I’ve spent the better part of this week wrestling with Oracle connectivity issues, and figured I’d share a few things I’ve discovered.
A recent BizTalk application deployment included an orchestration that does a simple update to an Oracle table. Instead of using the Oracle adapter, I used .NET component and the objects in the System.Data.OracleClient […]
Recently, I had to create an orchestration that transfers files to the IBM mainframe running z/OS (also called sometimes MVS – Multiple Virtual Storagebecause of the legacy). The orchestration used dynamic FTP port to correlate incoming messages to the destination. During this exercise I learned something about FTPing to the mainframe with BizTalk adapter.
First, flat files obviously must be passed in ASCII mode so the FTP serveris able to convert them to EBCDIC format. Passed in binary modefiles will not be readable as text filessince these two formats have incompatible code pages. Toensure proper conversion set FTP.RepresentationTypeto “ASCII” on the message context.
Second, records in files must be separated with CR LF not just LF as I was getting from UNIX system. Otherwise, only one record was transferred. You’d likely get a message like “250 Transfer completed (data was truncated)”.
Third, record size must be passed to the mainframe system. This is done by setting FTP.BeforePut property to command options like: SITE DCB LRECL=50 RECFM=FB where LRECL sets the record size of 50 characters.
Finally, on some MVS datasets we experienced data truncation even if the LRECL was set properlywhen record size in flat file exceeded 80 characters. Those unlucky files kept getting truncated to 80 characters per records (which is default value for z/OS) until I sent command WRAPRECORD. So, for such cases settingFTP.BeforePut to something like “SITE DCB LRECL=600 RECFM=FB WRAPRECORD” did the trick.
In case you missed this post from Sreeram, our BizTalk Adapter Pack team has rolled out a blog that you’d want to keep track of. As always for questions, please visit our forums.
Regards,
Marjan Kalantar
If you’re interested in our queuing technologies, Motley Que%u00fce from one of our team mates, James Birdsall, is a great blog to read. This blog is centered on MSMQ and WCF Queues (being the latest and greatest way to use MSMQ) with excursions to other technologies that use MSMQ, such as BizTalk.
Two other great blocks to read are from John Breakwell and Muhammed Ismail who write content focused on the problems they actually see in the field.
Enjoy!
Marjan Kalantar
Going to any big parties this weekend? We have 10 new bits of trivia to amaze your friends with! 🙂
Factoid | Source |
12 of the 15 largest Retailers in the World run Microsoft BizTalk | Elsevier Food International, September 2006 (sourced from PlanetRetail database) |
5 of 10 largest Hotel Chains in the World with over 2 Million rooms use Microsoft BizTalk | Hotels Magazine, July 2007 |
6 of the 8 largest U.S. Pharmacuetical Companies use Microsoft BizTalk | Fortune 1000 by Industry, April 30, 2007 |
4 of the 5 largest U.S. Electronics Parts Manufacturers use Microsoft BizTalk | Fortune 1000 by Industry, April 30, 2007 |
9 of 10 largest U.S. Telecommunications Companies use Microsoft BizTalk | Fortune 1000 by Industry, April 30, 2007 |
9 of the 10 largest Aerospace and Defense Companies in the U.S. run Microsoft BizTalk | Fortune 1000 by Industry, April 30, 2007 |
5 of the 8 largest U.S. Chemical Companies run Microsoft BizTalk | Fortune 1000 by Industry, April 30, 2007 |
4 of the 5 largest Railroads in the U.S. run Microsoft BizTalk | Fortune 1000 by Industry, April 30, 2007 |
9 of the 10 largest Insurance Companies in the World run Microsoft BizTalk | Insurance Information Institute (from Fortune Global 500 data) |
23 of 27 EU member governments use Microsoft BizTalk to provide more efficient government services | European Union web site |
Cheers,
Marjan Kalantar
CNN Money has published an interesting article on how KAS bank is using BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and the BizTalk Accelerator for SWIFT to provide institutional investors with SWIFT connectivity. Short and interesting article to read for those interested in the financial sector and connectivity applications consolidation.
