You cannot create an x64 host with the Standard edition

by | Nov 16, 2009 | BizTalk Community Blogs via Syndication

A number of BizTalk users have been wondering lately that they are not able to create an x64 host on a Standard edition.


The comparison of the features of available BizTalk editions is not really clarifying this issue: http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/editions.aspx


You find clearer information here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa560166(BTS.10).aspx


where it says: “BizTalk Server 2009 Enterprise, Developer, Branch, and Evaluation Editions support native 64-bit execution on Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 x64 (including R2), and Windows XP Professional x64“
(The same is applicable for BizTalk 2006 R2).



The Standard edition is toned down in several areas. If you consider purchasing a BizTalk license, you should carefully define your requirements and check the available editions for the one


which meets your requirements.


 


Manuel Stern


 


Update: This is now well documented in KB 926628

Microsoft releases Windows Azure November 2009 SDK and Tools

by | Nov 15, 2009 | BizTalk Community Blogs via Syndication

Just in case you missed it, or if you’re unable to head to PDC and need some Azure bits to play with, Microsoft released the November 2009 SDK and Tools.

New in this release:

  • Service Model UI: A redesigned and significantly more complete interface for manipulating Role configuration information. To access, double-click on a role node in the Solution Explorer.
  • Additional role templates: Support for ASP.NET MVC 2 (2010 only), F# worker roles (2010 only), and WCF Service Application web roles.
  • VS2010 Beta2 Support: Support for Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and VWD Express 2010 Beta 2.
  • Support for dynamically creating tables: The Create Tables functionality is now performed automatically; there is no longer a need to right-click and select Create Tables… on the project after your table definitions have changed.
  • Full support for and installation of the November Windows Azure SDK release:
    • The sample storage client has been replaced by a new production quality library.
    • New Diagnostics library enables logging using .NET APIs and enables the collection of diagnostic information from the service.
    • Service Runtime library updated to support inter-role communication and notification of configuration changes .
    • Support for input endpoints on Worker Roles.
    • Higher fidelity simulation of Development Storage: supports all current cloud storage features, including dynamically creating tables.
    • Ability to choose the size of the VM for a role instance.
    • Ability to persist data in local storage even after the role is recycled.
    • Ability to manage certificates to install to the role VMs.

    • PDC 2009: Developing REST Applications with the .NET Framework

    by | Nov 15, 2009 | BizTalk Community Blogs via Syndication


    Attending Microsoft PDC 2009? Then come hear Henrik Frystyk Nielsen’s presentation on Developing REST Applications with the .NET Framework. The talk gives an overview of REST principles and why REST is becoming popular beyond traditional Web applications. Learn how to write applications that produce and consume RESTful services using the .NET Framework 4 and the improvements we have planned for future versions of the .NET Framework.

    Logica is the Danish Microsoft partner of the year

    by | Nov 14, 2009 | BizTalk Community Blogs via Syndication

    Hi all

    Here at Logica in Denmark, we have just been told that we have been chose as the Danish
    Microsoft Partner of the year. We are naturally quite proud of this, and one of the
    reasons for choosing us is, that despite the financial crisis we have gained market
    shares.

    You can read Microsofts press release (only in Danish, I am afraid) here: http://www.logica.dk/file/18133

    —

    eliasen

    SharePoint 2010: Professional Developers Guide (BETA) Released

    by | Nov 13, 2009 | BizTalk Community Blogs via Syndication

    Recently at the SharePoint Conference (SPC2010) delegates were given a beautiful book
    with all sorts of developers bits.

    The book stars 123 pages of great information, and improvements to many areas that
    we previously had pain with (lists, queries, and just CAML in general)

    There’s also 6 walkthroughs (sort of like HOLs) with code etc. to give you a feel
    for customising SharePoint.

