Stephen W. Thomas BizTalk MVP

Know A Good BizTalk Blog? Win A Copy of Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 Patterns

Stephen W. Thomas — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 07:29:28 GMT

For those of you who do not know, one of the features of BizTalkGurus.com is the aggregate blog feed. This feed goes back over 8 years and has over 8,000 posts.

Since I started the BizTalk feed, I have expanded the aggregate feeds to include App Fabric and Windows Workflow.

About once a year, I review Google to see if I am missing any BizTalk Blogs that should be included in the aggregate feed. It is that time of year again but this time I would like some help.

In doing so, I’ll be giving away a copy of Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 Patters book by Dan Rosanova published by Packt Publishing. This book is available from Packt and Amazon.

As a 2nd place prize, I will be giving away a copy of Pro Business Activity monitoring in BizTalk 2009 signed by BOTH authors!

To enter, just post a link to a BizTalk related blog not currently included in my aggregate feed. If you do not want to post a comment, just send me an email with the link. Just make sure I can contact you if you win . Take a look at the current blogs below included in the feed to see who is not included.

I will be picking two winners at random after Sunday May 6th.

Good Luck!

List of BizTalk blogs currently featured on BizTalkGurus.com
http://abdulrafaysbiztalk.wordpress.com/feed/
http://biztalkmessages.vansplunteren.net/feed/
http://blog.eliasen.dk/SyndicationService.asmx/GetRss
http://bloggingabout.net/blogs/wellink/rss.aspx
http://blogs.breezetraining.com.au/mickb/SyndicationService.asmx/GetRss
http://fehlberg.wordpress.com/feed/
http://msinnovations.wordpress.com/feed/
http://sandroaspbiztalkblog.wordpress.com/feed/
http://santoshbenjamin.wordpress.com/feed/
http://seroter.wordpress.com/feed
http://soa-thoughts.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
http://weblogs.asp.net/gsusx/rss.aspx
http://weblogs.asp.net/woutercrooy/rss.aspx
http://www.bizbert.com/bizbert/SyndicationService.asmx/GetRss
http://www.blogbiztalk.com/?feed=rss2
http://www.masteringbiztalk.com/blogs/jon/SyndicationService.asmx/GetRss
http://consultingblogs.emc.com/matthall/rss.aspx
http://biztalkbill.com/Rss.aspx
http://www.kriegermartin.de/wordpress/feed/en
http://blog.sabratech.co.uk/feeds/posts/default
http://www.quicklearn.com/blog/syndication.axd
http://blog.cnext.eu/feed/

http://feeds.feedburner.com/modhul/eSXP
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Bizknowledge/rss
http://feeds.feedburner.com/BeLogical-WritingsByJohanHedberg
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Bia-TheBiztalkIntelligenceAgency
http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/bencops
http://feeds.feedburner.com/danielberg?format=xml
http://feeds.feedburner.com/dotrichard
http://feeds.feedburner.com/KentWearesBiztalkBlog
http://feeds.feedburner.com/modhul/eSXP
http://feeds.feedburner.com/SaravanaKumar
http://feeds.feedburner.com/TimRayburnsBlog
http://feeds.feedburner.com/wmmihaa
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Commonality

http://geekswithblogs.net/cyoung/Rss.aspx
http://geekswithblogs.net/andym/Rss.aspx
http://geekswithblogs.net/paulp/rss.aspx
http://geekswithblogs.net/asmith/Rss.aspx
http://geekswithblogs.net/leonidganeline/rss.aspx
http://geekswithblogs.net/michaelstephenson/Rss.aspx
http://geekswithblogs.net/EltonStoneman/Rss.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/jpierauc/rss.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/adapters/rss.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/gzunino/rss.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/neilth/rss.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/nabeelp/rss.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/skaufman/rss.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/biztalk_server_team_blog/rss.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/cvidotto/rss.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ewanf/rss.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/biztalkcpr/rss.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/pkelcey/rss.xml
http://services.social.microsoft.com/feeds/feed/BizTalkServerTopDownloads
http://services.social.microsoft.com/feeds/feed/TechNetWikiArticles
http://services.social.microsoft.com/feeds/feed/BizTalkFeaturedContent

BizTalk Server 2010 Patterns Book Winner

Stephen W. Thomas — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:22:24 GMT

The results are in!

