If you’re thinking of getting into RFID then you can’t go past Microsoft BizTalk RFID
Services.
Low cost standard, scalable solution – it’s brilliant. You can get it as part of the
BizTalk 2006 R2 Branch edition.
As far as training goes and a course to suit your needs…myself and my team have
been working hard to develop not just ‘a course’ but a fantastic course that
takes you from the low layers in RFID to integration and implementation.
During the course
– the student will get their OWN ‘developer’ RFID device to play with on the
course AND take home!!!! (I’m the sort of person that learns by doing – so
I needed that)
– you install, create + implement RFID based processes
– make synchronous calls to WCF based services.
– enrich the data travelling through the process.
– implement Business Rules in the BRE engine.
– Then we use BizTalk + BAM + Performance Monitoring using Operations Manager 2007
+……..
(being a BizTalk MVP….we decided to put in a BizTalk Server piece)
…..but one of the Best things about this course is…..
it’s been bought by Microsoft and will be used for their deliveries (we have
Sydney, Singapore, Beijing and Redmond on the map with scheduled dates so far….)
Here is the course Outline – love to hear what you think!
BizTalk
RFID Workshop – End-to-End
The aim of this 2 day hands-on course is to take the student from the “nuts and bolts”
of BizTalk RFID to enriching and utilizing BizTalk RFID information streams as part
of Business Intelligence. The course also teaches the students how to integrate with
external systems, create and call Business Rules, as well as put in place proactive
monitoring around the end-to-end solution.
As
part of the ’student pack’ for this course, each student is provided with a real (non
virtual) BizTalk RFID compatible RFID Reader that will be used throughout the course,
which the student can take home at course completion.
The
course will teach students how:
%u00b7 Develop
and implement low level BizTalk RFID Interfaces in implementing their own BizTalk
RFID Providers and Process Components.
%u00b7 Develop
and incorporate Business Rules to help drive the BizTalk RFID process.
%u00b7 Active
solution Monitoring using Operations Manager 2007 and the BizTalk R2 Management Pack.
%u00b7 Create
and call an exposed WCF Service synchronously.
%u00b7 Integrate
with a BizTalk 2006 R2 environment.
%u00b7 Enable
End-To-End Business Activity Monitoring.
The
course is aimed for developers and solution architects
Module
1 – Introduction to BizTalk RFID
This
module introduces Microsoft BizTalk RFID and typical solutions it provides to common
business problems. The module also looks at the BizTalk RFID architecture and discovers
how BizTalk RFID operates under the hood.
Specifically
this module covers:
-
Introduction
to RFID and innovative industry solutions
-
BizTalk
RFID architecture
-
Topology –
How BizTalk RFID services operate
-
LAB:
Design and discussion lab that highlights the key factors in determining small, medium
and high Microsoft BizTalk RFID Services topologies (paper based – class discussion).
Module
2 – Installing BizTalk RFID
This
module describes the types of installations supported, and guides us through installing
BizTalk RFID for the first time. There is also a walk-through of the RFID Services
Manager, which highlights the difference between physical and logical devices.
Specifically:
-
BizTalk
RFID components (e.g. RFID Server, RFID databases, RFID Manager)
-
Planning
security
-
Types
of installations and pre-requisites
-
Troubleshooting
and repairing an installation
-
LAB:
Installing and identifying the default settings of Microsoft BizTalk RFID
Module 3
– Examining Physical Devices
This
module will explore the various types of RFID devices available. We will install your
very own RFID device and get it up and running on your machine.
Specifically:
-
Types
of devices
-
Installing
physical devices
-
Developing
against device API’s
-
LAB:
Installing, configuring and testing your RFID Device. Also some sample code on complex
read/write of tags using device’s native API – this will serve to highlight later
the ease of writing tags through the DSPI layer.
Module
4 – BizTalk RFID Device Providers Explained
This
module will look at the device provider’s role in the BizTalk RFID stack. We will
look briefly at the DSPI and examine how it provides a unified way for our business
applications to manage, configure, and communicate with various physical RFID devices.
The module will show sample code using BizTalk RFID object model.
Specifically:
-
The
role of device providers
-
Types
of device providers
-
Device
Service Provider Interface (DSPI)
-
Registering
device providers
-
Testing
and monitoring device providers
-
LAB:
installing, configuring and testing the Device Provider for your RFID Reader. Reading
and writing your first Tag using the BizTalk RFID Object model outside an RFID process.
Examining the Read Tag Event structure.
Lab extension: Building your first DSPI provider class within Visual Studio (we
will look into creating a provider that wraps a file system folder and exposes it
as a ’Provider’. Drop a file into the folder and this will simulate a Tag Read etc.)
Module
5 – Building RFID Processes
In
BizTalk RFID we manage logical groups of components in RFID processes. In this module
we will examine the types of components that make up an RFID process, understand the
difference between logical and physical devices, and see how we use bindings to connect
them. We will learn what an event pipeline is and take a look at the various out-of-the-box
components that ship with BizTalk RFID.
Specifically
this module covers:
-
Components
of a BizTalk RFID Process
-
OOTB
Components
-
Binding
BizTalk RFID Processes
-
Starting
a BizTalk RFID Process
-
Deploying
RFID Processes
-
LAB:
Creating, testing and logging your first RFID Process. Capturing the Read Tag Event.
