Preface
It all started about a year ago and BizTalk Services was soon to go for preview in a few months. We were all excited to break new ground in the era of cloud middleware. We must tell you one of the benefits of being in the product group (or being an MVP) is that you get early access to bits long before they hit the market. Working on those bits, we thought to ourselves, "Wouldn't it be nice for our customers to have a guide to build effective solutions with this service?" This book on BizTalk Services was envisioned not necessarily to spoil the fun by adding every little detail, but to cover enough to understand the architecture, the key components, and help you explore.
This book is written for beginners, and knowledge of BizTalk Server is neither assumed nor expected. It is also the first book on the topic, and we'll cover all the important features including EAI, B2B, and hybrid deployments in detail—all with code samples and walkthroughs. If you are an EAI user, you can start with Chapter 1, Hello BizTalk Services and then continue with Chapter 2, Messages and Transforms, Chapter 3, Bridges, and Chapter 4, Enterprise Application Integration. On the other hand, a B2B developer or architect can follow Chapter 1, Hello BizTalk Services, Chapter 2, Messages and Transforms, and Chapter 5, Business-to-business Integration. If you're interested in the APIs underpinning the services, troubleshooting your solutions, or how to move to BizTalk Services, then Chapter 6, API, Chapter 7, Tracking and Troubleshooting, and Chapter 8, Moving to BizTalk Services will guide you.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Hello BizTalk Services, introduces BizTalk Services, its architecture, and how to create an instance of the service and deploy solutions.
Chapter 2, Messages and Transforms, explains message processing and how to transform messages to different formats. Also, it explains how to use mapping operations to aggregate data, perform reference data lookups, and use custom code in transformations.
Chapter 3, Bridges, gives a detailed look at bridges and explains how to enrich messages and route messages to different endpoints.
Chapter 4, Enterprise Application Integration, explains sources and destinations and how to connect BizTalk Services to enterprise applications and systems on-premises from the cloud.
Chapter 5, Business-to-business Integration, discusses B2B integration using industry standard protocols such as EDIFACT, X12, and AS2. It also discusses how to create partners and agreements in BizTalk Services to connect with trading partners and how to utilize message batching and archiving.
Chapter 6, API, discusses a rich API underpinning BizTalk Services. Also, it explains what it can do and how to use it in different contexts, including REST, PowerShell, and custom code.
Chapter 7, Tracking and Troubleshooting, discusses how messages are tracked in BizTalk Services and how to find and resolve problems when they occur using the tools BizTalk Services provides.
Chapter 8, Moving to BizTalk Services, explains how to move from BizTalk Server to BizTalk Services, the differences between the two products, and future plans.
What you need for this book
To follow along with the code samples and solutions provided in the book, you will need the following pre requisites:
Internet access
One of the following operating systems: Windows 7 Service Pack 1, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2012 R2
Internet Explorer 9 or Internet Explorer 10
Visual Studio 2012
Windows Azure BizTalk Services SDK
Please visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsazure/hh689760.aspx
A Windows Azure subscription and instance of Windows Azure BizTalk Services
To create a BizTalk Service instance, please visit http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/
Who this book is for
This book is for software developers, IT pros, architects, and technical managers who wish to understand BizTalk Services, what it can do, and how to use it to integrate services, on-premises applications, and businesses together.
Conventions
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node."
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Note
Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.
Tip
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