Compaq Software Product Description ___________________________________________________________________ PRODUCT NAME: Reliable Transaction Router[TM] SPD 53.88.05 Version 3.2 for Windows[TM] NT, Windows 95, and Windows 98 DESCRIPTION Reliable Transaction Router (RTR) is fault tolerant transactional mes- saging middleware used to implement large, distributed applications using client/server technology. This version of Reliable Transaction Router for Windows enables enterprises to deploy distributed appli- cations on Windows NT (on both Intel[TM] and Alpha hardware), Windows 95, and Windows 98. When running on the Windows 95 or Windows 98 op- erating system, only the client tier is supported in production en- vironments. Reliable Transaction Router allows distributed applications to run in heterogeneous environments, allowing client and server applications to interoperate on the supported Windows, UNIX and OpenVMS platforms. Reliable Transaction Router provides an API for development of dis- tributed applications using languages such as C and C++, with optional all-or-nothing transaction semantics as well as a message broadcast- ing capability. The API calls are also available from a command line interface. RTR provides a reliable, transparent, dynamic message rout- ing system that includes both a transactional and non-transactional message control system. RTR transaction management supports two-phase commit of distributed transactions. Reliable Transaction Router implements automatic software fault tol- erance and failure recovery in multinode environments by adapting to many kinds of hardware (CPU), communications, application software, and site failures. Automatic failover and recovery of service oper- ate by exploiting redundant or alternate hardware and network links. June 1999 AE-Q8C2E-TE If alternative hardware or network links are not available, RTR au- tomatically continues provision of service when the CPU or network link becomes available. Reliable Transaction Router applications are developed and deployed using a three-tier client/router/server software model. Client appli- cations call the RTR "client" software tier, which passes messages to the "router" tier of the software. Transaction messages are routed re- liably and transparently, based on message content, to the appropri- ate process(es) in the "server" tier. Server applications typically execute transactions against a database and return results back to clients. A single physical node may run one, two, or three tiers of the RTR client /router/server software model. Each of the three software tiers may consist of one or more nodes. The software model and its content-based routing present a "virtual", rather than physical, network to the ap- plication developer, providing a single view of a distributed client/server environment. This technique allows application software to be inde- pendent of physical hardware (CPU) location, network naming conven- tions, and communications protocol. This facilitates single-node de- velopment, and transparent scalability of applications to complex net- work configurations. Reliable Transaction Router software fault tolerant features such as router failover and shadow-server processing provide continuous com- puting services with completion of in-progress transactions despite single or multiple points of failure in the distributed client/server environment. Call-out servers implement user authentication control, and concurrent servers provide dynamic message load balancing for high performance. The high performance transactional messaging is imple- mented as a full-duplex conversation with remote server procedures us- ing real-time flow control techniques. These features generally re- quire no special user application programming logic. The system management interface allows the creation, deletion, and mod- ification of virtual networks (facilities) within a network, and per- mits control of distributed RTR processes from a single system within the distributed environment. The RTR system management interface is 2 used to bind the physical hardware (CPU and communications) to a vir- tual network namespace and is transparent to the applications soft- ware. A monitoring utility can be invoked to report application per- formance information on the local node. RTR is independent of forms/window management systems and databases. Multiple databases and other resource managers (e.g., flat-file sys- tems) can be updated within the same distributed transaction. RTR is intended for distributed applications that require continuous computing services and transaction integrity (e.g., trading/money deal- ing systems, electronic commerce, payment systems, transportation sys- tems, telecommunications systems, and so on). Reliable Transaction Router can also be used for applications that require reliable messaging and fault tolerant application control over LANs, WANs, or the Internet. Reliable Transaction Router provides the enabling technology for ap- plications requiring fully distributed client/server models. On Windows NT, RTR provides an interface for controlling transaction commitment directly with a DTC compliant resource manager such as SQL Server. RTR provides an interface for allowing RTR transactions to be part of a transaction coordinated by an external Transaction Manager such as Microsoft MTS, Encina, Tuxedo[R] or any other foreign Transaction Man- ager. In this case RTR acts as a Resource Manager in a transaction that can be globally coordinated by the Transaction Manager. On the Windows 95 or Windows 98 operating system, RTR can be used a frontend (that is, for