Cumulative Update package 5 for BizTalk Server 2013 R2 is available

This cumulative update package for Microsoft BizTalk Server 2013 R2 is available to download.

We recommend that you test hotfixes before you deploy them in a production environment. Because the builds are cumulative, each new update release contains all the hotfixes and all the security updates that were included in the previous BizTalk Server 2013 R2 update release. We recommend that you consider applying the most recent BizTalk Server 2013 R2 update release.. You may experience performance issues if you run mismatched versions.

More information

This cumulative update package is a rollup update that contains the following items:

  • All new hotfixes that were released for BizTalk Server 2013 R2
  • Some hotfixes for Microsoft BizTalk Server 2013 and BizTalk Server 2010
  • Other fixes that improve the product
You can get a hold of the latest CU by going to this site

Hotfixes that are included in cumulative update package 5 for BizTalk Server 2013 R2

BizTalk Server Adapter

BizTalk Server EDIAS2

BizTalk Server Administration Tools and Management APIs

The ‘new’ integration specialist; become extinct or evolve, the choice is up to you!

The ‘new’ integration specialist; become extinct or evolve, the choice is up to you!

Hey you, yes you! I reckon you ended up reading this blogpost due to the enticing title. Well awesome, now that I have your attention.

Like all things in nature, things evolve. Well they either evolve or get instinct. By sharing this post I hope you as an Integration Specialist want to evolve as well and don’t get extinct.

So how would you know if your existence as an Integration Specialist is not about to get obliviated from this world? Well keep on reading..

Let’s start off with: Yes BizTalk Server is here to stay for the foreseeable future.  BizTalk Server 2016 was just released and once again this is proof that Microsoft is still heavily investing in this great , one of a kind, integration platform.

You might wonder, how does Microsoft keep it alive? Well Microsoft is doing so by constantly evolving as it understands the business needs and the fact that integration space is changing and now both spans on-premises as the cloud and a clear example of this is to be seen with the new release of BizTalk Server 2016. This release a new adapter is being introduced which allows us to seamlessly expand into the Hybrid Integration Space, the logic app adapter for BizTalk. Besides this adapter we offcourse still have our good ‘old’ friend the SB Messaging adapter (service bus).

Anyways I am digressing. What about that thing I mentioned before; about becoming extinct as an Integration Specialist? Well, please allow me to elaborate.

Isn’t it true that when you decided to take up on a career within IT you were fully aware that you would need to keep your skillset and knowledge constantly up to date (I.e.; keep on learning new and exciting stuff). Well how many of you, actually do, keep up to date; and I mean really up to date, thus not only reading up on the new stuff but actually getting your hands dirty.

Most of the integrators I talk to, work day in day out with BizTalk Server, and although reading up on for example Logic Apps, Service bus, Azure functions, App Services, Service Fabric, Azure API management and so forth most of them have not really gotten their hands dirty and played around with these awesome services in Azure which open up new ways with regards to integration capabilities.

If I ask them why? I Usually get the same answer, no time, our company does not allow for us to use the Cloud, no need as we use BizTalk, not mature enough, don’t know where to start, it changes all the time, and so on. Well I do understand these answers and I most certainly do understand that ideally we would love to be able to learn these new skills in our boss’ time, but hey let’s wake up! You can decide to wait until this time arrives or you simply start investing in yourself! Anyways the longer you wait the harder it will get and that day where you will be deemed extinct will only get closer and closer. So please do not let this happen, don’t become extinct, evolve! The last thing you want is to end up like Milton from Office Space (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsayg_S4pJg)

In order to evolve you will need to expand your knowledge and be able to apply everything you learned (think integration patterns, integration best-practices etc.) in this new Hybrid world; and yes sorry to tell you; you won’t get far by merely clicking, copy and pasting and dragging and dropping. No you will need to level-up your foundational skills.

