Hi All,

As mentioned in my previous blog, I have listed all the blogs and web sites I had come across while preparing for MCTS BizTalk Server 2006, for your reference.

>> New features in BizTalk Server 2006

• BizTalk Server 2006 Product Overview
• BizTalk 2006 Features and Enhancements by Jason
• BizTalk Server 2006 Adapter Enhancements
• Understanding BizTalk Server 2006 Application Deployment
• BizTalk Server 2006 Runtime Improvement

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>> Messaging

• How messages work in BizTalk Server Orchestration by Charles Young
• Promotion of Context properties by David Hurtado
• Failed Message Routing by Matt Meleski
• Recoverable Interchange Processing
• How Subscription Works by Charles Young

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>> Orchestration

• Transaction in BizTalk Server Orchestrations by Charles Young
• Handling Exceptions in Orchestration
• Persistence Points in Orchestration by Saravana Kumar
• Property Promotion inside Orchestration by Saravana Kumar
• Introduction to BizTalk Server Correlation by Peter Himschoot
• Using Role Links in BizTalk Server by Richard Seroter

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>> Business Rules Engine (BRE)

• Business Rules Framework Walkthroughs

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>> Business Activity Monitoring (BAM)

• BAM with BizTalk Server 2006 – Example by Naveen

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These blogs provides better understanding and also some insight on the Grey areas of BizTalk Server 2006. You can also find few good references in BizTalk Server 2006 Exam(70-235) Preparation Dairy by Saravana Kumar.

All the best!!!

Signing off with a smile 🙂

Sathish Krishnan.

Folks,

Today i passed BizTalk Server 2006 Certification(MCTS 70-235 paper). I scored 1000/1000. I was confident about 45/50 questions and rest 5/50 were wild guesses. But luckily, it turned out to be correct. I spent almost 3 months preparing for this certification and finally, I achieved it today.

Questions are relatively easy if you had gone through the materials I had mentioned in my previous post. Saravana Kumar’s blog points out the major areas from which questions may come. But as mentioned before, you need to have practical knowledge as well. Particularly when it comes to BAM, BRE and Deployment & Management (these areas had most of the questions), you need to try using them or follow few Walk-Throughs to get fair idea on how these components are used and understand their functionalities.

MCTS 70-235 exam covered the following areas:

1. New features in BizTalk Server 2006 (Application concept,Failed message routing,Recoverable Interchange)
2. Setup & Migration (BTSTask, MSI packaging)
3. Deployment & Management (Message tracking, Application management)
4. Messaging (Subscriptions, De-batching, Content based routing)
5. Orchestration (Correlation, Transaction scopes, Persistence, Exception handling)
6. BRE (Creating Policy, Management & Deployment of Policies, Fact retriever)
7. BAM (BAM portal, BAM web service, BAM alerts, BAM Activity, BAM TP, Management & Deployment of BAM Activity)
8. Scaling and High Availability (Scaling out BizTalk Server, Scaling out SQL Server)

I dont know how many questions from each area were asked during the exam. But the stress is on BAM and BRE. So be prepared on those topics. Better clarify all your doubts before attempting this paper.

There are few blogs which gives good insight on all above mentioned topics. Will provide the links for those blogs in my next post.

Thanks for all of those, who posted some valuable stuffs about BizTalk and guidance while preparing for this Exam. Good luck for all you folks who are preparing for MCTS 70-235.

Signing off with a smile 🙂

Sathish Krishnan.

I’m giving MCTS 70-235 Certification on 2nd Feb 2008…!

For preperation you can refer to:

* BizTalk Server 2006 Exam(70-235) Preperation Dairy by Saravana Kumar

* Study materials and blogs available in MSDN.

* Apress.BizTalk2006.Recipes-A Problem Solution Approach

Above mentioned resources and materials are more than enough for exam preperation. But you also need pratical knowledge. So practice the Walkthoughs provided in MSDN, it will be helpful.

Will update you about my exam experience once done.

Wish me luck folks!!!