I’ve been looking into the possibility of updating the highly successful Professional BizTalk Server 2006 book to take into account new features and capabilities in BizTalk Server 2006 R2 and the recently announced BizTalk Server 2009 product.
A fair bit has changed to warrant new chapters and updating of various chapters but of course the main body of content is still accurate and will be brought forward into any new edition.
The current book is of course still absolutely usable for both BizTalk Server 2006, R2 and even 2009 as the main engine, features and best practices are unchanged.
I’ve listed some of my thoughts around what needs to be covered to expand the reach of the book given the new version but would love to hear of topics and sections that you would like to see added if you’ve already read the current edition.
Please send me a mail with your thoughts via my blog site or add comments to this posting, I’d really appreciate your views on what we should consider.
I haven’t got formal commitment from Wiley yet as I’m still at the Table of Contents stage, here are my outline thoughts as it currently stands.
Technology Primer – Update
%u00b7 Cover WCF basics
%u00b7 Cover the penalty of XmlDocument vs Serializable Classes vs XPath with real-examples of overhead
BizTalk Architecture – Update
%u00b7 Emphasise further how important testing is, don’t expect performance and how critical the performance of supporting systems is. Detail techniques for isolating and testing performance of supporting systems
%u00b7 Cover any changes with BTS2009
%u00b7 Potentially position BTS2009 vs Oslo at the architectural level
Adapters – Update
%u00b7 Include drill-down on WCF Adapter topics
%u00b7 Overview
%u00b7 Different WCF-* adapters
%u00b7 Walkthrough
%u00b7 Demonstrate how a custom binding can be developed using the WCF Adapter SDK (null adapter?)
%u00b7 Cover the new WCF Adapter bindings (SQL, MQS, etc)
Business Activity Monitoring – Update
%u00b7 Provide implementation of BAM Latency Timer pipeline component
%u00b7 Provide more real-world and common questions/issues guidance
Business Rules Engine – Update
%u00b7 Position BRE vs the WF rules engine and futures
RFID – New Chapter
%u00b7 Drill-down chapter into the RFID features of BizTalk complete with real-world examples
Testing – Update
%u00b7 Provide more real-world “case studies” of how it’s been done right and the benefits..
%u00b7 New BizUnit features (Excel)
%u00b7 Update with any new VS2008 (and maybe future release features)
Performance and Scalability – Update
%u00b7 PAL for analysis of performance logs
%u00b7 Discuss SAN technology improvements
%u00b7 ’n’ step plan for identifying where bottlenecks lie within a BizTalk rig
%u00b7 Expand throttling “plain” English guide, step-by-step diagnosis guide
Low Latency – Update
%u00b7 Cover new options such as NetTcp and NetNamedPipe WCF bindings
%u00b7 Include real-world perf-test results, step by step guide
Administration – Update
%u00b7 Virtualization (HyperV)
%u00b7 Best Practice Analyser
%u00b7 MSBuild
%u00b7 SQL2008 differences
BizTalk Best Practices – Update
%u00b7 Add further best practices, small and large – with evidence as to why
Cloud Services (BizTalk Services, SSDS, etc.) – New Chapter
%u00b7 Overview
%u00b7 Connectivity
%u00b7 Identity
%u00b7 Cloud Workflow
%u00b7 SSDS
%u00b7 Cloud Commerce scenario code and walkthrough
First look at Oslo futures – New Chapter
%u00b7 More soon 😉