DTC Developers Guide
Applies To: Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server Technical Preview, Windows Vista
The Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (the DTC) is a distributed transaction facility for Microsoft Windows platforms which uses proven transaction processing technology. It is robust despite system failures, process failures, and communication failures; it exploits loosely coupled systems to provide scalable performance; and it is easy to install, configure, and manage. The DTC service provides the following benefits:
Lowers the cost of enterprise computing—The DTC provides a sophisticated, low-cost distributed transaction facility for users of networked, commodity-priced PCs and servers.
Simplifies application development—DTC transactions greatly simplify the application task of preserving consistency, despite failures that can occur when updating application data.
Provides a consistent transaction model—The DTC supports a variety of resource managers, including relational databases, object-oriented databases, file systems, document storage systems, and message queues.
Enables software development using distributed software components—The DTC provides a simple, object-oriented application programming interface for initiating and controlling transactions.
Using the DTC, your applications gain the following performance advantages:
Application programs can reliably update data residing in two or more resource managers, such as Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Message Queuing.
Application programs can reliably update data residing in one or more XA-compliant resource managers, such as Oracle, IBM DB2, Informix, Sybase, or Ingres.
Application programs can use an OLE Transactions–compliant resource manager, such as Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Message Queuing, with an X/Open-compliant transaction processing monitor such as Encina, TopEnd, or Tuxedo.
Application programs can perform transactions spanning multiple transaction managers communicating via the Transaction Internet Protocol (TIP).
Windows application programs can invoke IBM CICS transaction programs through the COM Transaction Integrator (COMTI).