‘BizTalkMgmtDb.dbo.bts_orchestration’

When upgrading BizTalk 2006 R2 with SQL Server 2005 + SP3 server to BizTalk 2009. During the upgrading/installation, you might get the following error:
Invalid object name ‘BizTalkMgmtDb.dbo.bts_orchestration’.

Reason could be if you have different names to the default BizTalk DBs names.

But, If you restart SQL Server services and stop all BizTalk services except EntSSO service and Repair the BizTalk 2009 installation, it completes with no errors.

Also, When you upgrade any accelerators (like RosettaNET, SWIFT etc) with different DB Names, you will encounter similar error. but if you repair the installation it will resolve the error and install successfully.

Technorati Tags: BizTalk 2009,Upgrade,BizTalk Installation,BizTalk 2006 R2

Upgrade and Migration of BizTalk 2006/R2 to BizTalk 2009

 

BizTalk Runtime upgrade

BizTalk Runtime upgrade approach should be used for upgrading the BizTalk 2006 and BizTalk 2006 R2 server(s). Use the BizTalk 2009 installation to perform the upgrade of BizTalk 2006 and BizTalk 2006 R2 server installation files to BizTalk 2009 runtime. This approach will upgrade the BizTalk server software files and BizTalk databases. This approach should be taken on servers having no Visual Studio installed.

Steps:

1. Stop all the BizTalk Services.

2. Backup all BizTalk Databases.

3. Ensure MS .NET 3.5 with SP1 is installed on the server(s).

4. Apply the Service Pack 2 to the Windows 2003 Server (R2).

5. Apply Service Pack 3 to SQL Server 2005 or Service Pack 1 to SQL Server 2008.

6. Perform the Upgrade using the BizTalk 2009 Installation media.

Known issues: BizTalk Tracking DBs upgrade has some issues. Before upgrade take a backup of BizTalk databases especially BizTalkDTADb and BAM DBs.

BizTalk Solutions upgrade

BizTalk Applications/solutions upgrade approach is for updating the BizTalk solution projects. The BizTalk solutions upgrade is performed using the Visual Studio 2008 upgrade wizard. This approach should be performed on development environments only.

Steps:

1. Install Visual Studio 2008 with SP1.

2. Install SQL Server 2005 with SP3 or Install a local instance of SQL Server 2008 with SP1.

3. Install/upgrade BizTalk 2009 on the development Machine.

4. Install/upgrade BizTalk Adapter Pack 2.0.

5. Get the latest Source Code from TFS 2005 / TFS 2008 repository.

6. Use the Visual Studio Solution upgrade wizard to migrate all the solution source code project files to Visual Studio 2008 and BizTalk 2009 Project Type.

7. Create new BizTalk2009 Team Project and check-in the migrated code.

Note: OS can be either Windows Server 2003 R2 with latest Service Pack or Windows Server 2008. In both cases, IIS features of the OS have to be installed with WSS 3.0 SP2.

BizTalk Adapters upgrade

BizTalk adapters upgrade approach is for updating the BizTalk Adapter Pack 1.0 runtime and Schemas. Use the BizTalk Adapter migration wizard to upgrade BizTalk Adapter Pack 1.0 runtime and customized adapters solution files.

BizTalk deprecated features.

EDI base adapter

With the release of BizTalk 2009, the EDI base adapter in BizTalk 2006 is deprecated. After you perform the upgrade of BizTalk EDI solutions, test the BizTalk EDI base adapter based solutions and check for incompatibility in the EDI Schemas and versions.

BizTalk Human workflow Based solution and runtime

With the release of BizTalk 2009, the BizTalk 2006/R2 human workflow services feature is deprecated. In BizTalk 2009 human based workflow are enabled using BizTalk WSS 3.0 adapter and WSS 3.0 sites.

Setup BizTalk development environment

Options:

1. Windows 2003 R2 with SP2, SQL 2005 with SP3, IIS 6.0, WSS 3.0 with SP2, Visual Studio 2008 with SP1, and BizTalk 2009 with BizTalk Adapter Pack 2.0. Note: ensure .NET 3.5 SP1 installed.

2. Windows 2008 with SP1, SQL 2008 with SP1, IIS 7.0, WSS 3.0 with SP2, Visual Studio 2008 with SP1, and BizTalk 2009 with BizTalk Adapter Pack 2.0. (Recommended to build an new virtual machine).

Note: source code can continue to be hosted in TFS 2005 or migrated to TFS 2008.

Setup BizTalk build environment

Options:

1. TFS 2005 as source control and modify the existing build scripts.

2. TFS 2008 as Source control. Migrate the code base to TFS 2008 Team Projects. Create new build scripts to include new unit test cases, get latest source code from TFS 2008 to build, create code check in policies, and test the deployed BizTalk application with Visual Studio 2008 BizTalk Testing tools.

Testing BizTalk solutions

1. Check WCF Adapter based solutions for incompatibility.

2. Check all the applications.

3. Testing the exception handling blocks in all the orchestration.

4. Testing EDI solutions on BizTalk 2009

5. Testing BAM solutions on BizTalk 2009.

6. Test all SAP interfacing projects after migrating Runtime and Source code.

7. Test all the HL7, RosettaNET and other accelerator based solutions with appropriate BizTalk 2009 accelerators installed and accelerator files upgraded.