At  this point you might ask yourself, how do I level-up my foundational skills and where do I start? Well it’s actually simpler than you might think especially considering that the chances are pretty big that you are a seasoned BizTalk Specialist which is able to solve the most complex integration challenges using all the capabilities within BizTalk, sure some areas are more familiar than others but overall; you have the skills, capabilities , know all the EAI patterns, love to decouple services and you know  that Microservices is nothing more than another implementation of SOA and heck yeah you’ve been doing that for years. So yes you have a great foundation and that on itself gets you halfway there.

Nevertheless you will have to level-up and that my friend is only to be done in one way and that’s by exposing yourself to these new technologies and start experimenting. In short make those flying hours and don’t decide to be a passenger, become the pilot. Make mistakes, because by making mistakes we learn. If you are stuck  reach-out to the community, attend user group meetings and so on and before you notice you will have skilled up and you are one step further away from getting extinct and one step closer to evolving even further.

So in fact it is pretty simple to ensure you will not get extinct, all it takes is that additional push in the right direction to get you moving and hopefully I’ve been able to contribute to this little push. So don’t wait any longer and get started

  • If you don’t have an Azure Subscription, sign up here for a free trial and receive $260 in credits – or join visual studio dev essentials and get $25 dollar of Azure Credits per month for a year
  • Have a look at one of the following resources to learn more about Logic Apps, API Management, Service Bus and BizTalk Server 2016
    • Logic Apps
    • API Management
    • Service Bus
    • BizTalk Server 2016

If you are in Sydney Australia, please do check out the Hybrid Integration Platform Usergroup and feel free to join us for one of our meetups!

Cheers

René

Integration Monday with BizTalk Product Group

Tonight we had loads of people on the integration monday webcast and there were a few people who wanted the slides asap to share with their teams.  We will be posting the video from tonights session and the slides on the link below tomorrow once the video is processed as we do each week along side all past events.

For those who wanted slides asap just sharing them here temporarily but do check back on the below link for the video: http://cscblogsamples.blob.core.windows.net/publicblogsamples/Integration%20monday%20-%20Product%20Group%20presentation.pdf

Past Events

Microsoft IT’s Enterprise Integration Platform (EPS) team goes live on BizTalk Server 2016

Microsoft IT’s Enterprise Integration Platform (EPS) team became the first to go-live on BizTalk Server 2016. The platform that is managed by EPS is one of the most critical in the Microsoft ecosystem as it processes over 30 million B2B transactions per month worth in excess of USD 120 Billion annually with 2000 + partners using multiple message formats including X12, EDIFACT, XML, SWIFT spans across all business domains viz., Supply Chain, Finance, Human Resources, Volume Licensing. The initial functional & performance test results of BizTalk 2016 were so encouraging that the team implemented a “critical” trade screening business process that ensures screening of organizations, consumers before Microsoft sells its products and services.

This project is part of overarching initiative to optimize infrastructure costs by adopting Azure’s IaaS & PaaS offerings and completely eliminating on premise footprint. This is where BizTalk 2016 delivers key business value due to its compatibility with Azure IaaS while providing a supported High Availability solution. Yes, that’s right – unlike its predecessor, BizTalk Server 2016 leverages out-of-box SQL Server 2016’s “Always On Availability Group ” functionality to provide high availability solutions on Azure IaaS. This release also provides BizTalk connectors to support hybrid integration scenarios.

While the PaaS story of B2B integration matures with the rapid emergence of Logic Apps, Microsoft was fully focused on this new release of BizTalk Server as it allows existing customers to move to Microsoft supported BizTalk-IaaS solution without having to change existing BizTalk applications. To ensure a defect-free release of BizTalk 2016, Microsoft IT and BizTalk Product Group collaborated to identify top enterprise integration scenarios which need to be tested before general availability (GA) of BizTalk 2016 and be the first customer to adopt BizTalk 2016 on IaaS. To achieve this objective, rigorous testing and validation was performed along the following lines:

