Application Deployment Tasks
The topics in this section provide details about the following tasks involved in each phase of the application deployment process for BizTalk Server:
Development. The developer deploys the BizTalk assemblies that are to be included in the BizTalk application from Visual Studio into BizTalk Server running on the development computer. This automatically creates the application and populates it with the artifacts contained in the assemblies. Artifacts are all of the items that comprise a BizTalk business solution, including BizTalk assemblies, .NET assemblies, schemas, maps, bindings, certificates, and so forth. The developer completes the application by adding any additional artifacts to it or performing additional configuration. The developer then installs the application from the .msi file, tests it to verify functionality, fixes any issues, and then exports the application from BizTalk Server as an .msi file.
Testing. The tester imports the .msi file into BizTalk Server running on a test computer, which creates the application in BizTalk Server. The tester also installs the application on the host computers from the .msi file. After testing and bug-fixing is complete, the tester exports the application from BizTalk Server as an .msi file.
Staging. The IT administrator imports the .msi file into BizTalk Server running on a staging server, configures it for the production environment, installs it on host computers, verifies the functionality, and then exports the finished application as an .msi file.
Production. The IT administrator imports the .msi file into BizTalk Server running in a production environment, installs the application on the host computers, and then starts the application.