BizTalk Server has been around since 2000, and there has been a number of new product releases since then. It is a very mature platform with excellent enterprise integration capabilities. On the other hand, Logic Apps is a fairly recent edition to the Azure PaaS list.
Logic apps can be likened to a BizTalk orchestration but has a much easier learning curve, and you don't have the deployment hassle of a full BizTalk solution. Although Logic Apps and BizTalk Server are not functionally equivalent, they do have some similarities.
Most of the enterprise features available in BizTalk are now available in Logic Apps using the Logic Apps Enterprise Integration Pack. This provides the following features and capabilities:
- XSLT-based maps
- XML schemas
- Trading Partners
- Trading Partner Agreements
- Certificates
The Enterprise Integration Pack is covered in more detail in Chapter 12, EAI / B2B Integration using Logic Apps.
Below is a comparison matrix between BizTalk and Logic Apps:
|
Feature |
BizTalk |
Logic Apps |
|
Long running transactions |
Out of the box support. |
Required to be architectured at design time into the solution. |
|
Exception handling |
Built in exceptions scopes and compensation transactions. |
Need to check the inputs and outputs for error conditions after each action. You can have a scope action to capture the exception. |
|
Scalability |
Requires the Enterprise Edition of BizTalk. |
Can scale up and out by simply selecting the required tier. |
|
Transactional support |
Fully supported |
Stateless, unless architected into solution. |
|
Development experience |
Full Visual Studio debugging experience is available during development and at runtime by attaching to a process. |
Use Azure portal and Visual Studio for creating the workflows. |
|
Deployment process |
Can be complex if there are a lot of dependencies on 3rd party components. |
Relativity easy and quick. |
|
Process monitoring |
The Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) is the built-in tool for monitoring KPI’s and generating alerts.
Built in message tracking capability on nearly all artefacts.
|
Azure Diagnostics for tracking workflow events.
Has built in properties for tracking. Has native support to OMS in Azure.
|
|
High availability |
Requires a windows clustering environment to be setup. |
Built on top of Azure geo replication fabric. |
|
Enterprise message type support. |
Supports multiple messaging formats, for example, EDI, SWIFT, EDIFACT, HL7. |
With Enterprise Integration Pack Logic Apps supports equal amount of message format as BizTalk. |
|
Adaptors |
Large number of adaptors available for B2B integration scenarios.
Can develop custom adaptors with a steep learning curve.
|
Both enterprise and social media adaptors available. List is still growing.
Can easily build custom API type adaptors.
|
|
ROI |
Large initial investment on infrastructure and licensing.
Dependency on MS SQL Server.
|
Very cost effective. Short ROI time period. |
|
BAU management |
Has a very comprehensive management console. Built in message tracking. |
Basic management views. |