What Is an Enterprise Service Bus?

Goals and Reason for the Name Change

With the release of the BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 and the associated renaming from “ESB Guidance,” the goal is to provide the toolkit as a BizTalk Server 2009 value-add with a better support model that results in a broader customer adoption. This will hopefully help customers develop mature ESB implementations that will be ready for enterprise-wide deployments.

For more information, see the SOA and Web Services section in the New Features in BizTalk 2009 Web page.

Introducing the Microsoft BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0

The BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 is a collection of tools and libraries that extend BizTalk Server 2009 capabilities of supporting a loosely coupled and dynamic messaging architecture. It functions as middleware that provides tools for rapid mediation between services and their consumers. Enabling maximum flexibility at run time, the BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 simplifies loosely coupled composition of service endpoints and management of service interactions.

The BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 provides key building blocks that are required for implementing a comprehensive SOI including:

• Endpoint run-time discovery and virtualization. The service consumer does not need to be aware of the service provider location and endpoint details; a new or modified service provider can be added to the ESB, without interruptions to the service consumer.
• Loosely coupled service composition. The service provider and service consumer do not need to be aware of service interaction style.
• Dynamic message transformation and translation.The mapping definition between distinct message structure and semantics is resolved at run time.
• Dynamic routing. Run-time content-based, itinerary-based, or context-based message routing.
• Centralized exception management. Exception management framework, services, and infrastructure elements that make it possible to create, repair, resubmit, and compensate fault messages that service consumers or BizTalk components submit.
• Quality of service. An asynchronous publish/subscribe engine resolves different levels of service availability and provides high availability, scalability, and message traceability for ESB implementations.
• Protocol transformation. Providing the ability for service provider and service consumer to interact via different protocols including WS-* standards for Web Services. For example, a service provider can send an HTTP Web Service request, which will result in sending a message via Message Queuing.
• Extensibility. Provides multiple extensibility points to extend functionality for endpoint discovery, message routing, and additional BizTalk Server adapters for run time and design time.

Note: BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 only works with BizTalk Server 2009.

For more information about BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0, see BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 on the Microsoft Web site.

Biz Talk ESB Toolkit 2.0 Core Engine Components  

 

BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 Reference Architecture

BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 Interface

Itinerary Designer

Management Portal Reports

Managing Exceptions

Managing Registry Entries

Managing Alerts

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Frequently Asked Questions about ESB

From where are downloads provided?

You can download the BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 and documentation from the Microsoft Download Center. The toolkit is packaged as binaries and samples in a Windows Installer.

What is the official name of ESB Guidance 2.0?

The official name is BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0.

What happens to those customers who are currently using ESB Guidance 1.0?

Customers who are using ESB Guidance 1.0 are strongly encouraged to upgrade to BizTalk Server 2009 and the BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0.  ESB Guidance 1.0 will be deprecated in the next few months. Also, proactive monitoring of the ESB 1.0 forums will no longer take place after the BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 is released.

Is source code for signed binaries provided?

Source code for signed binaries will be available as a separate download (date to be determined).

How does the support policy relate to the source code of the BizTalk ESB Toolkit?

Microsoft does not support customizations to the BizTalk ESB Toolkit source code. The source for these components is for reference only, not for making changes.  If there are critical issues that require it, we will use standard release processes to get fixes in place for the signed binaries. 

What license is used?

It is a standard, free, Microsoft binary-only license.

How is the BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 packaged?

It is packaged as a binary-only Windows Installer (32- and 64-bit).

Will BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 bug fixes be provided?

The BizTalk ESB Toolkit Team will address bugs on a best-effort basis.

Where do customers file bugs and requests?

The BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 Connect site has been created to log bugs with the product teams and to provide updates to additional tools over time. Once you log a bug, someone will respond to you within five days with an acknowledgment and status.

What is the BizTalk ESB Toolkit 2.0 forum commitment?

Assistance is provided through forums, with a one-year notice of deprecation plans. Any fixes and responses to questions in the forums are best effort, and we will continue to leverage the community to provide peer assistance, though with a capability to issue critical fixes if necessary.

Where is the online community hosted?

A dedicated ESB Toolkit Forum is provided.