Since Microsofts release of BizTalk Server 2006, there is a serious need for more documentation on this product. Foundations of BizTalk Server 2006 fills that void. The book will take you from novice to professional, equipping you with the tools youll need to get started in the world of BizTalk server integration.

From installation to deployment, you will grow increasingly more comfortable with the product as you work through a multitude of hands-on examples and demo applications. This book will demystify the product and emphasize the new 2006 BizTalk Server features. So even if youre a reluctant reader at first, youll gain full confidence in the product by books end.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 20 Ratings

Less There Than Meets The Eye - 2009-03-27
Reviewer Rating:
BizTalk is an application that has a lot of buzz words associated with it: map, pipeline, functoid, schema, orchestration, and so on. For a confused newbie, it can be overwhelming.

"Foundations of BizTalk Server 2006" does quite a good job of explaining the terms, and showing you in simple examples how each component of the product can be used. I read through the book from beginning to end, without working any of the examples. By the time I was finished, I felt that I had a pretty good handle on maps and functoids and pipelines and orchestrations.

Then I went back to actually do the tutorials. It was at this point that I began to see that there is a subtle problem with the book. The tutorials follow the "do this, now do this, now do this. See, it works!" format that is common to a lot of training manuals (and a lot of training classes). The instructions are broken down into simple steps, there are a lot of screen shots to help you along, and if you follow the instructions step-by-step, you can't fail.

That's the problem. I had done about four chapters' worth of exercises when one of them didn't work the way it was supposed to. I started to troubleshoot the problem but it quickly became apparent that I didn't know where to begin. I found myself saying, "You know, I don't really know what I'm doing, or why I'm doing it."

The job of a book like this one, as I see it, is to explain to the newbie how a particular system works. This usually involves a combination of theory -- "this is the idea behind this part of the system" -- and practice -- "okay, now try it yourself, and see what you've learned." This book is chock-full of practice, but very skimpy on theory. You're told >what< to do in great detail, but not much attention is given to >why< you're doing it. It all goes along very smoothly until, as I did, you get to the point where something doesn't work the way it says it should in the book. Then you're stuck.

So, buy this book if you're looking for a quick overview of BizTalk Server 2006 and what the buzz words mean. But if you want a good understanding of the application, such as you might need in order to get, or hang onto, a job, I would recommend looking elsewhere.

Purely for beginners only - 2008-09-11
Reviewer Rating:
Ah, BizTalk Server.... one of those Microsoft products that, watched from afar, always appeared so frighteningly towering. Training to climb Mount Everest would probably be a less strenuous endeavour. My previous experience with it was just the 2002 version's installation procedure, and that totally left me perceiving it like learning diving in the open sea - going about alone can get pretty scary without the instruction and guidance of a master diver. It quickly became one of those "if I ever have too much free time" items that I never acted upon for years.

Now the situation is different. Now it has become my job to learn the latest incarnation of 2006 R2 and use its capabilities to demonstrate its worth in a lucrative government POC. Now, I need to learn it _fast_. I needed to climb Mount Everest before the season closes. How does one get familiar and comfortable with the concepts of this monstrous product? In fact, I never truly understood what BizTalk does exactly. I am one of those who cannot absorb useful information from vague marketing overviews; I needed someone experienced to talk me through to using its features. That someone is Daniel Woolston.

This author has managed to compress most of BizTalk Server's core concepts and features into 14 chapters, spanning a mere 262 pages. Using concise language and short practicals, he takes apprehensive beginners (e.g. me) through an eye-opening tour of BizTalk Server. Taking things a step at a time, the practicals continuously build on previous experience and incrementally introducing more features to accomplish more and more feats. Daniel Woolston's style of tutelage quickly demystifies BizTalk Server operations and reveals that getting into it is not quite as insurmountable as it seems from the outside. On completing the last chapter I felt that grasping the foundations of BizTalk Server was definitely not a lofty goal of this book.

But of course, the key word of this book is really just "foundations". Daniel Woolston has targetted this material at newbies, sticking with the simplest of demonstrations. He does not even teach the usage of other adapters for Receiving and Sending; only the File-based adapter is demonstrated. It certainly is debatable; keeping practicals simple enables speedy progress, no doubt; but at the same time I cannot help but feel "we're done already? how about this, how about that..." as I paced through the chapters.

If you ever wanted to learn anything deep, or even just intermediate, about BizTalk, you will be left with _many_ unanswered questions. You would then be reminded on several pages to refer to [Pro BizTalk 2006] for that. If you want a quick _introductory_functional_ tour of BizTalk Server, however, look no further and grab this book.

Overall rating: 8/10
Good - Lightning fast practicals; concepts quick and easy to follow
Bad - Purely beginner basics; only File-based inputs and outputs

Just OK - 2008-02-08
Reviewer Rating:
This is an ok introduction to BizTalk. It does a decent job of introducing you to the different pieces involved. I also like fact that it gives you exercises to practive with.

With that being said, there are some negatives in the book and I am surprised no one else brought them up. The book sometimes ask you to reference Visual Studio projects midstream that were never mentioned in any previous text or chapter. I also ran into a section that involves using expressions and the exercise references properties that do not exist on the message object. Also, steps are sometimes skipped. Finally, there is a lot of steps I was doing in the exercises, but I didn't understand WHY I was doing it.

This is a really good introductory book - 2007-10-30
Reviewer Rating:
I usually never get all the way through a software book for a variety of reasons, but this one I read twice. It has as thorough and step by step set of procedures for getting a new product up and running as I have ever seen. I doubt if the MS installation guide is as thorough. In addition to the step by step instructions for installation it also shows you how to set up the main components of Biztalk as well as giving a helpful overview of the product and its uses and requirements. As someone who resides mostly in the mainframe world this was very beneficial for me; I don't even know XML but was still able to follow along. Even for a web/pc person the detailed level of the instructions is likely to be helpful without being too elementary. And even if you are a dot net c sharp java whatever expert it's likely useful to have this book for the first week or so to help get things up and running, although the author freely and continuously points out that you will probably need to get a more advanced book soon.

The writing style is light without being flippant, most instructions are concise and examples are well thought out. The chapter on Orchestration I found a little difficult to follow- it is where the meat of the logic takes place in a BizTalk process, typically, but this was probably due to my unfamiliarity with dot net terminology more than with a flawed presentation.

A good book, written especially for the beginner, but would probably save anyone time with the helpful step-by-step instructions for installing and setting things up. Very, very highly recommend- although check back in a few weeks after we migrate to the product and see if my review stays this rosy.

Love it!!! - 2007-09-11
Reviewer Rating:
First Day and I read 9 chapters. Looks like will be done with the book tomorrow. This is my first time hands on on Biztalk even though I have read some white papers before but this book rocks!. Samples are easy to understand and implement and very well chosen so you start to get the hang of biztalk.

This is great addition on my shelf and highly recommend to the ones who are venturing into biztalk for first time.

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
E-Commerce
Enterprise Computing

Sub-Categories:
E-Commerce > BizTalk
Enterprise Computing > Distributed Systems
Enterprise Computing > Information Storage and Retrieval
Enterprise Computing > System Administration