My Favourites

First things first. Here's a list of resources I have used in the past that would likely be of use to anyone working with BizTalk Server 2004. I will add to this at times and make it sticky.

Blogs

Scott Woodgate's Business Process, Integrtion and Workflow OutBursts *
BizTalk 101 - Back to Basics (Alan Smith)
BizTalk ChalkTalk (Luke Nyswonger)
BizTalkers (Tareq Muhammad)
Jan Tielens' Bloggings [MVP]
Kevin B Smith's WebLog *
Trace of Thought (Scott Colestock) *
BizTalk 2004 Woes (Shane James)
BizTalk Server Performance *
BPID Customer Response Team's Blog
Ben Cops
Hugo Rodger-Brown

Tools

Deployment Framework (Scott Colestock) *
BizTalk 2004 Management Tool
Test Framework for Rapid Test Case Development
BizTalk 2D Viewer (GotDotNet)
BizTalkAutoDeploy (GotDotNet)
BizTalk Assembly Replication and Viewer
UK SDC BizTalk 2004 Documenter

Concepts

The Quickstart Guide to Learning BizTalk Server 2004 *
Troubleshooting Common Problems in a BizTalk Server 2004 Platform Installation
A Basic Introduction to Messaging with Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004
Operational Requirements - the less exciting stuff...
BizTalk Server - Modular Deployment


Particulars

The Bloggers Guide to BizTalk
Building A Custom Disassembling Pipeline Component
How to debug a BizTalk 2004 pipeline: tips and tricks
Large messages in BizTalk 2004
Debatching Options and Performance Considerations in BizTalk 2004

Community

BTUG.biz - BizTalk User Group

* Highly recommended

My romance with BizTalk

It was January this year that I was asked to become familiar with BizTalk so that we could use it on one of the projects we are working on. Little did I know that I would ultimately become the local expert in the technology (and I still consider myself a novice, really).

Learning BizTalk Server 2004 has been quite a journey. I got my first introduction by my counterpart in Calgary. Working alongside him and through my own discovery, I have seen that the key to learning BizTalk is not taking a course - it's consuming every blog, whitepaper, SDK you can get your hands on. I owe a lot of my education to the internet. BizTalk Server 2004 Unleashed is a fantastic resource for learning the concepts and performing straightforward implementations, but like any other book, falls short when it comes to customization, caveats, and all those other things you can only learn by doing (or not doing). Just read the reviews (ouch).

I am now getting into the process of educating others on my team on the finer points of managing BTS and ultimately developing in it. It's not easy. So as I go I will be pointing out as many useful resources as possible. Because I have only known the word BizTalk for 9 months, I don't claim to know everything there is about the product (few if any could claim that anyhow), nor have I used the product in many different ways, but I have definitely learned lessons. Some are pretty basic (embarassing even), but others challenge the limits of BizTalk. And, the project I am working on is not done yet - there will no doubt be more problems to solve. Let's get to it!

Post Zero

Though I am notoriously bad at keeping such a thing current (sound familiar?), I believe it is my responsibility - nay duty - to start a technical blog. My personal blog and livejournal have sufferred considerably, mostly due to the fact that I can't think of enough inanery with which to fill them.

I look forward to publishing on a few topics based on my experiences and other observations. These will hopefully include and certainly will not be limited to

• .NET Framework
• BizTalk Server 2004
• Javascript
• ASP.NET
• Performance and Testing
• Enterprise Integration
• Patterns and Practices
• Industry issues and trends

Ambitious? Yes. Crazy? Definitely.

Wish me luck!