My client decided to use MQSeries as their standard messaging tool to build their BizTalk 2004 solutions. Therefore I did some research and found the following facts.
1. There is a free MQ adapter for BTS 2004 could be downloaded from Microsoft web site. A great article from Mike Holdorf described how he enjoyed this free adapter. But appearantly this free adapter is not based on an elegant design. According to Microsoft BizTalk Adapter for MQSeries White Paper, user needs to setup a new windows server and install MQ server on it because "MQHelper" dll needs to be physically installed on that server in order for COM+ to work. Please note this white paper is based on BizTalk 2002, but even in BizTalk 2004, this architecture was not changed, just the "MQHelper" was renamed to "MQSAgent". Therefore, in order to use this free MQ adapter, user needs to buy addition window server and the license of MQ server.
2. I was told by Microsoft the MQ Adapter bundled in BizTalk 2006 would still keep the same architecture, they did have a plan to develop a new adapter to support MQ client which is free, not the licensed MQ server, but delivery date was still unclear.
3. Third party MQ adapters are available, and there is no requirement for MQ server on Windows. I will compare those products in my next post to give more details on functionality and performance.
4. XMS is the IBM message service API for .Net, but it's still on Beta version. Other than it, I couldn't find other APIs to facilitate development of custom MQ adapter for BizTalk.
…Edmund Zhao