Writing to a DB table using the OOTB Sql Sink component.
Lab Extension: Create a SQL Reporting Services report to report on Tag event data
in sqlsink db and display the enriched data (cool!)
Module
6 – Creating Custom RFID Event Handlers
This module will focus on the event processing pipeline, as we learn when and how
to create our own event handler components to filter, enrich, and process tag event
data.
We will examine the following topics:
-
Asynchronous
Event Processing – terminating, continuing components -
Filtering,
Enriching, and Terminating event data
-
Error
Handling
-
Deployment
and registration
-
LAB:
Creating a simple custom component to enrich tag event data using a DB Lookup while
adding custom properties to the tag Event data. The enriched data will be made available
for downstream consumers. This lab highlights the importance of keeping the TagEvent
data structure within these processes.
Module
7 – The Role of Business Rules
The
Business Rules Engine allows for externalising key decision process points. This allows
RFID processes to be more flexible and highly repeatable. In this module we will examine
the OOTB rule engine policy executor component as well as looking at how we can call
business rules from our custom event handlers.
The focus points are:
-
Benefits
of the Business Rules Engine (BRE)
-
Why
BRE is crucial for any RFID Process
-
The
RuleEnginePolicyExecutor component
-
Calling
business rules policy from custom event handlers
-
LAB:
extending your RFID Process to incorporate Business Rules.
Create a Business Rules. Use Rules to process business logic and output the results
back to a DB Table. The results are posted to the SQL Sink database for further consumption.
Module
8 – Publishing and Consuming WCF Services in BizTalk RFID
Enabling
BizTalk RFID processes to consume WCF Services provides enormous value to upstream
process consumers, such as Microsoft BizTalk Server. Integration and instrumentation
of BizTalk RFID throughout the Enterprise provides rich, meaningful information ideally
delivered to the user’s desktop, thus abstracting the actual process to another information
stream within the Enterprise. This module will discuss consuming and publishing BizTalk
RFID processes with WCF Services, essentially allowing for the ease of integration.
Both Synchronous and Asynchronous message patterns will be examined.
We will cover the following:
-
Consuming
WCF Services – calling a WCF Service
synchronously
-
Topology
options for reliable interfacing to BizTalk RFID
-
Performance
considerations
-
LAB:
Calling an existing WCF Service from within a RFID Process synchronously. Create a
WinForm Application that hosts a WCF Service that is called synchronously. Here the
operator deals with the scenario and the results are returned back to the RFID process
in question. The user can see the results in the UI. Publishing a local WCF Service
allowing for optimized consumption with integration partners, e.g. security considerations.
Module
9 – Consuming and BAM enabling End-To-End RFID processes in Microsoft BizTalk Server
This
module will walk through the ease of integrating BizTalk RFID with Microsoft BizTalk
Server and will integrate the BizTalk RFID processes with BizTalk Server allowing
for the Orchestrating of BizTalk RFID processes within the larger Business Process
and the Enterprise.
-
A
BizTalk Server’s perspective of BizTalk RFID
-
Reliability,
interoperability and performance considerations.
-
Using
WCF BAM Interceptor and custom BAM APIs from the BizTalk RFID environment.
-
LAB:
Building a simple BizTalk BizTalk Server Orchestration that processes published BizTalk
RFID Tag Event data. This lab illustrates
the basic framework required to integrate BizTalk Server. Using BizTalk Server 2006
R2 BAM WCF Interceptors and BAM API from within RFID, system components will report
back BAM eventing information for further analysis.
Module
10 – Effective Monitoring + Performance Consideration for Microsoft BizTalk RFID Deployments
This module will discuss effective BizTalk RFID System and Process monitoring within
different scenarios to actively monitor for better health from a Microsoft Operations
Manager 2007 environment. The module also focuses on steps to take for proactive monitoring,
rather than reactive. The student will also learn how to configure and setup this
environment to ensure effect health monitoring of their BizTalk RFID Environment.
Specifically
this module covers:
-
Determining
the health of BizTalk RFID through Operations Manager 2007, Alerts and key performance
monitor counters.
-
Packaging
and deploying existing BizTalk RFID Processes – a closer look at RfidClientConsole.exe -
Performance
considerations within BizTalk RFID Services and its processes.
-
LAB:
Package and deploy your existing RFID Process, examine performance monitor counters
and highlight key performance factors within RFID Services.
Module
11 – BizTalk RFID Tips and Tricks
This
module will cover key tips and tricks when implementing BizTalk RFID, with respect
to maximising performance, optimising the BizTalk Rules Engine for performance, deployment
and tweaking the IIS hosted BizTalk RFID Processes.
Specifically
this module covers:
-
IIS
6.0 considerations for BizTalk RFID – post install suggested tweaks.
-
Getting
the most out of your BizTalk Rules engine – determine rule set and fact cache policy
durations.
-
Best
practices when packaging up your BizTalk RFID Processes and deciding whether to GAC
or not additional BizTalk RFID artifacts.
-
LAB:
Create a new IIS Web Site to specifically host BizTalk RFID Processes. Setting the
IIS Web Application Pool . Configuring the BizTalk RFID Server to use non-default
IIS web site as well as adjusting some of the BizTalk RFID settings.