    Grab
    the PDF version HERE

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Some snippets which I found interesting from the book are:

    1. Some great object model options now for integrating with SharePoint.

      Points to note here:

      – Client OM + Rest are exposed as WCF Services (based on Client.Svc) and the Client
      OM is a batched model, so you transmit only what you ask for within Object Collection
      Hierarchies (unlike SPSite.AllWebs etc etc)
      – LINQ to SharePoint is initially created with SPMetal to create all the LINQ classes
      (there’s no ’designer’ support for this yet, like LINQ for SQL – at least in this
      beta)
      – External Lists are an interesting one, you can develop plugins to expose two-way
      data syncs within SharePoint. I’m looking to reach out to SAP + Siebel systems when
      I explore this option 🙂

    2. Resource Throttling is turned on by default – previously developers could write code
      like SPList.Items Usually on a Developer’s machine, with 5 items in a list this was
      not an issue, 8000 items in a list turns into a different story.

      SharePoint 2010 now has safe guards against this turned on by default.

    EnjoyI’m off to enjoy the sun.

    BizTalk and Project References (continued)

    by | Nov 13, 2009 | BizTalk Community Blogs via Syndication

    In my last blog I mentioned issues with BizTalk 09 when creating references between projects. Here’s some follow up thanks to Mandi on the BizTalk escalation team.

    BizTalk solutions are often separated into various projects for the different artifacts, pipelines, schemas, orchestration, etc. When working with a BizTalk project with references to other BizTalk projects compilation fails.

    A review the project shows an orchestration variable is missing and shows a red exclamation mark. When selecting the type, it shows the referenced BizTalk project but no defined types. This is a known issue and a fix is available (no link available at this time).

    Maps are not immune. If there is a map using a schema from a referenced BizTalk project, the “Schema Type Picker” in the map doesn’t show the referenced project and schemas. It only shows local schemas.

    To resolve this problem check to see if the “Build Action” is set to “None” instead of “BtsCompile” for the schema. Here’s the link with more information.

    Issues with BizTalk 2009 on VS.NET 2008

    http://blog.eliasen.dk/2009/07/21/IssuesWithBizTalk2009OnVSNET2008.aspx

    There may be other related symptoms. The problems mentioned here are not from a single case so check with the BizTalk team regarding referencing issues and BizTalk 09.

    Accelerator for RosettaNet Configuration Failure

    by | Nov 13, 2009 | BizTalk Community Blogs via Syndication

     

    I have seen quite a few issues since last year regarding to BTARN configuration wizard.  The failures seemed to be in the wizard itself, not the typical SQL connectivity or permission related issues.  In some cases the UI failed to load at all.  Configuration log indicated access violation during form load.  In other cases, configuration UI does load but configuration fail to complete.  While the errors vary, the configuration log pointed to something UI related.  These issues have been difficult to track down.  In one case, we created a number of debug builds but the symptom continued to shift.  So while we are still looking for the root cause, I thought it’d be helpful to post the workaround we have been using.  The workaround is simply to use silent configuration.  Logical since the problem seems to be specific to UI.  For BTARN, there are only 2 features so the configuration XML is manageable.  You can either export a configuration XML from a fully configured BTARN box and then modify the settings or you can copy configuration XMLs from a configuration log and combine the features manually.   In case you don’t have access to a configuration XML for BTARN, this is a sample of what it should look like:

     

    <Configuration>

    <Feature Name="Runtime" DisplayName="Runtime" Version="1.0" Description="Runtime Components for RosettaNet.">

    <Question ID="RNCREATEORJOIN" Text="Do you want to create a new database group? (Uncheck to join an existing database group)" Answers="Create,Join" Default="Create">
    <Answer Value="Create" GUID="{B6BD84F3-E70B-4C62-B5AF-2DFBDA8CA655}" Selected="Yes">

    <SQL ID="RN_DB" DisplayName="Configuration Database" Description="This database stores configuration data for BizTalk Accelerator for RosettaNet.">
    <Server>Insert Server Name</Server>
    <Database>BTARNCONFIG</Database>
    <WindowsSecurity Editable="no">yes</WindowsSecurity>
    <UserName /><Password /></SQL>

