Commerce Server and .NET Enterprise Servers

Article
06/07/2013

Although Commerce Server 2000 is a stand-alone product, it is designed to operate seamlessly with other products that, taken together, comprise .NET Enterprise Servers. The .NET Enterprise Servers are Microsoft's comprehensive family of server applications for building, deploying, and managing scalable, integrated, Web solutions with fast time to market. You can use .NET Enterprise Servers to build systems that integrate Commerce Server sites with the rest of your management information system. If you have a need for this level of integration, you can implement one or more of the .NET technologies in conjunction with Commerce Server.

Some of the .NET technologies that typically are used with Commerce Server include:

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000
Microsoft SQL Server 2000
Microsoft Application Center 2000
COM+ (an extension to the Component Object Model) Services
Microsoft Host Integration Server 2000

BizTalk Server

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 provides a comprehensive solution for business-to-business electronic document exchange and business process integration. BizTalk Server acts as a business document gateway between trading partners, and manages the data translation, encryption, digital signatures, and document tracking services for many different transport mechanisms.

You can integrate Commerce Server and BizTalk Server, for example, to exchange catalogs of products that you post on your Web site, and to send orders entered on your Web site to suppliers for fulfillment. For more information about integrating Commerce Server and BizTalk Server, see Integrating with BizTalk Server and Using BizTalk Server and Commerce Server.

SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 provides a scalable database that combines ease of use with complex analysis and data warehousing tools. SQL Server includes a rich graphical user interface (UI) along with a complete development environment for creating data-driven applications.

Commerce Server takes advantage of SQL Server data warehousing and analysis capabilities in several key areas. The Commerce Server Data Warehouse, for example, uses SQL Server Data Transformation Services (DTS) to transform data stored in SQL Server databases to the format used by Commerce Server resources.

Application Center

Microsoft Application Center 2000 is a high-availability deployment and management tool for Web applications built on Windows 2000. It extends the core set of Web application services found in Microsoft Windows 2000 (Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0, Active Server Pages (ASP), COM+, Message Queuing), and provides a suite of monitoring, testing, and diagnostic tools not available in the core operating system. Application Center is designed for customers with high-end requirements for scalability and availability.

You can use Application Center with Commerce Server in order to perform deployments, incremental updates to your Web site, and rollbacks. For more information about using Application Center with Commerce Server, see Deploying Your Site.

COM+ Services

Microsoft COM+ Services (Component Services, including MTS) is a unified programming model that is used to build component-based, three-tier distributed applications. COM+ builds on the Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) by combining COM with the transactional features of Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS). It extends the programming environment by adding a rich set of features to make it easier for site developers to develop, deploy, and administer highly-scalable, distributed, component-based solutions.

Host Integration Server

Microsoft Host Integration Server 2000 is a comprehensive integration platform that provides support for Internet, intranet, and client/server technologies while preserving investments in existing systems. By recognizing that accessing existing data is only the first step in leveraging enterprise computing resources, Host Integration Server provides enterprise developers with a way to create distributed applications that make the most of either client/server or Web computing and host information.