Out of a total of 12 blog post comments, the winner of the Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 Patters Book published by Packet Publishing is… Comment #8 - Mitch Vanhelden

As a 2nd place winner, I am also giving away a copy of Pro BAM in BizTalk Server 2009.

The winner of this book is .. Comment #10 - Eric Beyer

If you did not win this time, watch for a new contest in just a few days.

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 Patterns Book Give Away

Stephen W. Thomas — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:42:34 GMT

It is amazing how time flies! It seems like just yesterday my book on Applied Architecture Patterns hit the shelves, but that was almost a year and a half ago now.

A few months ago, a new BizTalk patterns book written by fellow BizTalk MVP Dan Rosanova has been released. It is called Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 Patterns published by Packet Publishing.

What separates this book from other BizTalk books is it covers both BizTalk Basics & Patterns and a detailed overview of a real-life BizTalk Solution.

This book is available from Packet and Amazon. Currently, the Amazon Kindle version is available for around $18. This will be the best $18 you spend toward bettering your BizTalk knowledge!

Thanks to Packet Publishing I have a few copies of the book to give away!

This week I am going to give away a copy to a random comment on this blog post. Simply post a comment below (make sure you are a registered BizTalkGurus.com user or you include your email address so I can contact you if you win) about a BizTalk Pattern you use today or about Why You Need To Learn About BizTalk Patterns. I will pick a random winner from all comments received before the end of the day on Wednesday February 8th Central Time.

I will cover shipping of the book to any address the USPS delivers to worldwide.

If you do not win this time, watch for more upcoming ways to win!

Winners of the BizTalk 2010 Line of Business Systems Integration Books Are…

Stephen W. Thomas — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:22:18 GMT

Congratulations to Brett Tyrrell from Australia via Facebook and Mike Koerner (@michaelskoerner) from USA via Twitter for winning the BizTalk 2010 Line of Business Systems Integration books from Packet Publishing.

Watch for more great opportunities from BizTalkGurus.com in the new future.

Win A Copy of BizTalk 2010 Line of Business Systems Integration

Stephen W. Thomas — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 03:27:00 GMT

Like I have done with many of the other new BizTalk books I have two copies of the new BizTalk 2010: Line of Business Systems Integration book by Kent Weare et al. published by Packt to give away. Not to worry, I will cover all shipping costs.

To enter: Either LIKE BizTalkGurus on Facebook or FOLLOW BizTalkGurus on Twitter. I will pick one winner from each site to win a free copy of the book. If you already like or follow us you are automatically entered to win! You must enter by end of day August 26th, 2011.


http://www.facebook.com/BizTalkGurus	http://twitter.com/BizTalkGurus

Read more about this book here on Packt’s website and do not forget to download the free sample chapter here.

Buy now from Amazon.com: Microsoft BizTalk 2010: Line of Business Systems Integration . Also available for the Kindle.

Learned A Little on .Net Namespaces

Stephen W. Thomas — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 02:44:48 GMT

I’m back in the action again working on a large BizTalk Healthcare project after some time off.

This is the first time I’ve worked with HIPAA transactions like 270, 271, and others and so far I have learned a lot.

Like other projects I have worked on in the past, one of the first things I do is create projects and namespaces for the new code we have to build. This is usually something you did not have to put much thought into. But with transactions like 270 I went to make a namespace like BizTalk.270. This is all great until you deploy your code. Visual Studios will add an “_” into the namespace like BizTalk._270 and never tells you it did this. This is because .net namespaces cannot start with a number. This extends to anything following the “.” In the namespace as well.

Then, I figured I would try BizTalk.X12-270. But nope, hyphens are not allowed in namespaces as well.

