Azure Thoughts, EAI Challenges

In my previous post I discussed sending messages to a Service Bus queue. These messages send to the queue are then picked up by the SB-Messaging Adapter for BizTalk Server 2010 R2 CTP, which is running in a VM on Windows Azure. BizTalk will then process these messages by inserting them into a table.  I used one client to send multiple messages to the queue. I measured the time it took to send messages to the queue not the time it took for BizTalk to insert each message in SQL Server 2008 R2 table. However, the latency between the queue and SQL Server 2008 R2 was relatively low. As soon as all the messages were sent the same amount of records were present in the table. Overall the performance is not bad when it comes to a few thousand messages. Latency and throughput are good. In this post I take a different approach. I will simulate a run with 10000 participants. The run is 15K and there are passing time marks at 5 and 10K. At 15K the finishing time will be registered. I will us...

Like some of you I have been experimenting with the Service Bus Queues, Topics and subscriptions. The information from Microsoft gives you a straight forward insight how to send messages to queues , topics and subscriptions using .NET.  The first step to interact with the Service Bus Queues, Topics and subscriptions is by creating an account with Windows Azure through a trail or buy option . The next step is creating a service namespace through the Windows Azure Portal followed by obtaining the management credentials you need when setting up Service Bus Connection string.  To create a solution that can interact with the Service Bus you need to have a reference in your Visual Studio project to the Microsoft.ServiceBus.dll on your machine, which is a part of the Windows Azure SDK . In your code template (for instance C# form) you will add two using statements:   using Microsoft.ServiceBus; using Microsoft.ServiceBus.Messaging; Now everything is setup for coding your ...

In my previous post I discussed ways to setup a BizTalk Server 2010 R2 CTP Virtual Machine in Azure. The post demonstrates how a VM with the BizTalk Server 2010 R2 is provisioned using CREATE CREATE . However the BizTalk Server 2010 R2 is installed on the VM, but not yet configured! Ergo you have to do that yourself! This is pointed out in Getting started with BizTalk Server 2010 R2 CTP in Windows Azure Virtual Machines post by BizTalk Server Team. However, it explains to do a basic configuration, while I choose to do a custom configuration of the all the features. Note: On first logon, a few start up tasks will be executed. Wait until the SQL Server – Getting Started link is created on desktop. The configuration is the same as for BizTalk Server 2010 setting up SSO, Group, Runtime and so on. Some of the other BizTalk components like adapter pack are not installed on this Virtual Machine either. This explains presence of the BizTalk Server 2010 R2 CTP folder and SQLServ...

Fellow BizTalk MVP Stephen W. Thomas has created two excellent posts on setting up a BizTalk Server 2010 CTP in Azure: Setting Up BizTalk 2010 R2 CTP in an Azure Virtual Machine using the Gallery Running a Windows Azure Virtual Machine Locally with Hyper-V or VMware 8 / VMware 9 In this post I like to share my experience and do a follow up on my post BizTalk IaaS solution: Provisioning Developer Environment . Now I have an Azure subscription through my MSDN account, yet you can setup a trail subscription (see Stephen’s post) or have a paid subscription. Look at the pricing page to see the options for yourself and choose what is best fit in case you do not have an MSDN account. MSDN provides some benefits when it comes to Windows Azure. With any subscription you can log into the portal. You can then on left hand side choose virtual machines. You can then select CREATE A VIRTUAL MACHINE . You will then see a dialog appear as below. You can choose to use QUICK CREATE of...

Almost two years ago I posted a story on the BizTalk roadmap and made a statement that it here to stay. I ended the post with: “My thinking with current evolution of BizTalk is that it will become a first class citizen with Microsoft offerings.” I am not Nostradamus or a fortuneteller yet my feeling back then told that BizTalk is not dead yet. With such a strong and vibrant community and over 10.000 customers I could not imaging that Microsoft would stop investing in it. Another story that confirmed my thinking and of many others I think was the well known and written post “ Is BizTalk Server Going Away At Some Point? Yes. Dead? Nope .” by Richard Seroter July last year. Year 2012 Microsoft is still investing in BizTalk and bringing out the next version beginning of 2013. A lot of features/enhancements are revealed during TechEd North America . Kent Weare , BizTalk MVP from Canada has been cranking out some excellent posts on what Microsoft will be bringing out in the near futur...

Last couple of weeks more information has been shared by Microsoft on the future release of BizTalk Server (currently named BizTalk Server 2010 R2). During the BizTalk Event in Milan 24th of May and BizTalk User Group meeting 7th of June sessions revealed more on what is coming. The release of this BizTalk version is six months after release of Windows 8, so it will in first quarter of 2013. In the past there has been a lot of buzz around BizTalk being dead yet Microsoft is still committed to middleware business. This will be vivid during the sessions they will give at TechEd: Application Integration Futures: The Road Map and What's Next on Windows Azure Building Integration Solutions Using Microsoft BizTalk On-Premises and on Windows Azure These session will become available approximately a week later. The current strategy towards the future Microsoft is following with integration is a three pronged strategy: On-premise BizTalk BizTalk IaaS ( Infrastructure as a...