Development and Runtime Architecture: BizTalk Adapter Service

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Important

Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services (MABS) is being retired, and replaced with Azure Logic Apps. If you currently use MABS, then Move from BizTalk Services to Logic Appsprovides some guidance on moving your integration solutions to Logic Apps.

If you're brand new to Logic Apps, then we suggest getting started here:

This topic describes the different parts of the BizTalk Adapter Service in Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services. Specifically:

  • Development

  • Runtime

  • Process Flow

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

There are two terms that are very important to understand:

LOB Target

An LOB Target is your on-premises Line-of-Business (LOB) system and the operations (like SELECT or INSERT) exposed to your client applications. Specifically, the LOB Target controls the LOB system connection URI (for example, mssql://SQLServerName:1433//myDatabase), the schema operation (for example, SELECT), and connection credentials (for example, myUserName and myPassword).

An LOB Target can be used by multiple LOB systems and is hosted in a LOB Relay.

LOB Relay

An LOB Relay is a URL that provides a connection to the cloud using Service Bus Relays. A LOB Relay acts as a container for the LOB Targets and can be used with multiple LOB Targets.

A single LOB Relay can be used with multiple LOB Targets. This is cost-effective because you can connect to a LOB system and execute an operation using one endpoint. There are restrictions based on the security model. As a best practice, group the same security method in one LOB Relay. For example, use the same LOB Relay to host the LOB Targets that use message security.

Note

When you create Line-of-Business (LOB) artifacts, these items are stored in a Microsoft Azure Storage account.

Development

Developing applications is done on-premises. On the Development environment, the application developer uses Visual Studio to create the Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services application that includes a Line-of-Business (LOB) component, like SQL Server. Specifically, the Development environment utilizes the following components:

  • Visual Studio to create a Bridge Configuration

  • The LOB system client libraries (if applicable)

Create the project in Visual Studio provides information on creating a BizTalk Service project. Connect to LOB systems from a BizTalk Services Project provides information on adding a LOB component to a BizTalk Service project.

Runtime

The Runtime computer hosts the BizTalk Adapter Service Runtime on-premises. The BizTalk Adapter Service runtime does the following:

  • Manages on-premises to cloud connectivity.

  • Supports multiple on-premises LOB systems using the adapters in the BizTalk Adapter Pack.

  • Routes to the different on-premises LOB systems using the adapters in the BizTalk Adapter Pack.

Runtime Components: BizTalk Adapter Service provides information on setting up the Runtime environment and the different components.

Process Flow

  1. On-premises, a Bridge Configuration application contains a LOB Target and is deployed to the BizTalk Services Portal. When deployed, the following occurs:

    • A Service Bus endpoint is created using your Service Namespace.

    • On the Runtime server on-premises, the Runtime monitors the LOB Relay in Service Bus.

    Deploying and Refreshing the BizTalk Services Project provides the details on deployment.

  2. When a message is received by the Bridge Configuration application, the Service Bus endpoint passes the message to the LOB Relay in Service Bus. On the on-premises Runtime server, the following occurs:

    • The runtime service confirms the LOB Target details in the configuration store hosted in the Microsoft Azure Storage account.

    • The runtime service executes the LOB operation (like INSERT or DELETE). A runtime WCF web service is created for every LOB Relay. So if there are 15 LOB Relays in the Bridge Configuration application, there will be at least 15 runtime WCF web services.

  3. When the LOB operation completes on the on-premises LOB system, the response is sent back to the Runtime service, goes to the Service Bus endpoint and is passed to the Bridge Configuration application in Service Bus.

See Also

Runtime Components: BizTalk Adapter Service
Connect to LOB systems from a BizTalk Services Project
PowerShell Cmdlets for the BizTalk Adapter Service
LOB Security in BizTalk Adapter Service
Troubleshoot the BizTalk Adapter Service
Create the project in Visual Studio
Using the BizTalk Adapter Service (BAS)