ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of transaction processing in a client/server and netcentric environment. Distributed transaction processing is a vital element in managing transactions in mission-critical client/server and netcentric systems. A transaction is a logical unit of work; it consists of the logic and the processing needed to perform an individual, unique business function. In a distributed environment, on the other hand, distributed transactions may be found running on multiple components. Transaction Processing (TP) monitor services are the primary interface through which applications invoke transaction services and receive status and error information. Transaction management services coordinate transactions across one or more resource managers either on a single platform or on multiple platforms within the network. TP monitors frequently include mainframe networking capability and maintain transaction rollback during mainframe accesses. Vendors of transaction monitors have started to evolve their products and create a new category of system software termed Object Transaction Monitors.
