An adapter is a software component that enables communication between business applications and line-of-business systems like SQL Server, Oracle, and SAP. Adapters provide a consistent design experience, support various programming models, and standardize on the Windows Communication Foundation framework. The BizTalk Adapter Pack includes adapters for SQL Server, Oracle Database, Oracle E-Business Suite, SAP, and Siebel to allow exchange of messages and invocation of operations on these line-of-business systems.

1. OverviewAn adapter is a software component that enables you to send and receive messages to and from a line-of-business (LOB) system. The primary design goal of adapters is to facilitate the exchange of business documents between trading partners. The adapters provide the following advantages to clients: Consistent design-time experience. The adapters provide a common and user-friendly design time experience for browsing, searching, and retrieving metadata of LOB artifacts. Varied programming options. The adapters provide a choice of programming model including Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Channel Model, WCF Service Model, ADO.NET or through BizTalk orchestrations. Uniform experience across LOBs. The adapters standardize on using the WCF and Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Line of Business (LOB) Adapter SDK and hence provide a uniform experience of gaining access to any LOB system. As mentioned, the adapters are built on top of the Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Line of Business (LOB) Adapter SDK. The WCF LOB Adapter SDK provides a common basis for building integration adapters that a variety of client applications such as BizTalk Server and Microsoft Office can consume. The BizTalk Adapter Pack includes the following adapters: Microsoft BizTalk Adapter for SQL Server The Microsoft BizTalk Adapter for SQL Server exposes the SQL Server database as a WCF service. Adapter clients can perform operations on the SQL Server database artifacts such as tables, views, and procedures by exchanging SOAP messages with the adapter Supported SQL Server versions are SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 The SQL adapter uses ADO.NET to communicate with the SQL Server database . The minimum requirement is .NET 3.5 SP1 Microsoft BizTalk Adapter 3.0 for Oracle Database . This Oracle database adapter enables adapter clients to read and write to and Oracle database Supported Oracle Database Server versions Oracle 9.2 Oracle 10.1 Oracle 10.2 Oracle 11.1 The Oracle Database adapter supports Oracle Data Access Components for Oracle Client 11.1.0.6 with Patch Set 11.1.0.7. Microsoft BizTalk Adapter for Oracle E-Business Suite . Using this adapter clients can perform operations on the the Oracle E-Business Suite artifacts (PL/SQL APIs, interface tables/views, concurrent programs, and request sets) and the underlying Oracle database artifacts (such as tables, functions, and procedures) by exchanging SOAP messages with the adapter. The Oracle E-Business adapter uses the Oracle Data Provider for .NET (ODP.NET) 11.1.0.7 to communicate with Oracle E-Business Suite. ODP.NET 11.1.0.7 is one of the components of Oracle Data Access Components (ODAC). Microsoft BizTalk Adapter 3.0 for mySAP Business Suite . This adapter enables clients to exchange Intermediate Document (IDOC), BAPI, and Remote Function Call (RFC) messages with the SAP system. Supported versions SAP R/3 4.6c Non-Unicode SAP R/3 4.7 Non-Unicode SAP R/3 4.7 Unicode SAP R/3 5.0 Non-Unicode SAP R/3 5.0 Unicode SAP R/3 6.0 Unicode Microsoft BizTalk Adapter 3.0 for Siebel eBusiness Applications - This adapter enables clients to invoke Business Services and operations on Business Components in a Siebel eBusiness Application. Supported Versions Siebel 7.5 (7.5.3.15) Siebel 7.7 (7.7.2.8) Siebel 7.8 (7.8.2.6) Siebel 8.0 (8.0.0.1)