Regards,
Marjan Kalantar
Absolutely incredible trip thus far! It’s been great meeting and hanging out
with people in the Heartland District and I wanted to share the slide decks from my
talks.
At the Minneapolis BizTalk 2006 R2 launch I talked about BizTalk 2006 R2 and EDI,
and BizTalk 2006 R2 and RFID. The
decks can be found here.
At the Heartland Developer Conference I had a packed house of over 100 people to learn
about Practical Test Driven Development, and those
slides can be found here. I hope I’m invited back to HDC next year, the
difference between it and the (also fun) Tulsa TechFest was absolutely stunning.
Very tight, 4 tracks, but great attendance at talks. Love it. Kudos to
Joe and Phil.
Hi guys, if you’ve ever embarked down the ‘hey I want to monitor my bts system through
Operations Center 2007’, you’ll realise that there is a fair conversion process to
take the original BTS2006 MOM Pack from *.AKM format to the newer *.XML format.
Essentially you do:
1) Install a conversion tool on MOM 2005 SP1 machine
2) run the conversion process
3) take the exported file to your Operations Manager 2007
4) Import the *.XML to Ops Mgr 2007 to generate the classes.
Or…….. you could download the ready made version – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=389FCB89-F4CF-46D7-BC6E-57830D234F91&displaylang=en
Wow what a winner!!!!
Problem solved……. cross that one off the list 
This posting is intented to complement the Training Roadmap for Office SharePoint Server 2007 with additional resources for non-technical staff members.
This are excerpts from webcasts available at msevents.microsoft.com. These are best for Technical Decision Makers, Business Decisions Makers and Architects…or developers and IT Pros who have to explain this stuff to BDMs,TDMs, or Architects 🙂
These webcasts cover:
Have you ever thought about how much time is lost by your employees because of miscommunication or by the learning curve for a new product, environment, or policy? Join this webcast to get a better understanding of how Microsoft IT is attacking this problem head-on with the built-in features in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.We describe using a programmatic approach to improving the quality, effectiveness, and timeliness of the communications and content sent to employees. We also examine how tools, support, availability of critical patches, and access to user education resources can help you boost productivity and communication. 2/22/2007 7:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 2/21/2009 12:00 AM | Duration:52 Minutes
Primary Language: English
Primary Target Audience: Technology Decision Maker
Microsoft Webcast: Enterprise Search at Microsoft with Office SharePoint Server 2007
Like most large companies, Microsoft’s intranet contains terabytes of structured and unstructured content that employees need to find and use on a daily basis. In the past, it has been difficult to bring such diverse content sets together in a single search-center experience. Join this webcast to see how the recent release of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 makes it possible for users to search different content repositories with just a few clicks. We explore how Microsoft manages its internal search experience built on SharePoint Server 2007, both on the central corporate portal site and as a search service used by more than 75,000 employees worldwide.2/15/2007 7:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 2/14/2009 12:00 AM | Duration:69 Minutes
Primary Language: English
Primary Target Audience: Technology Decision Maker
A Web Seminar with AIIM and Microsoft: Records Management in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a comprehensive Business Productivity platform, offering a rich set of capabilities including Enterprise Content Management. Following an introduction to the principles of electronic records management by Marc Fresko of Cornwell Management Consultants, Rob Gray, Microsoft UK Product Marketing Manager for SharePoint and ECM, will take a closer look at the Records Management capabilities of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
11/10/2006 6:00 PM GMT, London- 11/9/2008 12:00 AM | Duration:74 Minutes
Primary Language: English
Primary Target Audience: Technology Decision Maker
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032316620&culture=en-US
Microsoft and AIIM present Web Content Management using Office SharePoint Server 2007: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 includes many features that are useful for designing, deploying, and managing enterprise intranet portals, corporate Internet presence Web sites, and divisional portal sites. These features enable you to author and publish Web content in a timely manner and can ultimately reduce the cost and overhead of managing multiple sites. Microsoft partner cScape deployed the world’s first web content management system on Office SharePoint Server 2007 with Ministry of Sound label HedKandi. Ben Robb, Lead Technical Architect at cScape and James Bacchus, CIO at Ministry of Sound will talk about the choice of SharePoint as a WCM platform and their plans for the future.