Technorati Tags: BizTalk 2006 R2,BizTalk 2009,Migration,Upgrade,BizTalk Adapter Pack

Hotmail is exciting users by rolling out new features.

one of the hidden gems of Hotmail with recent updates is IM/Chat from within your inbox http://tinyurl.com/lykoze 

Hotmail still needs to make the IM in Hotmail more accessible like have a IM window inside Hotmail and reply via IM.

Quick Add feature – lets users to search and add results from within the compose window.

Fast Addressing – when composing a mail, you can auto-complete the email address (u know it already), What u might want to try is the To… button. click on the button to get a dropdown to add people, categories/groups (aka distribution lists) and favorite people.

Easy Access – access ur Hotmail on the web, Outlook, Windows Live Mail and Mobile

Talking about 15-Minute Workout – MSN Health & Fitness – Men’s Fitness

For Daily dose of exercise and wellness checkout the following links

          health.msn.com

15-Minute Workout – MSN Health & Fitness – Men’s Fitness

www.realage.com -> some cool tips, videos on quick workouts which are really effective.

 

 

BizTalk 2006 R2 / 2009 RFID on Win2k3 SP2 Domain Controller VPC

I always make the mistake of promoting my VPC BizTalk Server’s OS to DC before install the BizTalk 2006 R2/2009 RFID. And I get the below dreaded message when trying to (in this case) install BizTalk 2009 RFID.

“The product cannot be installed on this machine since it seems to be a domain controller”

What a Start!!!!!.

I did some search on Live Search for install BizTalk RFID on Windows 2003 Domain Controller. I got this article by Mick.

Essentially the Steps are as below:

1. either Install BizTalk 2006 R2/2009 RFID before you promote your VPC OS to DC

or

(good thing about the below option is that your BizTalk service accounts and groups will be in the domain) I prefer this approach.

1. Install Windows 2003 R2/2008 with AD as a DC in your VPC. then Install Visual Studio 2005/2008 with Service Packs.

2. Then Install BizTalk 2006 R2 / 2009 and then modify the RFIDServices.msi in the RFID_x86 or RFID_x64 folder in the installation media as per the link.
3.  and develop some cool RFID POCs….

Technorati Tags: BizTalk RFID,BizTalk 2009,BizTalk 2006 R2

BizTalk WCF SAP Adapter Gotchas – Orders05 IDOC Schema inconsistency

BizTalk 2006 R2 WCF LOB Adapter for SAP generates IDOC Schemas inconsistent with the segment name like E1EDP01008 / E2EDP01008 and E1(2)EDP19002. But when you receive a Orders05 IDOC from SAP these segment names will be E1EDP01006 and E1EDP19001.

After two days of poking around in the maps, schemas and pipelines, I got to the conclusion that the generated schema needs to be modified to reflect the actual segment names.

here is the workaround for this kind of issue.

1. open the Consume Adapter service wizard generated schema file, in this case, open Orders05_XXX_XXX_Schema.xsd file in notepad

2. search for E2EDP01008 and replace with E2EDP01006

3. similarly for E1EDP19002 and replace with E1EDP19002.

4. Test a sample Orders05 IDOC document from SAP with the new modified schema by using the “Validate Instance” option in VS 2005 for the Orders05_XXX_XXX_Schema2.xsd file.

5. Also, do not forget to cross check all the segments, data sent by SAP with the BizTalk generated XML IDOC file.

5. If it succeeds, Build and deploy the schemas and use it in other projects (pipelines and maps etc).

Note: the dreaded error like “no document schema can interpret the remaining stream of data in the input file. use a Trailer schema as buffer for that in your pipeline flat file disassembler. This is explained in this blog.

Hope this saves you some time…

Technorati Tags: Biztalk2006,WCF SAP Adapter,BizTalk2006R2

Try Visual Studio 2010 Beta bits

Technorati Tags: VS2010

 

Get the datasheet.

If you are eager to try the .NET 4.0 beta and need a Kool ALM tool to play with try Visual Studio 2010.

Finally, WPF goes mainstream with MS Products.

Download the installation bits from here or Visit the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Beta 1 site (link to go live May 20, AM (PSDT)) to download the Beta, submit product feedback, find links to forums or for additional information about the Beta on the site.

I’m waiting to download the VS2010 VPC. becos I’m too lazy to setup another VPC for VS2010 by myself. Come on Microsoft rollout the VS2010 beta VPC soon to teh general developer community.

BizTalk 2009 Released

Being a fan of BizTalk toolset, BizTalk 2009 was released Today by Microsoft.

With BizTalk 2009 Release, Noteworthy features to look for:

ALM – unit test your schemas, maps, pipelines and orchestrations all from Visual Studio 2008 IDE.

EDI/AS2 Enhancements

BizTalk Adapter Pack 2.0 download from here

  – supports integration scenarios with Oracle ebusiness suite, SAP, Mainframes (via Hosts adapaters from HIS 2009).

ESB 2.0 toolkit to be released mid-June check here.

RFID Mobile

with my MSDN Subscription, I’ll install the BizTalk 2009 on Windows 2008 with SQL 2008 and  Visual Studio Team suite 2008 and share my experience.

Also, Try some integration scenarios with BizTalk 2009, SAP, Commerce Server 2009 and SharePoint 2007 and share the tips and tricks on my blog here