I ended up at BizTalk.X12_270 but in the meantime I had to update all the projects twice to end up there. Next time, I will test things out on one project before I go and update 50 projects with a specific namespace format.

Trying To Get Back Into the Swing of Things…

Stephen W. Thomas — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:11:00 GMT

After starting off strong for the first part of 2011 with a major site upgrade to BizTalkGurus.com, blogging more frequently, and sending out new editions of The BizTalker, I have really dropped the ball for the past 6 months.

But let me explain. In the past 6 months my life has changed. We had our first baby on 2-9-11. His name is Westin. While a new baby in itself takes a lot of work Westin is very special. A few weeks after birth we noticed Westin just was not eating enough to put on any weight and that is when things started to get more complex.

To summarize what my past 6 months have been like: 29 nights in the hospital (5 separate stays), 11 days in the ICU, 3 MRI’s, 2 surgeries, 12 different doctors covering almost every part of the body, so many x-rays and ultrasounds I have lost count, and countless doctor appointments with as many as 8 in a week. Then Westin was finally diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Costello Syndrome. They estimate less than 300 people in the world have this disorder. You can read more about Westin and his life with Costello Syndrome on his blog.

That said, we are hoping the hard part of not knowing what is wrong and not knowing what to expect is over so I am starting to get back into the swing of things. I’ve been back to work for a few months now, traveling again, and life is starting to look a little more normal. I have some upcoming blog posts and even new sample code almost ready and also have some more free BizTalk related books to give away.

Be on the lookout for more to come from me in the near future.

BizTalk Adapters: Buy, Build, or CodePlex

Stephen W. Thomas — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 23:58:01 GMT

In the recent edition of The BizTalker Newsletter I featured the below article about BizTalk Adapters. Read the article below or join the newsletter to have it delivered directly to your email. I welcome any comments. feedback, or thoughts on this subject.

BizTalk contains many built-in adapters for communication with external systems. When those built-in adapters do not meet the needs of your project, some hard decisions need to be made such as whether to buy an adapter, build an adapter using the framework, or use an adapter from CodePlex (i.e. open source). This article will take a look at the pros and cons of each approach.

Buy an Adapter: While this option would require an outlay of cash up front, it can be advantageous in terms of support and speed of implementation.

Pros:

Support is provided by the adapter vendor which can be rapid and 24x7.
Adapter vendor provides a simple, legal licensing model.
Purchased adapters are usually buy now, install tomorrow so there is no lag time to get up and running.

Cons:

Purchased adapters have an upfront cost to the project.
You may not be able to customize the adapter if it does not meet your needs.

Build an Adapter: While this can seem like the obvious answer for a software or consulting company, usually this is a large undertaking. I talked with the writers of the famous SFTP Adapter on CodePlex. They said it took 300 to 400 hours of effort to build that adapter. Out of this time, it took about 200 hours just to learn the adapter framework and the rest to implement the protocol-specific logic. Even at a conservative rate of $100 per hour, this is between $30,000 and $40,000.

Pros:

There could potentially be additional services revenue for the company and they may maintain Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
You have the complete flexibility to build what you want and how you want it.

Cons:

The company that builds the adapter will have to do the maintenance and support.
The building company may not be a subject matter expert in either the BizTalk Adapters Framework or the implementation protocol.
It could take a significant amount of time to complete, test, and deploy.

Use a CodePlex Adapter: CodePlex is a large open source software community. It hosts many different BizTalk Adapters. Some of the most popular are the SFTP Adapter and the Scheduled Task Adapter. Sometimes 3rd party support is available, but in general support is through community forums.

Pros:

Adapter is provided at no cost.
You have access to the source code to customize as needed.

Cons:

There is no support for things that do not work as expected.
There are gray areas in terms of licensing and the impact of customizations.
When a new release is available, customizations need to be reapplied.
Company legal policies might restrict or prohibit the use of open source code.

