Article Computers Technology

MSDTC
an abbreviation for Microsoft’s Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC)
is a service component implanted in recently marketed Microsoft Windows systems (operating systems Windows 2000 and after
and Windows NT 4.0 has the MSDTC). Its job is coordinating the various transactions among multiple resource managers
including but not limited to databases
file systems
and message queues.


Installing and Configuring MSDTC on a Windows 2003 Server Cluster
There are two main ways on installing the MSDTC in Windows Server 2003
one of the more widely
if not the most used server system today. Before anything else
the MSDTC resource must be created by enabling the Network DTC access.


Method 1: Cluster Administrator
Cluster Administrator can be used to install MSDTC on all nodes in a cluster
as you only need to install the MSDTC once to have an effect on all.
1
Start the Cluster Administrator by:
A. Click Start
and then All Programs
B. Go to Administrative Tools
and click Cluster Administrator
2
Create a Group called “MSDTC Group” containing a Network Name
IP Address
and a Physical Disk
by:
A. Click File Menu
New
and then Group
B. Go through the New Group Wizard which will help you create the MSDTC Group
3
Create an IP address resource by:
A. Right click on the MSDTC Group
and click NewResource
B. Create a name (eg. MSDTC IP Address)
C. Go to Resource Type
click IP Address
and check MSDTC Group
and then Next
D. Go to Possible Owners and click Next
E. Go to Dependencies and click Next as you do not want to add any dependencies
F. Go to TCP/IP Address Parameters and choose the public network
G. Type in the static IP address for the MSDTC Group and click Next
H. Click Finish and Ok
4
Create a Network Name resource by:
A. Right click on the MSDTC Group
and click NewResource
B. Create a name (eg. MSDTC Network Name)
C. Go to Resource Type
click Network Name
and check MSDTC Group
and then Next
D. Go to Possible Owners and click Next
E. Go to Dependencies
add the MSDTC IP Address as a dependency
and click Next
F. Go to Name
and type in the name of the MSDTC resource and click Next
G. Click Finish and Ok
5
Create a Physical Disk resource by:
A. Right click on the MSDTC Group
and click NewResource
B. Create a name (eg. MSDTC Physical Disk)
C. Go to Resource Type
click Physical Disk
and check MSDTC Group
and then Next
D. Go to Possible Owners and click Next
E. Go to Dependencies and click Next as you do not want to add any dependencies
F. Go to Disk Paramters and select a physical disk for the MSDTC
G. Click Finish and Ok
6
Right click on the MSDTC group and click NewResource
7
Type in a name
8
Go to Resource Type and select the Distributed Transaction Coordinator in the MSDTC Group and click Next
9
Go to Possible Owners and click Next
10
Go to Dependencies
hold on to your Ctrl key
select the Network Name and Physical Disk that you created
and click Add
11
Click Finish and Ok to complete the creation of the resource
12
Enable the network DTC access
13
Right click the MSDTC Resource and click Bring Online


Method 2: Cluster.exe
Cluster.exe is powerful for installing and configuring the MSDTC on multiple clusters.
1
Enable the network DTC access unless the cluster is dedicated to Exchange Server
which would make the enabling unecessary
2
Using the command prompt (cmd.exe)
create a Group called MSDTC Group (make sure that the group contains an IP Address
Network Name
and a Physical Disk)
3
Create the MSDTC Resource by typing the following into the command prompt:
cluster clustername res "MSDTC Resource" /CREATE /GROUP:"MSDTC Group" /TYPE:"Distributed Transaction Coordinator"
4
Run the following command in the command prompt:
cluster clustername res "MSDTC Resource" /ADDDEP:"Network Name"
cluster clustername res "MSDTC Resource" /ADDDEP:"Disk X:"
A. Network Name is the Network Name resource and Disk X is MSDTC’s physical disk
5
Run the following command in the command prompt to bring online the MSDTC:
cluster clustername res "MSDTC Resource" /ON