building a SOA on Microsoft technology stack

Question

so my open-ended potentially subjective question for the day is; if you were given the opportunity to build up a SOA on Microsoft technologies today; what would you choose from the options below;

1. WCF, WF + AppFabric
2. BizTalk + ESB Toolkit
3. Combination of 1 & 2
4. Some other packaged solution

Answer 1

The answer for me is as always "It Depends". Option 3 offers the most flexible solution for most needs.

I would go with option one for most solutions, as it is the least complex, and offers a unified hosting solution in AppFabric.

I do not need BizTalk to get an enterprise service bus pattern, but ... if the solution was for a high volume mission critical enterprise solution with a lot of integration, sure BizTalk would be an option I would like to be able to consider. The price tag would be the deciding factor, Jitterbit offers similar integration features for less.

Generally I would start with an approach like the one in the SOA Pattern link below and add pieces as needed, it's SOA right?, so composability should be my hallmark. I should be able to snap in the pieces I need as I need them, as it is standards based, so technology/product is less of a worry than in non-SOA solutions.

SOA Design Pattern

Achieving Integrity in Service Orientated Applications

Why your SOA needs to be like a VW Beetle

Answer 2

Regardless of what technology/products stack you select from Microsoft SOA offerings (options 1-3), you will need SOA governance and automation to enable your solutions with real SOA agility and management. Take a look at http://www.nevatech.com that offers unique SOA management capabilities via non-intrusive service virtualization concepts, and native implementation and integration with the Microsoft stack.