Biztalk Orchestration

Biztalk Orchestration : allows you to view the sequence in which the messages flow across the application in a business process. An orchestration helps coordinate the different applications of a business process.

components of Biztalk Orchestration

1. Rules : In BizTalk Server, rules contain a fact, a condition, and an action. A fact is an expression that evaluates to either true or false based on a specific condition. In BizTalk Server, you can create facts using SQL queries. A condition is a statement, such as if and else, based on which an expression is evaluated. An action is a task performed in response to the evaluation of the fact.
2. adapter: is software that sends and receives messages to and from enterprise applications based on a protocol. The different types of adapters that BizTalk Server provides are BASE EDI, SQL, WSE2.0, FILE, FTP, HTTP, MSMQ, SMTP, SOAP.


A BizTalk Server 2004 orchestration is designed using eXtensible Language (XLANG).
XLANG graphically defines the sequence of steps in a business process. Business process flow diagrams are called XLANG schedule drawings.

XLANG schedule are executed using the XLANG scheduler engine.

Biztalk Server Glossary

Message : Messages in BizTalk Server, which are the business data of a company, can be represented in a specific format, such as XML or Comma Separated Values (CSV). To process a message in BizTalk Server, you need to convert the message into XML format because the BizTalk Server architecture is designed in XML.

MessageBox : MessageBox in BizTalk Server is a SQL Server database that stores messages.
You can also use BizTalk Server to create various instances of MessageBox such as secondary
MessageBox and master MessageBox. The master MessageBox distributes message traffic
between different secondary MessageBoxes for processing. The secondary MessageBox handles a part of the message traffic that the master MessageBox sends.

Channels : A channel is a collection of attributes that specify the source of documents, which contain the business data that you need to transmit across enterprise applications. A channel also specifies thetasks that messaging services need to perform to transfer a document. In BizTalk Server, each channel has a unique ID and is associated with a port, which transfers data to a destination.

PipeLine : A pipeline is a group of Component Object Models (COM) or .NET components that process a message before sending it to its destination. A pipeline divides the processing of a message into different tasks called stages and defines the sequence to implement each stage. For example, a pipeline divides the processing of a message into three tasks: decoding the incoming message, dividing the incoming message into several parts, and converting the messages into XML format.

Ports : Ports are interfaces to exchange messages between two applications of a business process. A port connects BizTalk Server to a URL using a protocol, such as https and ftps. BizTalk Server messaging requires two types of ports, receive and send, to transfer messages between the applications of a business process.

A receive port combines the messages that an enterprise application sends to one or more
destination locations, called receive locations. A receive location uses an adapter to continuously monitor a specific URL for the arrival of messages. A send port receives a message from the BizTalk Server MessageBox and transmits the message to a URL through an adapter.

Learning Biztalk 2004 and 2006

I've made a conscious commitment to learn and improvise my Biztalk Server Skills.

I'll be posting and making journal entries about the progress I make in the Biztalk Server Concepts.

When I refer to BizTalk Server, I mean Biztalk Server 2004 and 2006. I'll mention the version names when there is a discrepanicies in the features between 2004 and 2006.

I would Like to start the Discussion about Biztalk by jotting down in what scenarios I would use Biztalk. (this is not an extensive list of biztalk scenarios but I intend to add to it in the future.) :

1. Changing Business Rules. (A rule defines how the tasks involved in the business process are performed.)
2. transfer business data (using adapter and accelerators.)
3. connecting disparate enterprise applications using rules or publish and subscribe (centralised integration service).
4. Structuring Business Processes using HUB - BUS Model .
5. Optimise the Business Processes using centralised state container and Orchestrations, BAM.

What is Semantic Web

Semantic Web : The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. It is a collaborative effort led by W3C with participation from a large number of researchers and industrial partners. It is based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF), which integrates a variety of applications using XML for syntax and URIs for naming.

"The Semantic Web is an extension of the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation."

The Semantic Web is comprised of the standards and tools of XML, XML Schema, RDF, RDF Schema and OWL. The OWL Web Ontology Language Overview describes the function and relationship of each of these components of the Semantic Web:
XML provides a surface syntax for structured documents, but imposes no semantic constraints on the meaning of these documents.
XML Schema is a language for restricting the structure of XML documents.
RDF is a simple data model for referring to objects ("resources") and how they are related. An RDF-based model can be represented in XML syntax.

RDF Schema is a vocabulary for describing properties and classes of RDF resources, with a semantics for generalization-hierarchies of such properties and classes.
OWL adds more vocabulary for describing properties and classes: among others, relations between classes (e.g. disjointness), cardinality (e.g. "exactly one"), equality, richer typing of properties, characteristics of properties (e.g. symmetry), and enumerated classes.

Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_web