Learn BizTalk Server

What is BizTalk Server 2006?

BizTalk Server 2006 is Microsoft's premiere server for building solutions for business process and integration. BizTalk Server 2006, the fourth major version of the product, builds on the innovation and success introduced by the previous three versions—BizTalk Server versions 2000, 2002, and 2004.

Technologies in BizTalk Server

Combining different systems into effective business processes is a challenging problem. Accordingly, BizTalk Server 2006 includes a range of technologies to solve these problems. The figure below illustrates the product’s major components.

As the figure suggests, the heart of the product is the BizTalk Server 2006 Engine. The engine has two main parts:

• A messaging component that provides the ability to communicate with a range of other software. By relying on adapters for different kinds of communication, the engine can support a variety of protocols and data formats, including Web services and many others.
  
  
• Support for creating and running graphically-defined processes called orchestrations. Built on top of the engine’s messaging components, orchestrations implement the logic that drives all or part of a business process.

The figure below illustrates the main components of the engine.

Several other components can also be used in concert with the engine, including:

• A Business Rule Engine that evaluates complex sets of rules.
• A Health and Activity Tracking tool that lets developers and administrators monitor and manage the engine and the orchestrations it runs.
• An Enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO) facility that provides the ability to map authentication information between Windows and non-Windows systems.

On top of this foundation, BizTalk Server 2006 includes a group of technologies that address the more business-oriented needs of information workers. Those technologies are:

• Business Activity Monitoring, which information workers use to monitor a running business process. The information is displayed in business rather than technical terms, and business users determine what information is displayed.
• Business Activity Services, which information workers use to set up and manage interactions with trading partners.

These technologies are focused on solving the problems inherent in using a diverse set of software to support automated business processes.

What improvements have been made for BizTalk Server 2006?

The 2006 version includes new capabilities and engine improvements that allow a developer to create more flexible solutions for integrated business processes, and BizTalk 2006 empowers and enables administrators and business users to more effectively monitor ongoing business processes. For more information, see What's New in BizTalk Server 2006.

How do I get BizTalk Server 2006 and what software do I need?

BizTalk Server 2006 comes in various editions ranging from the Developer Edition to the mission critical BizTalk Server 2006 Enterprise Edition and is sold under varying licensing models. For more information visit the BizTalk Server 2006 How to Buy Section.

You can also acquire 120 day trail edition from here. The fully functional trial software offers you the ability to experience the features and functionality of BizTalk Server 2006. The trial will be automatically turned off 180 days after you install it on your servers.

To learn more about what you will need to run BizTalk Server 2006, visit the System Requirements page.

How do I learn more about BizTalk Server 2006?

Getting Started with BizTalk Server has never been easier. The documentation is full of information about new features, prerequisites, and topics for users who are new to BizTalk Server.

The BizTalk Server 2006 Tutorials contain detailed information about how to use BizTalk Server to integrate enterprise applications within your company and to automate and monitor business-to-business processes between you and your business partners.

Get a jump start on developing your BizTalk Server applications by reviewing the more than 30 samples included in the BizTalk Server Software Development Kit (SDK).

Scenarios for Business Solutions are a comprehensive collection of content, patterns, and code about designing, building, and running three complete, model BizTalk Server solutions: a service oriented solution, a business process management solution, and a business-to-business solution.

For step-by-step instructions for commonly performed administrative, business, and development tasks, the product documentation contains a set of common tasks and walkthroughs.

For information about how to optimize system performance and scale your BizTalk Server solutions, see Performance and Capacity Planning.

Learning Plans

Learning Plans for BizTalk Server provide a roadmap of recommended resources to help you achieve a specific learning goal. You can easily find, select, customize, and save the resources that fit your needs and preferences.