In my experience we have both bought an adapter and used CodePlex - both times with the SFTP Adapter. I have never built a custom adapter.
Lets take a deeper look at the decisions that impacted my situations.

Case 1 - Bought /n software SFTP Adapter. This was for a large Fortune 500 client. It was simple; the service contract with the client did not allow the use of any open source software due to license and support concerns. I am unsure of the cost of the SFTP Adapter, but using it was simple and we had no issues.

Case 2 - Used CodePlex SFTP Adapter. This was also for a large Fortune 500 client. While the adapter was free, it took about 40 hours over 3 weeks for legal to review the license and approve the use of the adapter. Also, we ran into a few situations that required customization of the adapter. This resulted in an additional 80 hours of development and testing effort. Total costs to us for the free adapter was at least 120 hours and this consulting firm charges much more than $100 per hour.

In conclusion, it is important to remember the trade-offs with each adapter choice. Remember that free does not always mean free and that even the best custom adapter could end up resulting in months (if not years) of support calls down the road.

BizTalk 2010 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach Book Now Available

Stephen W. Thomas — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:30:55 GMT

I had the honor of being the Technical Reviewer on the BizTalk 2006 Recipes book.

One of the authors, Mark Beckner, has updated the book for BizTalk 2010.

It is currently available on Amazon.com at 38% off list price.

This book covers the following topics:

What’s New in BizTalk Server 2010
Schemas
Mapping
Messaging and Pipelines
Orchestrations
Adapters
Business Rules Framework
EDI Solutions
Deployment
Administration and Operations
Business Activity Monitoring

I would highly recommend this book for anyone new to BizTalk Server or wanting to brush up on BizTalk 2010 skills.

Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform Available In India for 400 Rs

Stephen W. Thomas — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 06:29:58 GMT

Our book, Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform: An In-Depth Scenario-Driven Approach to Architecting Systems using Microsoft Technologies, is now available in India at a significant discount for orders placed and delivered in India! This type of discount is common with most technology books due to the difference in costs and wages in India vs. US and Europe.

Computer Bookshop is offering our book for 400 Rs (20% the normal price of 500 Rs). The direct link is: http://www.cb-india.com/Detail.aspx?prodId=16113&catid=777 Shipping varies by destination.

If you live in India, this is a great chance to get a copy of our book.

If you live in the US, our book is still available on Amazon.com using the link below.

Do not forget that anyone can download all the sample code for the book here: http://www.biztalkgurus.com/media/p/30260.aspx

BizTalk and AppFabric Caching: Problem or Problem Solver?

Stephen W. Thomas — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:17:25 GMT

In the recent edition of The BizTalker Newsletter I featured the below article. Read the article below or join the newsletter to have it delivered to your email. I welcome and comments. feedback, or thoughts on this subject.

Server AppFabric contains two core pieces – Hosting and Caching. Today, I’m going to focus on the Caching piece of AppFabric.
AppFabric Caching is a new offering from Microsoft as part of the Server AppFabric collection of technologies for the Application Server role inside Windows. AppFabric Caching is Microsoft’s Distributed Cache solution for on-premise, fast, in-memory, and durable object caching.

A lot of community bloggers have been blogging about the use of AppFabric Caching with BizTalk Server. A few of the best posts are:

Using Windows Server AppFabric Caching for Storing SSO & Configuration data by Abdul Rafay - This shows how to Cache SSO data inside BizTalk.
Use AppFabric Cache to cache your WCF Service response by Mikael Hakansson - This shows how to Cache WCF response messages inside BizTalk.
Using AppFabric Cache in BizTalk by Todd Dhaeyer - This shows how to use AppFabric to Cache reference data and even prevent double messages.

Is Server AppFabric Caching really solving problems or creating new ones?

Rather than diving too deep into AppFabric Caching, let me summarize with a list of Do's and Don'ts.

AppFabric Rules of Thumb – Don’ts:

Never put anything in the Cache that MUST not be lost – it is a non-transactional cache, not a database.
Never install AppFabric Caching along with other server products. It will take up all of the available resources of the server including the entire available RAM so it should only be installed on a dedicated server.
Avoid making a connection to the Cache Cluster with each request. The initial connection to the Cache Cluster is more expensive than reading and writing to the Cache.

