So What’s ACTUALLY In The BizTalk 2009 Beta?

Yesterday I installed the latest public beta of BizTalk Server 2009 (the artist formerly known as BizTalk Server 2006 R3), and thought I’d share the latest visuals and features.  Note that you shouldn’t expect any particularly revolutionary things here, as a core aspect of this upgrade is bringing BizTalk into alignment with the most current versions of the application platform (VS.NET, Windows Server, .NET Framework).

First off, you get a BizTalk Server 2009 branded installation.  Notice the new RFID Mobile and UDDI components.

The installation options for BizTalk Server 2009 are pretty much the same, but do notice the new “Project Build” component that lets you compile BizTalk projects without Visual Studio.NET.

Configuration of BizTalk Server 2009 is also virtually identical to BizTalk Server 2006 R2, but notice that MSMQT is no longer listed.

If you choose to install the UDDI bits, you see those options.

Then we can configure UDDI in much the same fashion as BizTalk Server 2009.

So any changes to the BizTalk Admin Console?  You betcha.

Nothing earth-shattering, but notice new icons and you’ll notice a bit of a new feeling due to a MMC update.  For some reason, the Event Log is no longer loaded into this console.  Rats.

One great thing is that HAT is gone, and all historical data analysis occurs in the Admin Console.  Let’s have a moment of silence for HAT, and prepare to sacrifice a virgin to our new king, the Admin Console.

There are two new query types in the Query view, and you get a series of interesting options if you pick the Tracked Message Events search type.

What’s new in Visual Studio.NET 2008 for BizTalk Server 2009?  You’ll find support for unit testing of schemas, maps and pipelines.

One of the really nice things about the promotion of BizTalk projects to “real” Visual Studio.NET projects is the elimination of BizTalk-specific complexity.  For instance, you may recall that there were roughly 112 property menus for schemas, but now, viewing schema properties loads ALL properties (including input instance, ex) in the single VS.NET window.

Lucky for us, BizTalk maps have the same support for the single property window.

One of the actual new features is support for map debugging.  You can right-click a BizTalk map, and jump into a true debugger that enables breakpoints and functoid evaluation.

Also, there is no longer a “deploy” project build type, but rather, you get the standard “Debug” and “Release” build options.

There’s a quick summary.  I’m sure other small things will surface as we all mess around with this.  I’ll be spending much more time evaluating the new UDDI features, ESB Guidance 2.0 and SQL WCF adapter in my upcoming book.

Any other features that anyone has discovered since installing the beta?

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