As Microsoft puts out more and more integration products the decision to use what, when and where become more muddled. But fear not because I am here to be your bridge over troubled waters (Wife dragged me to a piano bar last night, so I had to sneak that in).
So lets start by looking at what we have today and what we will have in the near future.
Technology |
Purpose |
Future Technology |
ASMX – Web Services |
Direct integration between applications.
Usually in a synchronous fashion. |
|
|
.Net Remoting |
|
|
Enterprise Services |
|
|
Microsoft Message Queuing
(MSMQ) |
Asynchronous communication, using queues. |
|
|
Host Integration Services
(HIS) |
Integrating Windows applications with IBM systems. |
|
|
BizTalk
(BTS) |
Integrating applications using a broker or hub. |
|
|
SQL Server Replication |
Integrating data in a real time manner. |
|
|
|
Queuing for SQL Server.
Available with all SQL 2005 versions. |
SQL Service Broker (SSB) |
|
|
Integrating data from multiple data sources. |
SQL Server Integration Services
(SSIS) |
|
|
A foundation for service oriented applications. |
Indigo – Windows Communication Foundation
(WCF) |
|
|
A foundation for building workflow based applications |
Windows Workflow Foundation
(WF) |
Each option has its role to play in the integration problem space, yet all of them have a common workspace (VS .Net), which makes solving complex integration scenarios fairly straightforward.
Now that we know what is out there and what is on its way, we can take a more in-depth look at some of these. I will attempt to do a series of blog posts highlighting each of these options, and when it would be the best choice.