Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform Reviewed

I just finished reading an excellent book:  Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform by Seroter, Fairweather, Thomas, Sexton and Ramani. (PACKT Publishing 2010.)  IMHO this is a book that all ISVs and other developers basing their solutions on Microsoft technology should read.

Although not physically divided into parts, logically the first “part” of the book (the first chapter) outlines a decision framework for comparing proposed application solutions.

The second part is a set of short primers on Windows Communication Foundation and Workflow Foundation, Windows Server AppFabric, BizTalk, SQL Server and the Windows Azure Platform. These serve as a very concise introduction to each product.

The third part of the book is a set of application case study scenarios together with the functional, non-functional, derived and organizational aspects of those requirements followed by one or two proposed Microsoft technology solutions and a comparison of them side-by-side. (Although not included in the primer section these case studies also include solutions based on SharePoint, StreamInsight, on premise Hyper-V based implementation as well as custom .NET development.) Most of these case studies also  include information on the specific implementation chosen.

Even if your business problem does not fit these scenarios exactly they will give you a feel for where each of  theses technologies would be a good fit for a similar type of application.

If this short review has piqued your interest then you should also take a look at this Ron Jacobs Channel 9 interview with two of the authors of the book.

Bill Zack