client support) in an RTR application network. It is used in conjunction with RTR backend and router nodes to cre- ate a distributed, fault-tolerant application network. In addition, when running on Windows 95 or Windows 98, RTR provides router and server functionality for development and testing of applications on a sin- gle PC node. 3 This version of RTR for Windows NT, Windows 95, and Windows 98 includes an optional ODBC driver which allows existing ODBC-enabled applica- tions to take advantage of software fault-tolerance for ORACLE8 data queries when used in conjunction with a supporting ODBC server on the RTR backend (see the Optional Software section). Client applications developed for Reliable Transaction Router Version 1.1 Client for DOS/Windows can be run under this version of RTR for Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT (excluding Visual Basic appli- cations). (This feature is provided for compatibility reasons; most applications will need to be recompiled and relinked in the new en- vironment.) License Types Reliable Transaction Router for Windows has two license types. The Back End license provides full client/router/server functionality. It is required for nodes configured as routers or servers, and can also be used for nodes configured as clients. The Back End license is avail- able only on Windows NT. The Front End license provides client application functionality only, in a production environment, plus a single-node development and test- ing environment for RTR applications. Backend Features o Runs on the Windows NT Version 4.0 operating system. o May be started as a Windows NT service. o Provides transparent, content-based transaction routing for client/server applications. o Provides publish/subscribe broadcast (nontransactional) messaging for delivery to multiple subscription domains within a virtual net- work. o Allows user-defined partitioned data models (content-based rout- ing) for improved performance of user applications. 4 o Acts as a layer between the application clients and servers, thus decoupling the end-to-end relationship normally required by user application control. This provides the application developer with a single system view of the programming environment. o Ensures atomicity of transactions (all or nothing) by using a two- phase commit protocol for transactional message delivery among one or more application servers. o Offers at-most-once semantics for valid transactions. This includes specially flagged transaction replay to a surviving application server, or a later instantiation of that server on the same or a differ- ent machine on the virtual network. o Supports multiple (concurrent) servers as well as multithreaded clients and servers. o Provides disaster protection against site failure by mirroring trans- actions in shadow-server environments. Automatic resynchronization of shadow pairs after recovery is provided transparently to the ap- plication. o Maintains performance scaling over a wide range of configurations allowing easy horizontal expansion of both hardware systems and ap- plication software. o Enables automatic failover/failback of application servers on mul- tiple backend systems while remaining transparent to client appli- cations executing on remote system(s). RTR can maintain applica- tion operation in many instances of single or multiple failure modes in a widely distributed software/hardware configuration. o Includes system management utilities for online control of virtual networks from any workstation or terminal with the appropriate priv- ileges. Monitoring of statistics, software and hardware states, and clients and servers is provided on a local node basis. o Uses TCP/IP as the underlying transport for the virtual network. o Allows the operator to manage various partition based attributes, such as: o Create or delete a partition using a user-specified name. 5 o Define or change a key range definition. o The preferred role option to choose a preferred primary node. o The failover precedence option to choose between local and cross- site shadow failover. o Suspend and resume operations to synchronize database backups with transaction flows. o Override RTR's automatic recovery decisions to allow manual spe- cial recovery procedures. o Specify retry limits for problem transactions. o Provides for the operator to selectively inspect, modify states, or remove transactions from the journal or the running RTR system. o Supports anonymous clients, i.e., allows clients to be configured with wildcarded node names. o May be used with the AltaVista Group Tunnel, supporting secure In- ternet communication for any RTR connection (client to router, router to backend). o May be used with an optional BMC Patrol [TM] knowledge module for RTR which, when used with BMC Patrol [TM] console and agent, al- lows Patrol to manage RTR. o Supports the Microsoft Cluster Server. Frontend Features o Provides the ability for the client to start transaction branches, where the global transaction may be controlled by external trans- action managers or RTR. o Provides the necessary environment to run Reliable Transaction Router client applications under Windows as part of a Reliable Transac- tion Router virtual network. o Provides client functionality in a production environment, as well as a single-node application development and testing environment for RTR applications. 6 o Uses TCP/IP as the underlying transport for the virtual network. o Supports transactional and nontransactional (broadcast) messages. o Supports automatic failover to another router in the event of a com- munication link failure. o Supports Reliable Transaction Router system management operations. o Provides an optional ODBC interface and driver. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS o For full-function functionality, any Alpha or Intel system that runs Windows NT Version 4.0. o For frontend functionality, any Alpha or Intel system that runs Win- dows NT Version 4.0, or any system that runs Windows 95 or Windows 98. (A minimum of 16MB RAM is recommended for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT Intel systems. A minimum of 32MB RAM is recom- mended for Windows NT Alpha systems.) o A CD-ROM drive is required for installation. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS o Windows NT Operating System Version 4.0, Windows 95, or Windows 98 Operating System (client only). The TCP/IP protocol suite is im- plemented in the socket framework provided by the operating sys- tem. o For Windows NT, Microsoft Windows NT Service Pack 3 is required as a minimum. RTR has also been tested with Service Pack 4. o The DTC interface has been tested with SQL Server. 7 YEAR 2000 READY This product is Year 2000 Ready. "Year 2000 Ready" products are defined by Compaq as products capable of accurately processing, providing, and receiving date data from, into, and between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the years 1999 and 2000, including leap year calculations, when used in accor- dance with the associated product documentation and provided that all hardware, firmware, and software used in combination with such prod- ucts properly exchange accurate date data with the products. For additional information visit the DIGITAL Brand area on Compaq's Year 2000 Ready web site located at http://ww1.digital.com/year2000/warranty.asp. To ensure that this product is Year 2000 Ready, the following test- ing process or methods were utilized: Tests that employ sample RTR applications and which verify message in- tegrity and proper transactional serialization on shadow sites are de- ployed on a network containing systems with dates set forward to just before and just after 1-JAN-2000 and at dates far into the 21st cen- tury. To ensure that this product interoperates properly with other hard- ware and software, the following testing process or methods were uti- lized: The above mentioned tests were deployed on a variety of hardware plat- forms, using both TCP and DECnet protocols, together with applications using the C run-time library. 8 OPTIONAL SOFTWARE o Optional software commonly used in developing and deploying Reli- able Transaction Router applications includes programming languages such as C, C++, and database software offered by third-party ven- dors such as Oracle Corporation. o PATHWORKS 32 V7.0A or later (required for DECnet configurations). o Applications using the ODBC client interface require an ODBC server process at the RTR backend. An RTR ODBC server for Reliable Trans- action Router Version 3.2 for OpenVMS for use with ORACLE8 is avail- able from Compaq. o A BMC Patrol Knowledge Module for RTR is also offered by third par- ties such as Insight Innovations. Refer to the optional product's Software Product Description for more information on optional software products and hardware requirements and support. GROWTH CONSIDERATIONS The minimum hardware/software requirements for any future version of this product may be different from the requirements for the current version. DISTRIBUTION MEDIA The software and documentation for Reliable Transaction Router are avail- able on CD-ROM. The software documentation is also available in hard- copy format. ORDERING INFORMATION 9 Windows Platform Back End Software Licenses: QM-4BTAA-AA Front End Software Licenses: QM-36DAA-AA Hardcopy Documentation: QA-36DAA-GZ CD-ROM License Package: QB-4BTAA-SA Back End Software Product Services: QT-4BTA*.** Front End Software Product Services: QT-36DA*.** * Denotes variant fields. For additional information on available li- censes, services, and media, refer to the appropriate price book. SOFTWARE LICENSING This software is furnished only under a license. For more information about Compaq's licensing terms and policies, contact your local Com- paq office. SOFTWARE PRODUCT SERVICES A variety of service options are available from Compaq. For more in- formation, contact your local Compaq office. SOFTWARE WARRANTY This software is provided by Compaq with a 90 day conformance warranty in accordance with the Compaq warranty terms applicable to the license purchase. © 1999 Digital Equipment Corporation. All rights reserved. [R] AIX and IBM are registered trademarks of International Busi- ness Machines Corporation. [TM] Alpha, DEC, DECdtm, DECnet, DIGITAL, OpenVMS, PATHWORKS, Reliable Transaction Router, VAX are trademarks of Digital Equipment Corporation. 10 [TM] BMC Patrol is a trademark of Insight Innovations, Inc. [R] COMPAQ and the Compaq logo are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. [R] Encina is a registered trademark of Transarc Corporation. [R] Hewlett-Packard and HP-UX are registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. [R] Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. [R] Microsoft and Windows 95 are registered trademarks of Micr- soft Corporation. [R] ORACLE is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. [R] Sun, SunLink, and Solaris are registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. [R] Tuxedo is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. [R] UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company, Ltd. [R] Windows NT, Windows 95, and Windows 98 are registered trade- marks of Microsoft Corporation. 11