BizTalk Deployment Framework (BTDF) Enhancement in Order to Support BizTalk 2020 Deployment, Steps on How to Deploy and the Benefits
Introduction:
The Deployment Framework for BizTalk is the single most powerful and customizable, yet easy-to-use toolkit for deploying and configuring BizTalk solutions.
The deployment framework for BizTalk, or BTDF, is an Azure DevOps extension that facilitates the deployment and configuration of BizTalk applications. The tasks available in this extension include deployment, un-deployment, and installing an MSI. The BTDF does not build BizTalk applications, but it does eliminate all manual steps and human intervention in deployment. The deploy and undeploy tasks in this extension require artifacts built using the BTDF Visual Studio extension. This VS extension can also help increase developer productivity with tools such as binding file management.
Issues and Impact:
- Currently, the Deployment framework which is being used until BTS 2016 and VS 2015/17 are not supported for BTS 2020 and VS2019
- Working with scripts is unwieldy and time-consuming, especially with ongoing developments and migration projects
- Limitation of BTDF support for BizTalk 2020 becomes a substantial hurdle and a major technical challenge for BizTalk 2020 Project
Solution Approach:
The solution approach consists of two major areas:
- Configuration changes concerning the reference path of necessary support libraries
- Update required on physical libraries (dlls) with the latest dlls from BizTalk and .NET Frameworks
Detailed implementation of Solution:
Below please find the technical details of the solution to make the current BTDF compatible with BizTalk 2020 with Visual Studio 2019.
Click the below link to download the MSI and install in the required machine.
https://github.com/BTDF/DeploymentFramework/releases/tag/v5.8.0-rc1
Additional changes required before creating the BTDF MSI:
- Go to MSBuild Location and then go to DeploymentFrameworkForBizTalk\5.0 folder
Eg; See the below screenshot.
Open BizTalkDeploymentFramework.targets file in the Notepad++ and change the version of “SetToolsVersionParam”
From 12.0 to 15.0
Before Changes:
After Changes:
- Under the path -> C:\Program Files (x86)\Deployment Framework for BizTalk 5.8\Framework->
File Name: BizTalkDeploymentFramework.ServerExecute.targets
Add ToolsVersion as ‘4.0’ in project build tag for compatible of new .Net Framework 4.0 at the time of MSI creation\installation.
Before:
After:
Benefits of BTDF:
The Deployment Framework for BizTalk eliminates the pain associated with BizTalk application deployments and goes far beyond BizTalk’s out-of-the-box deployment functionality. It also includes additional tools to enhance developer productivity, such as binding file management.
The Deployment Framework for BizTalk is the single most powerful and customizable, yet easy-to-use toolkit for deploying and configuring BizTalk solutions.
Top Reasons to Use the Deployment Framework for BizTalk
- Deploy a complex solution containing orchestrations, schemas, maps, rules, custom components, pipeline components, pipelines — even ESB itineraries — in minutes, with no human intervention
- Eliminate ALL manual steps in BizTalk deployments
- Consolidate all environment-specific configuration and runtime settings into one, easy-to-use Excel spreadsheet
- Maintain a SINGLE binding file that works for all deployment environments
- Make automated deployment a native part of the BizTalk development cycle, then use the same script to deploy to servers
- Use build server to produce ready-to-deploy MSI installer
Conclusion:
This enhancement is addressing complexities and roadblocks on BizTalk 2020 migration projects. Clients are already implementing these enhancements in BizTalk 2020 migration projects and completing the migration projects on time on budget.