1/19/2007 8:00 PM GMT, London- 1/18/2009 12:00 AM | Duration:57 Minutes
Primary Language: English
Primary Target Audience: Technology Decision Maker
Microsoft Business Intelligence Solutions Demonstration
Demonstration of Business Intelligence Using Sharepoint Server, Office Excel 2007 and SQL Server 2005
8/23/2007 10:30 PM Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore- 8/22/2009 12:00 AM | Duration:25 Minutes
Primary Language: English
Primary Target Audience: Business PC User
This posting is intented to complement the Training Roadmap for Office SharePoint Server 2007 with additional resources for non-technical staff members.
This are excerpts from webcasts available at msevents.microsoft.com. These are best for Technical Decision Makers, Business Decisions Makers and Architects…or developers and IT Pros who have to explain this stuff to BDMs,TDMs, or Architects 🙂
These webcasts cover:
Have you ever thought about how much time is lost by your employees because of miscommunication or by the learning curve for a new product, environment, or policy? Join this webcast to get a better understanding of how Microsoft IT is attacking this problem head-on with the built-in features in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.We describe using a programmatic approach to improving the quality, effectiveness, and timeliness of the communications and content sent to employees. We also examine how tools, support, availability of critical patches, and access to user education resources can help you boost productivity and communication. 2/22/2007 7:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 2/21/2009 12:00 AM | Duration:52 Minutes
Primary Language: English
Primary Target Audience: Technology Decision Maker
Microsoft Webcast: Enterprise Search at Microsoft with Office SharePoint Server 2007
Like most large companies, Microsoft’s intranet contains terabytes of structured and unstructured content that employees need to find and use on a daily basis. In the past, it has been difficult to bring such diverse content sets together in a single search-center experience. Join this webcast to see how the recent release of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 makes it possible for users to search different content repositories with just a few clicks. We explore how Microsoft manages its internal search experience built on SharePoint Server 2007, both on the central corporate portal site and as a search service used by more than 75,000 employees worldwide.2/15/2007 7:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada)- 2/14/2009 12:00 AM | Duration:69 Minutes
Primary Language: English
Primary Target Audience: Technology Decision Maker
A Web Seminar with AIIM and Microsoft: Records Management in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a comprehensive Business Productivity platform, offering a rich set of capabilities including Enterprise Content Management. Following an introduction to the principles of electronic records management by Marc Fresko of Cornwell Management Consultants, Rob Gray, Microsoft UK Product Marketing Manager for SharePoint and ECM, will take a closer look at the Records Management capabilities of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
11/10/2006 6:00 PM GMT, London- 11/9/2008 12:00 AM | Duration:74 Minutes
Primary Language: English
Primary Target Audience: Technology Decision Maker
http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032316620&culture=en-US
Microsoft and AIIM present Web Content Management using Office SharePoint Server 2007: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 includes many features that are useful for designing, deploying, and managing enterprise intranet portals, corporate Internet presence Web sites, and divisional portal sites. These features enable you to author and publish Web content in a timely manner and can ultimately reduce the cost and overhead of managing multiple sites. Microsoft partner cScape deployed the world’s first web content management system on Office SharePoint Server 2007 with Ministry of Sound label HedKandi. Ben Robb, Lead Technical Architect at cScape and James Bacchus, CIO at Ministry of Sound will talk about the choice of SharePoint as a WCM platform and their plans for the future.
1/19/2007 8:00 PM GMT, London- 1/18/2009 12:00 AM | Duration:57 Minutes
Primary Language: English
Primary Target Audience: Technology Decision Maker
Microsoft Business Intelligence Solutions Demonstration
Demonstration of Business Intelligence Using Sharepoint Server, Office Excel 2007 and SQL Server 2005
8/23/2007 10:30 PM Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore- 8/22/2009 12:00 AM | Duration:25 Minutes
Primary Language: English
Primary Target Audience: Business PC User