AppFabric Rules of Thumb – Do’s:

Use the Cache for fast, in-memory access to serializable .Net Objects that may or may not actually be in the Cache.
To achieve fault tolerances in the Cache, simply add a second node to the Cache Cluster (in most cases).
Use the Cache to reduce the load, performance, and potentially the license costs of more expensive products like SQL Server.
As demand grows, add more servers to the Cache Cluster to increase the available RAM for Caching.

The guidelines seem simple enough, so what is my hold out on BizTalk and AppFabric Cache?

Using BizTalk and AppFabric together makes awesome demos and can simplify some problems like working with reference data. The current release of AppFabric Caching is designed to run alone on its own server since it could take up all available RAM. This would not be a good situation on a production BizTalk Server.

My main concern with AppFabric Caching is if you have a separate caching layer along with your BizTalk Server, why not just use SQL rather than the Cache?

Lower Cost - AppFabric Cache is included with the Windows License but you need extra hardware to run it on its own.
Better Performance - AppFabric Caching would reduce the load on SQL but I would like to see better data on SQL connection vs. Cache connection costs. Although, if the existing SQL Cluster was already reaching capacity, moving more items away from that would be a plus.
Lower Latency - In my mind, reducing latency is the biggest factor for using a Cache. Cache would reduce the latency vs. a call to the database. I would say in most BizTalk Solutions an external call to a SQL Server would probably not be the bottle neck given other BizTalk tuning parameters.
Mission Critical Data - SQL wins out here (at least for now) because it has a true transactional backend data store.

I love all three of the AppFabric community demos shown above. At this stage, I would be comfortable using AppFabric Cache for reference and SSO data - not so much for removing double messages unless I was OK with maybe missing one now and then (but then what's the point?). I would still look to leverage SQL for double message removal given the need for true transactions. Like everything - your unique situation may vary.

In conclusion, BizTalk and AppFabric Caching can work together. Will caching work in scenarios such as a message re-play and de-duper? Absolutely! But for me, given the criticality of most BizTalk installations, I would use caution on using AppFabric Caching with BizTalk… at least for now.

Winner of the Best Missing Feature in BizTalk 2010 is?

Stephen W. Thomas — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 05:09:11 GMT

I just wanted to thank all the entries into the “What is missing in BizTalk 2010 Contest”. It was a hard decision for the other judges and I.

Finally, the decision was made. The winner was Siffnn from the UK. He received a free hard copy of my book “Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform”.

His entry was the following:

“I Would like to See following features :

1- GUI in admin console to tune BizTalk Message Box Parameters

2- GUI similar to SQL Management studio to gather performance stats report for BizTalk Hosts/SQL Databases.

3-Web Based Fast Admin Console,tool.

4- Debugging Options should be easy

5- Standard Application Logging/Caching framework

6-Messaging Patterns should be available in Visual Studio while creating a BizTalk Project

7-There should be standard templates available to add performance counters in PUB/SUB projects.

8-There should be GUI tools available on BAM Infrastructure.

9-BAM Portal should be modified to display larger volume of data using custom data grids. Currently available reports are not very fast.”

Again, thanks to everyone who entered!

Have a Happy New Year!

What is Missing in BizTalk 2010? Best Idea Wins a Signed Copy of Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform

Stephen W. Thomas — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:17:00 GMT

I have another copy of my book “Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform” to give away. The book is a $60 value and I will cover the shipping costs to the winner any place in the world as long as the US Postal Service ships there.

Contest #2 – What is missing in BizTalk Server 2010? What feature, concept, UI update, or tooling would make BizTalk a stronger, more robust, simpler, or easier product to work with?

As a special bonus, I was able to get the book signed by co-author Richard Seroter. So someday when he becomes Microsoft CEO maybe this will be worth some money :).

