What is a .snk for?

Question

What is a .snk file for? I know it stands for Strongly Named Key, but all explanations of what it is and how it works goes over my head.

Is there a

Answer 1

In a the.Net world the SNK file is used to sign your compiled binaries. This allows a couple things to happen:

1. You can register the Assembly in the GAC (Global Assembly Cache). Basically so you can reference it from many places on the same machine without having to maintain multiple copies).
2. You can use your Binaries from within other binaries that are also signed (this is a strange viral sort of behavior with regard to signed assemblies).
3. Your assembly cannot (easily) be modified by 3rd parties who do not have access to the SNK file, providing at least a small amount of security.

I'm not familiar with how BizTalk server works, so I don't think I can shed much light on what specific purpose they serve within that environment.

Hope this was somewhat helpful.