Host Integration Server 2009 in public beta
[[24th March, 2009 - Updated to reflect NO 64-bit support for the MSMQ-MQseries Bridge]]
Beta news
Last weekend (November 22nd) Microsoft posted the beta of Host Integration Server 2009.
Microsoft Host Integration Server 2009 offers key enabling technologies that allow enterprise organizations to integrate their mission-critical host applications and data with new solutions developed using the Microsoft Windows platform.
New Application Platform Support
Host Integration Server 2009 supports the latest Microsoft platform technologies, including Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista SP1, Visual Studio 2008 SP1, .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and SQL Server 2008. These platform updates enable greater scalability and reliability, and many advances in the latest developer tools.
New Hyper-V Virtualization Support
Host Integration Server 2009 now takes advantage of the latest virtualization improvements included as part of Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, which can lead to reduced costs through lower hardware, energy, and management overhead, plus the creation of a more dynamic IT infrastructure.
New IBM Systems and Application Support
Host Integration Server 2009 supports the current IBM platform products, including z/OS v1.9, CICS v3.2, IMS Connect v9, WebSphere MQ v7, and DB2 v9.
New Connectivity Technologies
Host Integration Server 2009 offers a new WCF Channel for WebSphere MQ, generation of WCF Services based on Transaction Integrator objects, improved ADO.NET providers for DB2 and Host Files, and new Entity Provider for DB2.
If you are interested in joining the HIS Community then participate in the HIS 2009 Beta Program on Microsoft Connect.
For MSMQ-related content, the Release Notes mention:
Messaging Integration Support on x64 Systems - The Messaging Integration feature in this release are now supported on x64 systems. These features include
the MSMQ-MQSeries Bridge,the BizTalk Adapters for WebSphere MQ and the new WCF Channel for WebSphere MQ.
and the "Known Issues and Limitations" section:
MSMQ-MQSeries Bridge
Encryption feature - The MSMQ-MQSeries Bridge encryption feature is only supported in a pure AD environment (either Windows 2000 domain or Windows 2003 domain). This feature will not be supported in a mixed environment with MSMQ running on Windows NT 4.0.
Bridge Service Account does not have access to configuration information - You must ensure that the Bridge service account has read/write permissions given on the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\MQBridge key on the computer where the Bridge service is configured.
The Installation Guide discusses what versions of WebSphere MQ are required for 64-bit support:
IBM WebSphere MQ Client 6.0 with Fix Pack 6.0.1.1 or higherIBM WebSphere MQ Client 7.0 (required for 64-bit)IBM WebSphere MQ Extended Transactional Client (for transactional support)
Having just installed the MSMQ-MQSeries Bridge, I see it's visually exactly the same as previous versions (same old quirky Bridge Manager).