MSDN Magazine - January 2009 - (Page 61)

(see the “Additional Dublin Features” sidebar for more)—but I hope you have a clearer understanding of the role of “Dublin” and some of the key features it will provide. From “Dublin” to “Oslo”? If you’ve heard about the platform codenamed “Oslo,” you’re probably wondering at this point how “Dublin” relates to that initiative. First, “Oslo” is a new modeling platform being developed by Microsoft to simplify the way you design, build, and manage distributed applications. The modeling platform consists of three main components: the “Oslo” modeling language (also known as “M”), the “Oslo” repository, and the “Oslo” modeling tool (also known as “Quadrant”). Figure 13 Viewing Tracking Data “Oslo” is indeed a platform that other applications and technologies can build on to simplify the user experi- What about BizTalk Server? ence through a model-driven approach. Another common question is how “Dublin” relates to BizTalk “Dublin” will be one of the first technologies to leverage the “Oslo” Server. In a lot of ways, BizTalk Server inspired many of the features modeling platform. You will be able to export “Oslo” apps from the you see in “Dublin” today. Although both technologies provide simrepository and easily deploy them to “Dublin,” where they can ben- ilar management capabilities, there’s a big difference between the efit from the various hosting and management features discussed two in terms of their focus. “Dublin” adds hosting and management in this article. Using models to describe and automate application extensions to Windows Server designed specifically for WCF and deployments seems like a win for complex IT environments. WF applications, whereas BizTalk Server is focused on application As both “Dublin” and “Oslo” continue to mature, it’s likely that integration with non-Microsoft systems using a variety of different the integration between the two technologies will continue to grow. message formats, transports, and mapping techniques. Microsoft has stated its intention that the two technologies will be The primary focus of BizTalk Server has always been and will very complementary to each other. continue to be integration with non-Microsoft systems (line-ofbusiness applications, legacy systems, RFID devices, and businessto-business protocols). BizTalk Server will remain focused on these Additional “Dublin” Features core strengths in the years ahead. In general, you’ll want to continue using BizTalk Server when you’re focused primarily on these types “Dublin” comes with several other features I didn’t have of enterprise application integration (EAI) scenarios. space to cover in detail in this article. But one worth calling out is support for scale-out deployments across server farms that inHowever, since many WCF and WF apps don’t need these kinds tegrate with existing load-balancing solutions such as those for of integration capabilities, BizTalk Server can often feel like overkill. managing persisted service instances across the farm through a This is precisely where “Dublin” fits into the picture—as a simpler centralized persistence database. The built-in error handling logic alternative that provides similar management capabilities. In the allows persisted instances to execute on any node in the farm and end, “Dublin” will be more cost-effective for these scenarios than prevents race conditions when multiple nodes compete for the BizTalk Server since the “Dublin” extensions will ship as a core part same instance. of Windows Server and won’t require you to buy integration adaptThe other important component is the Forwarding Service. ers you don’t need. It’s likely that a future version of BizTalk Server This service makes it possible to intercept all incoming messages will build upon the “Dublin” extensions in order to leverage the core in order to perform central routing based on message content. In management investments being made to Windows Server. particular, this feature provides a nice foundation for building soA special thanks to Eileen Rumwell, Mark Berman, Dino Chiesa, phisticated service versioning solutions. “Dublin” also comes with several key services for managing the Mark Fussell, Ford McKinstry, Marjan Kalantar, Cliff Simpkins, Kent lifecycle of service instances including the Durable Timer Server Brown, Kris Horrocks, and Kenny Wolf for their helpful assistance and the Instance Restart Service. “Dublin” also knows how to take with this article.  advantage of the Instance Control Endpoint provided by the .NET Framework 4.0 and the new IIS/WAS auto-start feature, which enables you to start services when the machine starts up rather than waiting for the first message. More articles about these features will be appearing in the next several months. AAron SkonnArd is a cofounder of Pluralsight, a premier Microsoft .NET train- ing provider that offers both instructor-led and online training courses. Aaron is the author of numerous books, white papers, and articles as well as Pluralsight’s training courses on REST, Windows Communication Foundation, and BizTalk Server. You can reach him at pluralsight.com/aaron. January 2009 61 msdnmagazine.com http://www.pluralsight.com/aaron http://www.msdnmagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of MSDN Magazine - January 2009

Toolbox CLR Inside Out Basic Instincts Cutting Edge Test Run First Look� Geneva Framework Silverlight Windows Mobile Service Station Security Briefs Extreme ASP.NET Foundations .NET Matters { End Bracket }

MSDN Magazine - January 2009

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