How to Enter:
Simply add a comment to this blog post with your idea to enter! Ensure you are a registered BizTalkGurus.com member so I know your email address if you win OR send an email to contest@biztalkgurus.com with your idea. Please ensure you see your comment show up on this blog. Due to spam blocker and caching – it might take up to 24 hours. If all else fails, just send me an email.

Entries must be received by 11 PM CST Tuesday, December 7th. The winner will be announced a few days later.

Of course if you do not win a free copy of the book – the book is available on Amazon.com and PacktPub.com.

Looking for more information on our book? Read a sample chapter online Chapter 12 Debatching Bulk Data or watch The Story Behind The Book on YouTube.

Congratulations to Rohit Sharma who won the Best Pattern Contest a few weeks ago!

Best of luck!

Join The BizTalker–The Newsletter of BizTalkGurus.com

Stephen W. Thomas — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 06:56:43 GMT

It has been over a year since my list issue of The BizTalker. With all the excitement in the air about BizTalk in the cloud and AppFabric, I figured now is a good time to bring back the newsletter. I am planning to send out a new issue monthly with the next one in just a few days. I am reaching out to various 3rd parties to try to get some freebies to give away for future newsletters.

In the next issue you will have a chance to win a copy of my new book plus an exclusive discount to order it online.

If you are not a member of The BizTalker, sign up now at: http://www.biztalkgurus.com/newsletter/index.aspx

Server AppFabric for the BizTalk Developer Video Session

Stephen W. Thomas — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 03:47:00 GMT

If you consider yourself a hard core BizTalk Developer, then this session is for you!

A few weeks ago I presented a session on Server AppFabric to the BizTalk User Group in Sweden. This session was geared to showing how similar Workflow 4.0 and AppFabric are to BizTalk – conceptually at least. The goal of this session was to show how us BizTalk guys and gals can quickly pick up Workflow 4 and AppFabric because we already understand the concepts.

I would highly recommend this 60 minute session to all fellow BizTalkers out there!

This session is available on Channel 9 - http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/MSCOMSWE/Tech-Overview-WCFWF-Server-AppFabric-BizTalk-Conference-Stockholm

The code and slides are available for download at http://www.biztalkgurus.com/media/p/29973.aspx.

At the same conference, I gave a session which covered Windows Azure Platform AppFabric. This 30 minute session covers a real-world service bus solution and a walk through of the code behind the solution. It is available at http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/MSCOMSWE/Pattern-5--Remote-Message-Broadcast-BizTalk-Conference-Stockholm and the code and slides can be downloaded at http://www.biztalkgurus.com/media/p/29975.aspx.

If you are looking for other sessions from the multi-day conference in Sweden, below is a full list. We covered a wide-range of technologies from AppFabric to StreamInsight.

Day 1 (Sessions from September 8th, 2010)

Welcome and Introduction

Choosing The Right Tool in the Application Platform
Discuss the challenge of choosing the right technology for a given situation and present a decision framework for guiding evaluation.

Tech Overview: SQL Server
Look at the core components of SQL Server that are used to build applications (e.g. SSIS) and when to use them.

Tech Overview: BizTalk Server
Discuss what BizTalk is and when to use it.

Tech Overview: WCF/WF, Server AppFabric
Highlight key capabilities in WCF and WF and benefits offered by Windows Server AppFabric.

Tech Overview: Windows Azure Platform
Discuss Microsoft’s cloud offering and best usage scenarios.

Pattern #1 – Simple Workflow
Evaluate scenario that involves aggregating data from multiple sources and presenting a unified response.

Day 2 (Sessions from September 9th, 2010)

Pattern #2 – Content Based Routing
Consider options for effectively transmitting data to multiple systems that perform similar functions.

Pattern #3 – Human Workflow with Repair and Resubmit
Showcase using workflow 3.5 to send customer details to an AppFabric hosted workflow 4.0 Workflow Service. This workflow service controls the payment collection process and allows for updated information on a user to be sent back into the same running workflow instance from SharePoint.

