Seeking Testing Volunteers W2K MTS/DTC to VMS DECdtm Distributed 2PC Transactions

Hi,

I am seeking the help of volunteers to test some software that I've developed which facilitates distributed two-phase commit transactions, encompassing any resource manager (e.g. SQL/Server or Oracle) controlled by Microsoft's Distributed Transaction Coordinator in a Windows2000 environment, with any resource manager under the control of DECdtm (e.g. Rdb
(or Oracle via the XA Veneer)) in a VMS environment.

[Yes, at some stage, I hope to sell this software and make money out of it, so unless you have a large philanthropic streak or are simply a techie who likes to stay on top of Windows<->VMS connectivity issues, then you may wish to look away now. But if you do choose to participate, then rest assured that I have no interest in your personal or company details. (Just your work-rate :-)]

What differentiates my Transaction Manager software from existing Transaction Monitor packages that are already in the marketplace (and why you should be interested) is that it is based on the Transaction Internet Protocol TIP standard. (RFC 2372) For those of you who don't know, the beauty of TIP's "Two-Pipe" strategy is it's application-pipe (or middleware) neutrality. Whereas most XA implementations mandate homogenous Transaction Monitor deployments (such as Tuxedo everywhere, Encina everywhere, MQSeries everywhere, ACMSxp everywhere and so on . . .), hotTIP from TIER3 Software gives you complete freedom to choose the middleware product(s) that best suite your particular application and heterogeneous network needs.

Would you like to talk to VMS with TIER3 Sockets, COM or DCE/RPC? BEA MessageQ, IBM MQSeries or HTML? The choice is yours and yours alone. But once you realize that you need to encase your critical transactions within the ACID properties of a true Heterogeneous Two-Phase Commit then you will come to the conclusion that you need a Transaction Manager that looks a lot like this.

Another drawback of traditional "One-Pipe" strategies is that they preclude the run-time determination of transaction participants. (Functionality which may be advantageous in a wide-area or Internet based application.)

Anyway, this is what I have: -

On the Windows side, you need absolutely *NO* additional software! I'll reply to this note with a brief description of the COM+ and DTC functions that you would need to invoke in order to successfully push a MTS/DTC transaction to VMS. NB: These are standard Windows APIs that are fully documented on MSDN.

On the VMS side, I have a VMSINSTAL saveset that (all zipped up) is some 150KB that I'm happy to e-mail to you along similar lines to the VMS hobbyists (non-commercial use) license. I'll reply to this note with an Internet Daemon (INETd) example of code that uses my software to cede transactional control, over an SQL insert into a Rdb database, to MTS/DTC. It's under 500 lines long and contains all of the DCL, 3GL, SQL required to produce a working example of a TIP-2PC capable TCP/IP auxiliary server. This example will insert a row into the MF_PERSONNEL.Employees table on the VMS side in co-operation with Windows2000 MTS/DTC client that is inserting a row into the NORTHWIND.Employee table. Commit them all or roll them all back.

So, in summary, If you'd like to volunteer to put hotTIP through it's paces then simply reply to this mail.

Regards Richard Maher

PS. The following are a few functionality restrictions with the current version of my software that may effect your decision to participate: -

1. Transaction has to be started/mastered/coordinated by W2K MTS/DTC
2. Transactions cannot be PULLed from VMS and must be PUSHed from W2K
3. No cluster-wide recovery.
   (If a txn falls over after being prepared then you have to wait for that
   specific node to become contactable again even though that lovely RDM recovery job is sitting on another node protecting the database until my hotTIP TM tells it to commit or abort.)
4. There is currently no Alpha or Itanium version available. The Alpha port is currently in progress but, for the time being, you'll either need a VAX or a VAX emulator on your PC.