  • BizTalk functional testing on IaaS
    • All artefacts, including different adaptors and message types
    • End to end flows which include B2B and hybrid A2A scenarios using the new Logic Apps adaptor.
    • Individual Application data and sanity validation tests
  • High Availability tests
    • Change the backend SQL HA/DR architecture of the SQL WFSC cluster to SQL Always On Availability Group and potential implications/best practices to adhere to.
    • Extreme HA tests, including MSDTC edge case scenarios.
  • Performance & Load testing
    • Performance tests (sustenance, peak load behavior, etc.)
    • Reliability tests (peak load auto-recovery)
    • Scalability tests (ability to handle up to 5X the normal traffic load patterns)

The migration from BizTalk Server 2013R2 was “lift and shift” or as is basis. Existing BizTalk applications from 2013R2 were used as is.

The experience overall with BizTalk Server 2016 on Microsoft Azure IaaS VMs has been exciting, especially with the new set of features including IaaS High-Availability support, Logic Apps adaptor, improved BizTalk Admin UI console and new features which have made administration easier than before. Additionally, due to the migration to IaaS, the team has been able to consolidate and optimize hardware requirement exactly as per use, thereby already showing up to 20% cost savings annually in the initial analysis.

BizTalk Server 2016 RTM is available

BizTalk Server 2016 RTM is available

BizTalk Server 2016 RTM is available

The BizTalk Server Product Team finally released the great new Release 2016.
This release confirms the commitment to Microsoft enterprise customers and partners, by delivering a set of new technologies, tools, and improvements.

More information about BizTalk Server 2016 :

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt670742.aspx

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Host Integration Server 2016 RTM is avaiable

Host Integration Server 2016 RTM is avaiable

Host Integration Server 2016 RTM is avaiable

The Host Integration Server Product Team finally released the great new Release 2016.
This release confirms the commitment to Microsoft enterprise customers and partners, by delivering a set of new technologies, tools, and improvements.
  • New Microsoft Client for MQ connecting .NET Framework and BizTalk Server applications to IBM MQ message processing systems, providing simplified administration and improved performance.
  • Expanded platform support for latest Microsoft operating systems and development tools, plus support for most popular IBM systems versions, permitting the broadest application support lifecycle for upgraded and new solutions.
  • Improved installation and configuration assisting IT administrators to efficiently deploy new clients and servers, reducing operating expenses and total cost of ownership.
  • New telemetry for improving technologies and tools, by monitoring and reporting connections, operations, and exceptions.
  • New Microsoft Client for DRDA connecting .NET Framework and BizTalk Server applications to IBM DB2 and Informix relational database systems, delivering increased functionality, with improved performance and scalability.
To get started, visit the Microsoft Developer Network to read more about what’s new and improved in Host Integration Server 2016.
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BizTalk Server 2016 Developer edition is available on MSDN

We have launched the BizTalk Server 2016 Developer image on MSDN. You can download this by going into our MSDN subscriber download site.

BizTalk Server 2016 Developer is a free licensed product that can be used in testing. It does not require an MSDN subscription, however only MSDN Subscribers will be able to access and download the file.

We would like to emphasize the changes made to BizTalk Server 2016

Feature Description
Support for newer platforms BizTalk Server 2016 adds support for the following Microsoft platforms:- Visual Studio 2015
– Windows Server 2016
– SQL Server 2016
– Office 2016Hardware and Software Requirements for BizTalk Server 2016
SQL Server 2016 AlwaysOn Availability Groups Support includes:

– Using on-premises and in Microsoft Azure IaaS virtual machines
– Using for production workloads
– Provides a high available (HA) solution in Microsoft Azure

High Availability using SQL Server AlwaysOn

BizTalk Server Azure VMs in production BizTalk Server Azure virtual machines are now fully supported for production environments. Using SQL Server 2016 AlwaysOn, a highly available solution is now possible.

