Deploying and Refreshing the BizTalk Services Project

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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 section provides information about deploying a BizTalk Service project on to the Microsoft Azure Service Bus. BizTalk Services provides you with the following deployment options:

Deploy the project using Visual Studio

Refresh the Deployment

Deploy the project using Visual Studio

An entire BizTalk Service project includes the XML bridges that are part of the project as well as all the artifacts used in the project (schemas and transforms). This option is applicable if you are using the Visual Studio BizTalk Service project template to create your message flow. Using the BizTalk Service project, you can deploy the XML bridges as well as the artifacts (schemas and transforms), all at the same time.

To deploy a BizTalk Service project

  1. In Visual Studio, right-click the BizTalk Service solution and click Build.

  2. After a successful build, right-click the solution name again, and then click Deploy to open the <project name> Deployment dialog box, and specify the following properties.

    Property Name

    Description

    Deployment Endpoint

    A read-only field that displays the BizTalk Service URL and the default namespace specified in BizTalk Service project.

    Acs Namespace

    Specify the ACS namespace for BizTalk Services.

    Issuer Name

    Specify the username who is the owner of the service namespace you specified, or has manage claims to the namespace. This property is required to authenticate the identity of the user to the Service Bus.

    Shared Secret

    Specify the secret key for authentication of the service namespace owner.

    Refresh service after deploy

    When redeploying the BizTalk Service project that contains updated user assemblies, check this option to refresh the service. Refreshing the services deploys the newer assemblies without redeploying the project.

    Important

    During the refresh, the service is unavailable for approximately five minutes.

  3. Click Deploy. The Visual Studio Output pane displays the deployment progress and result. The URL where the XML bridge is deployed is also displayed in the Output pane. You can also see and manage the deployed bridges in the Bridges tab of the BizTalk Services Portal. See Manage your Resources in BizTalk Services portal for more information.

    Important

    After you have deployed the project, you can start sending messages to the endpoint URL for the bridge. Note that the bridge enforces a timeout of 5 minutes when receiving messages from a client application.

Refresh the Deployment

After the BizTalk Service project is deployed, you can “refresh” the Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services. The Refresh Service option does the following:

  • Deploys updated assembly files; which includes assemblies typically used with Transform and bridge files.

  • Does not redeploy the entire BizTalk Service project: Only deploys the newer and updated artifacts.

  • Minimal downtime: During the refresh, the BizTalk Services is unavailable for approximately five minutes.

There are two ways to refresh Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services:

  • Refresh using Visual Studio

Refresh using Visual Studio

When you deploy the BizTalk Service project in Visual Studio, a Deployment dialog window displays with the Refresh service after deploy option. Check Refresh service after deploy to redeploy newer and updated assembly files (FileName.dll). To redeploy the entire BizTalk Service project, do not check Refresh service after deploy.

Refresh using Windows PowerShell

After you deploy the BizTalk Service project in Visual Studio, Windows PowerShell can be used to refresh BizTalk Services; which redeploys newer and updated assembly files (FileName.dll).

To refresh BizTalk Services in Windows PowerShell:

  1. Install Windows PowerShell 3.0:

    Windows 8

    Windows Server 2012

    Included with the operating system.

    Windows 7 Service Pack 1

    Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1

    Important

    Service Pack 1 is required.

    PowerShell 1.0 is included with the operating system. PowerShell 3.0 is required and is included in the Windows Management Framework 3.0 download:

    Windows Management Framework 3.0 (https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=34595)

    1. Open Windows PowerShell in an elevated mode: Start menu, All Programs, Accessories, Windows PowerShell.

    2. In the Windows PowerShell window, import the module by typing the following:

      import-module "C:\Program Files\Azure BizTalk Services SDK\Microsoft.BizTalk.Services.Powershell.dll"

    3. In the Windows PowerShell window, use the Restart-AzureBizTalkService cmdlet to refresh the deployment. For more information, see Restart-AzureBizTalkService.

    See Also

    Create Rich Messaging Endpoints on Azure