BizTalk Server General - What is the best solution for publish-subscribe?

Author

What is the best solution for publish-subscribe?

KeithS

2004-07-02, 9:10 pm

I have been asked to look at how to build an application where a server sends messages to multiple clients simultaneously. I want to propose a publish - subscribe architecture and would prefer to use a Microsoft product as the pub-sub system (we are near
ly 100% Microsoft at the moment).

The key point to note is that the client apps will be on our users' desktops and will connect as subscribers AND publishers at start-up. There will be an ever-changing (and hopefully growing) installed base of client apps, not a fixed rollout.

I know that BizTalk does provide a pub-sub system but, as I understand it, the system is not geared-up to handle such a dynamic set of clients. The publications and subscriptions are typically created at deploy time, rather then 'on demand' as I am requi
red to do it. Although it might be possible to 'force' it to work with WMI or whatever, this would go against the grain of how Biztalk should be used and would therefore be a poor design decision.

So here is my question - if not Biztalk, what is my best option for a Microsoft pub-sub solution? For example, is it RTC?

Many thanks in advance,
Keith

Nick Malik

2004-07-02, 9:10 pm

If I understand what you want, the list of publishers and subscribers can
change dynamically, and the list of messages will grow over time. Normally,
in pub-sub, it is OK for an engineer to configure the broker when another
message type is added to the list of supported types, since this is usually
associated with code changes in publishers and subscribers, so doesn't
happen that often. It's the ability of a subscriber to add themselves to
the subscription list for a particular message, and the ability for any
publisher to publish to that list... these bits are too dynamic for a
configured hub-and-spoke system.

Biztalk 2002 has a publish and subscribe framework specifically for this
purpose. See:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...s_PubSubEAI.asp

This framework will allow you to do exactly what you are asking to do.

I do not know if or when such a framework will appear on the BTS2004
platform. I do not believe that it is built in to the tool, but I'm new
enough at BTS2004 to have missed this.

Any others?

--- Nick Malik
(Biztalk Bum)

"KeithS" <KeithS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:34347F97-B50D-48E3-833D-B8E2FDDDBC15@microsoft.com...
> I have been asked to look at how to build an application where a server
sends messages to multiple clients simultaneously. I want to propose a
publish - subscribe architecture and would prefer to use a Microsoft product
as the pub-sub system (we are nearly 100% Microsoft at the moment).
>
> The key point to note is that the client apps will be on our users'
desktops and will connect as subscribers AND publishers at start-up. There
will be an ever-changing (and hopefully growing) installed base of client
apps, not a fixed rollout.
>
> I know that BizTalk does provide a pub-sub system but, as I understand it,
the system is not geared-up to handle such a dynamic set of clients. The
publications and subscriptions are typically created at deploy time, rather
then 'on demand' as I am required to do it. Although it might be possible to
'force' it to work with WMI or whatever, this would go against the grain of
how Biztalk should be used and would therefore be a poor design decision.
>
> So here is my question - if not Biztalk, what is my best option for a
Microsoft pub-sub solution? For example, is it RTC?
>
> Many thanks in advance,
> Keith

Ananth Krishna

2004-07-09, 3:31 pm

Keith;

What an interesting scenario! Yes; there is fair amount of dynamism built in
the BTS 2004 infrastructure. My questions (some of them may be dumb) for
you here are:

1: Are the messages defined at an earlier time?
2: Are the publishers publishing a defined set of documents? or can these
change randomly
3: What kind of communication/transport are we looking at for these dynamic
publishers and dynamic subscribers? (am really interested in this answer)
4: How long does a subscriber usually stay up subscribed on average? and
the same for the publisher? Am looking at seconds possibly? or minutes? 8
hour day?
5: Can the subscriber receive multiple messages at a time?

Let me know...i have some thoughts swirling but i like to some of the
answers above.....I will send this to some of my fellow hombres at work and
pick their brains as well~ What is RTC?..I am already on a acronym overload

Cheers~
Ananth Krishna

"KeithS" <KeithS@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:34347F97-B50D-48E3-833D-B8E2FDDDBC15@microsoft.com...
> I have been asked to look at how to build an application where a server
sends messages to multiple clients simultaneously. I want to propose a
publish - subscribe architecture and would prefer to use a Microsoft product
as the pub-sub system (we are nearly 100% Microsoft at the moment).
>
> The key point to note is that the client apps will be on our users'
desktops and will connect as subscribers AND publishers at start-up. There
will be an ever-changing (and hopefully growing) installed base of client
apps, not a fixed rollout.
>
> I know that BizTalk does provide a pub-sub system but, as I understand it,
the system is not geared-up to handle such a dynamic set of clients. The
publications and subscriptions are typically created at deploy time, rather
then 'on demand' as I am required to do it. Although it might be possible to
'force' it to work with WMI or whatever, this would go against the grain of
how Biztalk should be used and would therefore be a poor design decision.
>
> So here is my question - if not Biztalk, what is my best option for a
Microsoft pub-sub solution? For example, is it RTC?
>
> Many thanks in advance,
> Keith