The Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 Adapter Migration Toolkit FAQ

The main purpose of the BizTalk Server Adapter Migration Toolkit is to help you preserve your investment in custom application integration components (AICs) and applications that you created for BizTalk Server 2002. You can reuse the AICs with BizTalk Server 2004, instead of rewriting them.

The toolkit gives you an interim solution when a third-party adapter for a specific transport or a component for a specific conversion type is not yet available. If you plan to write your own custom adapter/component, you can develop it on your own schedule after the migration to BizTalk Server 2004 is complete.

The toolkit enables you to migrate your solutions developed with BizTalk Server 2002 to BizTalk Server 2004. The toolkit provides the following:

The toolkit should be used for migration purposes only. It is not a good idea to use a BizTalk Server 2002 AIC if you have a new BizTalk Server 2004 project. Also, be aware that using any shim creates a performance hit. Although toolkit shims are fairly lightweight, they may still be a factor in high throughput scenarios.

Most importantly, AICs must be properly installed and tested before they are migrated to BizTalk Server 2004. The following is a high-level outline of the steps you would take to reuse AICs for a BizTalk Server 2004 project:

When you are using the BizTalk Server Adapter Migration Toolkit to migrate existing BizTalk Server 2002 solutions to BizTalk Server 2004, this sequence is quite natural. If you try to reuse an AIC, remember that the BizTalk Server Adapter Migration Toolkit was not designed for this scenario. However, making sure that the AIC works and is properly installed is critical for successful migration. The BizTalk Server Adapter Migration Toolkit uses the BizTalk Server 2002 AIC registration to recognize and find AICs. Test your AIC on BizTalk Server 2002 so that you can more easily troubleshoot any future problems with its migration.

Note: Microsoft does not support the migration of uninstalled AICs and non-migration scenarios.

The short answer is yes. However if you migrate AICs written in managed code, be sure to check for caveats and workarounds in the product documentation. The original BizTalk Server 2002 AICs and custom preprocessors were supposed to be native code, however, a .NET Toolkit for BizTalk Server 2002 was later released, which gave instructions for writing such components in managed code. In contrast to BizTalk Server 2004, where the use of managed code is preferred for custom components, in BizTalk Server 2002 there is no special advantage of using the managed code. The BizTalk Server Adapter Migration Toolkit can, however, migrate these components with a few limitations, as described in the documentation.

As always, performance depends on multiple factors, such as hardware used, the operating system, installed products, processor speed, and other resources. In our testing environment, we observed a small fixed delay from 4 to 11 milliseconds per message, compared to the original BizTalk Server 2002 deployment. This delay is typically negligible if your AIC performs sophisticated data conversion or transport logic, however, it should be taken into account in high-throughput scenarios.

A migration white paper is available on the BizTalk Server Adapter Migration Toolkit download page. It covers the BizTalk Server 2002 to BizTalk Server 2004 migration process, including the use of the migration toolkit. Refer to the documentation installed on the product for details, limitations, and possible caveats.

For additional questions or issues, visit the newsgroup at: microsoft.public.biztalk.framework.

The BizTalk Server Adapter Migration Toolkit is available free for those with a BizTalk Server 2004 license, as well as for BizTalk Server 2004 evaluation purposes. You can download the migration toolkit from the BizTalk Server Adapter Migration Toolkit download page.