High Availability using SQL Server AlwaysOn

Logic App adapter Connect to your Logic Apps hosted in Azure, and get access to all the connectors including Salesforce, SharePoint, CRM Online, and more. For example, you can receive an order in BizTalk Server, connect to your Logic App, and update Salesforce.

Logic App adapter

FTP adapter SYST command is no longer required. When you configure the FTP adapter on a receive location or send port, there is a property called FTP Server Type. Using this property, you choose the FTP server you want; which determines if SYST is required.

As a result of this change, there are more “supported” FTP servers.

Configuring the FTP adapter

SFTP adapter SFTP adapter is re-engineered to use WinSCP to connect to SFTP; which allows support for more SFTP servers. Client-side logging and additional encryption ciphers are also new.

SFTP adapter

Allow import of tracking settings When importing a binding a file, you can choose to import (or not import) the tracking properties enabled on your orchestrations, send ports, and so on. This is a global setting (set at the Group level) so you can set this feature in your different environments. For example, you can import the existing tracking properties for your Development environments, and don’t import the tracking properties for your Production environments.

BizTalk Settings Dashboard, Group Page

Shared Access Signature (SAS) You can use SAS authentication for the Service Bus connection with the BasicHttpRelay, NetTcpRelay, BasicHttp, and WebHttp adapters.

WCF-BasicHttpRelay adapter
WCF-NetTcpRelay adapter
WCF-BasicHttp adapter
WCF-WebHTTP adapter

SB-Messaging adapter now includes the steps to get Access Control (ACS) values using PowerShell.

Ordered delivery on dynamic ports – Includes the adapters that support ordered delivery on static send ports
– You can enable the ordered delivery option in the BizTalk Administration console
SHA-2 hash functions SHA-2 is fully supported, including:

  • BizTalk can consume SHA2-signed certificates across all of its components
  • Supports the following Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) exchange system for signature keys in AS2, RosettaNet, and the MIME/SMIME encoder:
    • AES128
    • AES192
    • AES256
  • Supports the following SHA2-based MIC calculations for AS2:
    • SHA256
    • SHA384
    • SHA512
  • Supports the following SHA2-based digest methods in RosettaNet:
    • SHA256
    • SHA384
    • SHA512
  • SHA1 certificates will continue to work
Compile your maps Choose to compile your maps using XslTransform or XslCompiledTransform
Schema window In the BizTalk mapper, the Schema dialog window is now resizable
Office web components (OWC) Office web components (OWC) is now an optional installation component.
Adapters and Accelerators Improvements and changes include:

– SAP adapter now uses SAP Connector for .NET (NCo), while still supporting the classic RFC SDK. WCF-SAP adapter support for the SAP .NET Connector provides more details.
– BizTalk Accelerator for HL7: The MLLP adapter on a receive location now supports the option to initiate an outbound connection to a remote LOB listener.

Import/export parties Changes include:

– The import and export option is separated from the Application. For example, you can export a party without exporting the application. You can import a party without importing the application.
– Can choose which parties, business profiles, and agreements you want to import or export
– Can continue to import/export the business-to-business artifacts as you do in BizTalk Server 2013 R2, BizTalk Server 2013, and BizTalk Server 2010.

BizTalk Administration Some changes include:

– Configure the settings for multiple hosts/host instances simultaneously
– Filter artifacts in the BizTalk Administration console using a new search capability
– Save multiple suspended messages simultaneously to a file within Group Hub
– The BizTalk Administration console has a more modern look and feel

Deprecated & Removed List

Host Integration Server 2016 is available on MSDN

We are happy to announce that the Host Integration Server (HIS) 2016is available on the MSDN for download. Host Integration Server 2016 went RTM October 27th. HIS 2016 Enterprise https://aka.ms/his2016msdnent HIS 2016 Developer https://aka.ms/his2016msdndev There has been massive changes and platform alignments to the product this release, take a look at our “What’s new in…
Blog Post by: BizTalk Team