    <SQL ID="RN_DATADB" DisplayName="Storage Database" Description="This database stores runtime information for RosettaNet transactions.">
    <Server>Insert Server Name</Server>
    <Database>BTARNDATA</Database>
    <WindowsSecurity Editable="no">yes</WindowsSecurity>
    <UserName /><Password /></SQL>

    <SQL ID="RN_ARCHIVEDB" DisplayName="Archive Database" Description="This database stores message content for archive and tracking purposes.">
    <Server>Insert Server Name</Server>
    <Database>BTARNARCHIVE</Database>
    <WindowsSecurity Editable="no">yes</WindowsSecurity><UserName /><Password /></SQL>

    </Answer>
    </Question>

    <Name ID="RN_IISSERVERNAME_ID" DisplayName="Web server name" Description="The name of the Web server where the RosettaNet applications are installed." Hidden="false">
    <Value>Insert Server Name</Value>
    </Name>

    <Name ID="RN_IISPORTNAME_ID" DisplayName="Web Server: Port number" Description="The RosettaNet application port number." Hidden="false">
    <Value>80</Value>
    </Name>

    <WebSite ID="RN_HTTPRECEIVERWEBAPP" DisplayName="BizTalk HTTP Receive virtual folder " Description="Configure HTTP Receive virtual folder.">
    <WebSiteName>Default Web Site</WebSiteName></WebSite>

    <NTService ID="RN Service ID runtime" DisplayName="Application Pool service account for BTARN HTTP Receive location " Description="Service account application pool and database configuration.">
    <UserName>insert user name</UserName>
    <Domain>domain name</Domain><Password>password</Password>
    </NTService>

    </Feature>

    <Feature Name="WebApps" DisplayName="Web Configuration" Version="1.0" Description="Web application configuration for RosettaNet">

    <WebSite ID="RN_WEBAPP" DisplayName="Web application virtual folder " Description="Configure the Web application virtual folder ">

    <WebSiteName>Default Web Site</WebSiteName></WebSite>

    <Name ID="RN_BTSSERVERNAME_ID" DisplayName="BizTalk Server name" Description="The name of the BizTalk Server where the BTARN pipeline component and the HTTP adapter are installed." Hidden="false">
    <Value>Insert Server Name</Value>
    </Name>

    <Name ID="RN_BTSPORTNAME_ID" DisplayName="BizTalk Server: Port number" Description="The port number of the Web site where the Initiator and Responder Web application resides." Hidden="false">
    <Value>80</Value>
    </Name>

    </Feature>

    <Feature Name="WebApps" DisplayName="Web Configuration" Version="1.0" Description="Web application configuration for RosettaNet" />

    <InstalledFeature>Runtime</InstalledFeature>

    <InstalledFeature>WebApps</InstalledFeature>

    </Configuration>

     

    From command prompt, browse to BTARN install folder and you can execute “configuration.exe /s <Configuration XML File Path>”.  In some cases where UI partially configured BTARN before crashing, you can use “configuration.exe /u” to un-configure before running silent configuration again.  Remember to remove the databases if they have been created previously.  Certainly not an ideal solution at this point but hopefully this can help to unblock you in the time being.

    Amazon releases .NET SDK for their Amazon Web Services stack

    Amazon releases .NET SDK for their Amazon Web Services stack

    by | Nov 13, 2009 | BizTalk Community Blogs via Syndication

    Not that I’m surprised by this move; I mean, who would expect Amazon to sit on their laurels and let Microsoft claim the masses of .NET developers. One of my main complaints with AWS has been the lack of tooling for consuming the services.  Having a REST API provides great reach and flexibility, but if you truly want to get people building on your platform, often you have to lower the bar to entry.  This SDK is aimed squarely at Azure and comes just one week before PDC – smart marketing Amazon.  It appears, at a quick glance, that the SDK provides simple .NET wrappers around the web APIs for AWS and source code of course gives you ultimate flexibility to modify.  What it doesn’t have is something to compare to the developer fabric for building and testing your Azure applications locally. give the services they provide, this makes sense, but I wonder if people will really see this as comparable to the Azure development tools. 

    Read about this SdK and other news from Amazon on their website.