Pattern #4 – Cross Organization Supply Chain
Evaluate how to build a supply chain to integrate systems in a PO scenario.

Pattern #5 – Remote Message Broadcast
Demonstrates a scenario where a traditional polling solution is augmented to support real-time updates.

Pattern #6 – Complex Event Processing
Addresses click stream analysis and creating actionable events from user and system behavior.

Got the Best Missing Enterprise Pattern? Win A Copy Of Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform

Stephen W. Thomas — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 22:14:00 GMT

Packt Publishing has given me a few copies of my book “Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform” to give away on BizTalkGurus.com. Over the next few weeks, I am going to have a few contests. The book is a $60 value and I will cover the shipping costs to the winner anyplace in the world as long as the US Postal Service ships there.

Contest #1 – Below are the architectural patterns covered in our book. We started with a much larger list and cut it down to what we thought were the top 13 used in the enterprise. Besides the 13 listed below, what is another pattern commonly used in the enterprise?

How to Enter:
Simply add a comment to this blog post with your pattern idea to enter! Ensure you are a registered BizTalkGurus.com member so I know your email address if you win OR send an email to contest@biztalkgurus.com after you post your pattern. Please ensure you see your pattern show up as a comment on this blog. Due to spam blocker and caching – it might take up to 24 hours. If all else fails, just send me an email.

Entries must be received by 11 PM Monday November 1st Central Standard Time. The winner will be announced a few days later.

The fellow authors and I will review the suggested patterns and what we determine to be the “best missing enterprise pattern” will win a free copy of our book. Who knows, you might even see it written up later on if we release an update to the book.

Included Patterns

Simple Workflow. Covers a use case that involves aggregating data from multiple sources and presenting a unified response.

Content Based Routing. Looks at how to effectively transmit data to multiple systems that perform similar functions.

Publish-Subscribe. Addresses a scenario where a message must be reliably sent to multiple endpoints.

Repair/Resubmit with Human Workflow. Builds a process for easy human interaction with failed messages inside a system.

Remote Message Broadcasting. Demonstrates a scenario where a traditional polling solution is augmented to support real-time updates.

Debatching Bulk Data. Explains how to take giant sets of data and insert them into databases for analysis.

Complex Event Processing. Addresses click stream analysis and creating actionable events.

Cross-Organizational Supply Chain. Demonstrates how to build a supply chain to integrate systems in a PO scenario.

Multiple Master Synchronization. Covers methods for arriving at a single version of truth from multiple, often conflicting master data sources.

Rapid Flexible Scalability. Looks at creating temporary environments that can be easily created and deleted as needed.

Low Latency Request-Reply. Contains a retail scenario where high performing query services are established.

Handling Large Session and Reference Data. Discusses usage of distributed caching to scale large workloads in web applications.

Site Load Burst and Failover. Looks at leveraging Windows Azure platform elastic resources and high SLA for building a low TCO solution.

Best of luck! Of course if you do not win a free copy of the book – the book is available on Amazon.com and PacktPub.com.

Looking for more information on our book? Read a sample chapter online Chapter 12 Debatching Bulk Data or watch The Story Behind The Book on YouTube.

Book Sample Code, Our Commercial, and Repair & Resubmit Solution Video

Stephen W. Thomas — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:59:51 GMT

I have posted online all the sample code from my book, “Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform”. You can download it at http://www.biztalkgurus.com/media/p/30260.aspx. This code contains various samples using BizTalk, BizTalk ESB Toolkit, Server AppFabric, SharePoint 2010, .Net 4.0 Workflow, SQL, Stream Insight, Azure, SQL Azure, Platform AppFabric Service Bus, Server AppFabric Caching, and more. Of course, you will get the most benefit of this code using it alongside with the chapter of the book that walks through it.

The book is available now on Amazon.com and PacktPub.com.

