Interview Material

Biztalk Interview Questions Answers

Biztalk Interview Question - 1 : -

How do you use Auto Mapping in the BizTalk 2004 mapper?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 1 : -

Select a top level node, hold down the Shift key, drag the top level node over to the other top level node.

Biztalk Interview Question - 2 : -

Step-by-step, how do you set up a basic, pure messaging solution taking in a flat file and send an Xml File out to 5 different places?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 2 : -

Create a Flat File schema

Create a Custom Pipeline using the Flat File Disassembler

Create a Receive Port

Create 5 Send Ports

Create a Send Port Group

Add each Send Port to the Send Port Group

Create a Filer on the Send Port Group using Bts.ReceivePortName (or something close to this)

Additional: no map is required but it is ok to mention it

Biztalk Interview Question - 3 : -

What is direct binding?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 3 : -

Direct binding has three types: direct to message box, self correlating, and partner ports.

Used to route message between the message box and Orchestrations without using bindings or from one Orchestration to another Orchestration.

Biztalk Interview Question - 4 : -

At high level, what do Receive Ports and Orchestration Send Port really do in terms of messaging? What about Send Ports and Orchestration Receive Ports?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 4 : -

Receive Ports and Orchestration Send Port are both publishers.

Ports and Orchestration Receive Ports are both subscribers.

Biztalk Interview Question - 5 : -

How do you call a Non-Serializable .Net helper class inside an Expression Shape?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 5 : -

Add a reference to that class.

Make sure your Orchestration is Long Running transactional.

Add an Atomic scope.

Create an Orchestration variable of that class inside the scope.

Create an instance on that object inside the scope.

Call the method.

Bonus: Mention the class must be strongly signed and in the GAC.

Biztalk Interview Question - 6 : -

How do you achieve First-In-First-Out message processing of messages received from multiple sources using an Orchestration?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 6 : -

Use a Sequential Convoy to process the messages in the order they are received into the Message Box.

Make sure Ordered Delivery is set to True inside the Orchestration Receive Port.

Biztalk Interview Question - 7 : -

In BizTalk 2002, schemas were DTD based and allowed Xml Elements to be in any order inside a record using the <Any> keyword. How is this different in BizTalk 2004?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 7 : -

BizTalk 2004 is XSD based.

BizTalk 2004 Elements default to <Sequence> and <Any> is no longer available.

Biztalk Interview Question - 8 : -

What is the default mapping for Auto Mapping?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 8 : -

The default is by structure. This can be change to by node name on the map properties. (This default in the auto map messes me up every time.)

Biztalk Interview Question - 9 : -

What is BAM used for?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 9 : -

BAM is used to monitor business milestones and key metrics in near real-time throughout a process in BizTalk.

Biztalk Interview Question - 10 : -

What if the class is Serializable?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 10 : -

No transactional Orchestration or Atomic scope is needed.

Biztalk Interview Question - 11 : -

What user rights to you need to perform most actions in HAT?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 11 : -

BizTalk Server Administrator

Biztalk Interview Question - 12 : -

What is the difference between a Distinguished field and a Promoted Property?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 12 : -

Distinguished fields are light weight and can only be used inside an Orchestration.

Promoted Properties are defined inside a property schema, are tracking in SQL, can be tracked in HAT, and can be used for content based routing.

Biztalk Interview Question - 13 : -

When installing Biztalk in a multi-server configuration with a remote SQL and Analysis Services, what SQL components do you need on the Biztalk Server?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 13 : -

SQL Analysis Services Client Tools

Biztalk Interview Question - 14 : -

What group does a user need to belong to in order to submit messages to the message box?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 14 : -

The user needs to be a member of the hot group or isolated host group (assuming a default installation).

Biztalk Interview Question - 15 : -

What are Persistence Points and what causes them?

Biztalk Interview Answer - 15 : -

Persistence is when the state of a running Orchestration is stored into SQL.

It is good enough to know various shape and actions cause persistence. More specifically, it occurs: end of a transactional scope, at a send shape, at a start Orchestration shape, during dehydration, if the system shuts down expectedly or unexpectedly, or the business process suspends or ends.