Reuse SQL adapter bindings

Article
02/02/2021

A binding creates a mapping between a logical endpoint (such as an orchestration port or a role link) and a physical endpoint (such as a send and receive port). This enables communication between different components of a BizTalk business solution. You can create bindings by using the BizTalk Server Administration console.

What is a Binding File?

A binding file is an XML file that contains binding information for each BizTalk orchestration in the scope of a BizTalk assembly, application, or group. The binding file describes:

The host to which each orchestration is bound.
The trust level of the host.
The settings for each send port, receive port, receive location, and party that has been configured.

You can generate binding files and then apply the bindings that they contain to an assembly, application, or group. This prevents having to manually configure bindings in different deployment environments and speeds up application deployment.

A binding file is not automatically generated for a BizTalk assembly, application, or group. However, you can generate a binding file by exporting bindings. Similarly, you can then import the binding file into an application or group. This section provides instructions on how to import and export bindings.

For more information about bindings and about binding files, see Binding Files and Application Deployment.

Prerequisites

Sign in with an account that is a member of the BizTalk Server Administrators or BizTalk Operators group. For more detailed information about permissions, see Permissions Required for Deploying and Managing a BizTalk Application, and Minimum Security Rights.

Export bindings

This section describes how to export bindings for a BizTalk application into an XML file. You can then import the bindings from the XML file into another BizTalk application. Importing bindings overwrites any existing bindings of the same name in the application. You can also add bindings to an application, which does not overwrite existing bindings. The bindings that you add do not take effect until you import the application.

Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.
Expand BizTalk Group, and then expand Applications.
Right-click the application whose bindings you want to export, select Export, and then select Bindings.
On the Export Bindings page, in Export to file, type the absolute path of the XML file to which to export the bindings.

For example, enter C:\Bindings\Application1Bindings.Binding1.xml
Confirm that Export all bindings from the current application is selected.
To export all party information for the group, select the Export Global Party information check box.
Select OK. The bindings are exported into an XML file in the location that you specified.

Import bindings

Import bindings using the BizTalk Server Administration console.

Open the BizTalk Server Administration console.
Expand BizTalk Group, and then expand Applications.
Right-click the application into which you want to import bindings, select Import, and then select Bindings.
Select the binding file, and then select Open.

The artifacts in the binding file are written to the application. They display in appropriate folders of the application. For example, the send ports imported as part of the bindings display under the Send Ports folder.

Passwords are removed

For security reasons, when you export a binding file, BizTalk Server removes the passwords for the bindings from the file. After importing the bindings, you must reconfigure passwords for send ports and receive locations before they will function. You configure passwords in the Transport Properties dialog box of the BizTalk Server Administration console for the send port or receive location.

For information about specifying user name and passwords, see Configure the sign in credentials for the SQL Server.