Thanks to our friends in Sweden we now have a Commercial for our book! I have not seen many commercials for Technology books, but this video gives some context of the “why” behind our book. You get to hear from Richard, Ewan, and myself about why we wrote the book and why we picked to release the book at the European BizTalk Conference in Stockholm, Sweden to a room full of top notch, hard-core BizTalk people.

This video is available at http://www.biztalkgurus.com/media/p/30247.aspx and on YouTube.

If you are looking for more detailed information on the types of solutions covered in the book, I have put together a video walking through Chapter 10 – Repair and Resubmit with Human Workflow. This solution uses SharePoint 2010 to store customer information. This information is processed by a .Net 3.5 workflow that sends the data to a Server AppFabric hosted .Net 4.0 workflow service for processing.

This video is available at http://www.biztalkgurus.com/media/p/30249.aspx and on YouTube.

MSDN Subscription Winner from BizTalkGurus.com

Stephen W. Thomas — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:52:20 GMT

First off I want to thank everyone who entered the contest.

A winner was picked at random out of all the entries I received. In total, it was about 10 entries so your chances were good to win! But I could only have one winner.

The winner is: H. Edidin from USA.

Look for more contests coming on BizTalkGurus.com in the next few weeks.

Enter To Win a 1-Year MSDN Subscription

Stephen W. Thomas — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:09:00 GMT

I have an MSDN Subscription voucher to give away! The voucher is good for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate with MSDN subscription and will give you access to many Microsoft products for 1 year. This is a great benefit to anyone doing development and I believe it now includes monthly time on Azure and Platform AppFabric.

The software is good only for development and testing purposes and this subscription is Not For Resale.
I will be having a drawing for the voucher on Sunday, October 10th, 2010 at 10:00 PM CST.

How to enter:

Ensure you do not already have an MSDN subscription – this will not do anything for you in that case
Email, post to Facebook, or by any other means possible get me a picture or Link to a picture of yourself holding a copy of my new book - Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform or just a picture of the book will work as well. It must be clear this is a picture of the book and not a digital image of the cover.
Email to <CONTEST CLOSED>
If you already bought the book and have not received it yet – simply take a picture of the invoice or forward the invoice to the above email address.
No purchase needed to enter. You do not have to buy the book – if you can find it in a book store or have a friend that owns it that works. If you can not find a physical copy of the book any place, simply take a picture of the book page on Amazon or Packt website and use that picture to enter.
All entries may be posted to this website so keep that in mind when entering.

The winner will be announced on my blog shortly after the drawing and of course I’ll be posting the picture!
I will email the winner the Registration Key for the MSDN Subscription.

I will email the winner the Registration Key for the subscription. This is subject to all the Terms and Conditions of the MSDN Subscription that may have geographical restrictions or other limitation.

Want more information about the book? Read a Sample Chapter online at Chapter 12 Debatching Bulk Data or check out the book page on Amazon.com or Packt.

European BizTalk Conference AppFabric and Workflow 4 Session Slides and Code Downloads

Stephen W. Thomas — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:13:29 GMT

In early September 2010, I got the honor to present three sessions on AppFabric and Workflow 4.0 to the BizTalk Users Group in Sweden at the European BizTalk Conference. While my sessions were not related to BizTalk, they are designed to show how easy it is for someone with BizTalk skills to learn AppFabric and Workflow 4.

I have posted the session slide decks and sample code (including the code generated from my 100% LIVE demo).

I did three sessions:

Server AppFabric and Workflow 4.0 Overview – This includes some slides on AppFabric strengths and weakness compared to BizTalk and shows how simple it is to set up Correlation in Workflow 4.

Server AppFabric with Human Workflow – This uses SharePoint 2010 and Workflow 3.5 with AppFabric and .Net 4 Workflow (Chapter 10 from my book) to allow data to be corrected and resubmitted to the same workflow process.

Platform AppFabric with Remote Message Broadcasting – This talks about using Azure Platform AppFabric to broadcast messages through the Service Bus to destinations on numerous networks (Chapter 11 from my book).

The video recording of the sessions should be available soon and I’ll post the links once I have them.