All versions of BizTalk Server 2006 support 32-bit execution on Windows Server 2003 x64 (including R2) and Windows XP Professional x64 by using WOW64. Additionally, BizTalk Server 2006 Enterprise, Developer, Branch, and Evaluation Editions support native 64-bit execution on Windows Server 2003 x64 (including R2) and Windows XP Professional x64 by installing both 32-bit and 64-bit executables and providing configuration options to use either 32-bit or 64-bit modes.

No. 64-bit support is included at no extra charge.

For the BizTalk runtime, no. For BizTalk databases, yes.

BizTalk Server 2006 is not supported on Windows running on Itanium-based 64-bit CPUs. BizTalk Server 2006 requires CPU hardware that supports AMD64 or EM64T. However, BizTalk Server 2006 does support running with an Itanium-based SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005 deployment. Thus, all BizTalk databases are supported on Itanium 64-bit CPUs.

BizTalk Server executables are hosted inside several different server runtimes. The following table lists which BizTalk Server processes run in 64-bit mode.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005

BizTalk Server designer executables are hosted inside the 32-bit Visual Studio 2005 IDE. Visual Studio 2005 supports development of 64-bit projects using the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, which can be deployed into BizTalk Server 2006.

Microsoft Management Console (MMC)

The BizTalk Server Administration console runs only as a 32-bit Microsoft Management Console (MMC) application, even on 64-bit Windows. Enterprise SSO supports both 32-bit and 64-bit MMC.

Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) management pack

BizTalk Server 2006 provides a MOM management pack that is supported on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. The MOM console itself runs in 32-bit mode. The MOM agents and MOM server run in either 32-bit or 64-bit mode as needed.

Internet Explorer

The BAM client requires 32-bit Internet Explorer to be installed and used on 64-bit Windows.

Assign the orchestration to run in a host instance that has the 32-bit only property not selected. The host instance must be running on a Windows x64 machine.

Yes. Using Visual Studio 2005 and the .NET Framework 2.0, a BizTalk Server developer can create assemblies that support 64-bit execution. These can be deployed with orchestrations and run in host instances configured for native 64-bit execution.

Yes. If the assembly was compiled with the .NET Framework 2.0 and the AnyCPU flag, a single DLL will JIT-compile properly in either 32-bit or 64-bit CLRs.

No. Assemblies compiled with the .NET Framework 1.x will only run as 32-bit executables on the .NET Framework 2.0. This is a rule enforced by the .NET Framework 2.0 common language runtime (CLR). Therefore, customers are required to recompile their assemblies using the .NET Framework 2.0 and set the AnyCPU flag to support both 32-bit and 64-bit CLRs.

Yes. A new feature in BizTalk 2006 allows an administrator to create an MSI package file from a BizTalk application. The MSI file can contain both 32-bit and 64-bit dlls and exes that were added to the BizTalk application. On 32-bit Windows, only the 32-bit dlls and exes will be installed. On Windows x64, both 32-bit and 64-bit dlls and exes will be installed.

Windows x64 provides the ability to run both 32-bit and 64-bit executables on the same computer. 32-bit executables use the WOW64 service to emulate a 32-bit runtime environment.

Yes. On Windows x64, 32-bit BTSNTSVC and IIS processes are run under WOW64 and may utilize the full 4GB of virtual memory. This is an improvement over the default 2GB of addressable virtual memory on 32-bit Windows.

You can express the memory throttling threshold in percent (%) available, or in an absolute value.

• If you use percent available, then 2048 MB is the cap.
  
• If you use an absolute value, you can go beyond 2GB without throttling.
  

No. By default, upgrades to BizTalk Server 2006 mark all BizTalk Host instances as 32-bit only. An administrator must create new host instances on Windows x64 computers and configure applications to use them.

By default, all adapters can run in 32-bit mode on 32-bit Windows and on WOW64 on 64-bit Windows. The following adapters can run in native 64-bit mode (in either IIS or BTSNTSVC as the host process):

• HTTP
  
• SOAP
  
• File
  
• SMTP
  
• MSMQ
  
• MQSeries
  
• WCF
  

Note
The MQSeries adapter is supported in both 32-bit and 64-bit processes. The adapter has a MQSeries Agent that runs on IBM WebSphere MQ Server on Windows. With MQ Fix Pack 6.0.2.1 the agent is supported as a 32-bit process running under WOW64.

Note
Running the WSE adapter, FTP adapter, SQL adapter, POP3 adapter, and MIME Decoder on 64-bit host instances is not supported.

No. BizTalk Server persists runtime components using formats that are independent of 32-bit or 64-bit runtimes. This includes orchestrations, messages, and ports. This persistence model enables an administrator to switch the host configuration between 32-bit and 64-bit without creating incompatibilities in BizTalk Server data.

All supported languages are supported on both 32-bit and 64-bit runtimes.

The configuration wizard is a 32-bit process; therefore it requires certain components which allow it to communicate with 64-bit SQL Server 2005. You must install the following SQL Server client components to enable configuration of BAM tools:

• Connectivity Components
  
• Management Tools
  
• Legacy Components
  

Other Resources