Everything you want to know about BizTalk Server 2013 Developer Edition

In the last months, many of you asked or somehow became concerned by the absence of the BizTalk Server 2013 Developer Edition because you may not knew what to use to create your, or your client’s, development environments. And maybe worse, often you didn’t know how to answer the questions of your clients about this topic.

I am not able to find the download for BizTalk 2013 Developer Edition, this version has been discontinued?

No. Developer Edition was not discontinued and will be available in the BizTalk Server 2013 version.

So when will be available?

As probably you already know, the BizTalk Server 2013 Developer Edition is coming and is scheduled to arrive on November 1, 2013 (check BizTalk Server 2013: Developer Edition – It’s Coming!). However there’s one “small” difference comparing to the previous Developer edition (2010), BizTalk Server 2013 Developer Edition will not be free.

How match BizTalk Server 2013 Developer Edition will costs?

For people not covered by MSDN, they will probably buy the Developer edition for a nominal fee of around $30 per seat (again this apply to people not covered by MSDN).

For now, there’s no BizTalk Server 2013 Developer Edition, so what can I use to create my developer environments right now?

In the meantime, these are your options:

• People covered by MSDN (Premium or Ultimate) don’t need to wait for a developer edition, you can use the Enterprise version for Developer/Test today.
• If you don´t have MSDN, you can use the Evaluation Edition that has a 120-day time-bombed Enterprise Edition.

Alternatively, you can also use the BizTalk Server 2013 on Windows Azure IaaS (Windows Azure VM) where you can find the following BizTalk images available:

• BizTalk Server 2013 Enterprise
• BizTalk Server 2013 Standard
• BizTalk Server 2013 Evaluation

With MSDN discounts, a medium BizTalk Enterprise instance is less than $50 a month (For more information check: Configuring BizTalk Server 2013 on a Windows Azure VM or Announcing BizTalk Server 2013 in Windows Azure Infrastructure Services)

We installed BizTalk Server 2013 Evaluation for a development environment but the copy is now expiring. Can I upgrade this version?

There is no easy option to change/upgrade the edition.

One of the best options is to just set up a new environment and do a fresh install of your applications. However, this means that you have to set up a new environment.

The other option is explained here: http://charlesemes.blogspot.pt/2011/01/biztalk-server-evaluation-version.html.