Chapter 1: Introduction

The DTM XA Interface is Sybase’s implementation of the XA Interface standard, which is one element of the X/Open Distributed Transaction Processing (DTP) model. The X/Open DTP model provides an industry standard for developing distributed transaction processing applications.

Use the XA Interface to access data stored on Adaptive Servers from within a CICS, Encina, or TUXEDO TM. To use native Adaptive Server distributed transaction management (DTM) features with or without a TM, see Using Adaptive Server Distributed Transaction Management Features.

The Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) also uses the XA Interface for transactional components. MTS XA configuration is handled through the Sybase ODBC driver setup. See the ODBC driver documentation for details.

Other TMs, such as IBM MQ Services, also use the XA Interface. See the transaction manager documentation for details on how to configure the TM.

To enable a TM transaction to access data stored on Adaptive Server, you must:

Install Adaptive Server, and the distributed transaction management feature. Software installation and feature licenses are described in the Adaptive Server Installation Guide for your platform.

Distributed transaction management is a separately-licensed Adaptive Server feature. You must purchase and install a valid license for DTM before it can be used.
Install Sybase Open Client on all client machines. The DTM XA Interface is included with Open Client.
Start Adaptive Server with support for the distributed transaction management feature. See Using Adaptive Server Distributed Transaction Management Features for information.
Configure the TM software to run with an Embedded SQL or Client-Library application and Adaptive Server, as described in Chapter 3, “Configuring the XA Environment.”
Make the Embedded SQL or Client-Library application conform to certain coding constraints, as described in Chapter 4, “Application Programming Guidelines.”
Start the CICS, Encina, or TUXEDO TM.

To administer global recovery manually in the Sybase XA environment, you must invoke XA-specific dbcc commands, as described in Using Adaptive Server Distributed Transaction Management Features.