Software Product Description ___________________________________________________________________ PRODUCT NAME: HP Reliable Transaction Router Version 4.2A for 53.88.10 Windows DESCRIPTION HP Reliable Transaction Router (RTR) is fault tolerant transactional messaging middleware used to implement large, distributed applications using client/server technology. This version of Reliable Transaction Router enables enterprises to deploy distributed applications on Win- dows[R]. On the Windows 98 and Windows ME operating systems, only the client tier is supported. Reliable Transaction Router enables distributed applications to run in heterogeneous environments, allowing client and server applications to interoperate on the supported Linux[R], Windows[R], Tru64 UNIX[R], Sun Solaris, and OpenVMS platforms. Reliable Transaction Router provides APIs for development of distributed applications using languages such as C and C++, with optional all-or- nothing transaction semantics as well as a message broadcasting ca- pability. C API calls are also available from a command line inter- face. The C++ API provides an object-oriented interface for develop- ing user and system management applications. Applications can also use the X/Open XA interface. Reliable Transaction Router provides a reliable, transparent, dynamic message-routing 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, June 2004 and site failures. Automatic failover and recovery of service oper- ate by exploiting redundant or alternate hardware and network links. If alternate hardware or network links are not available, RTR auto- matically continues service when the CPU or network link becomes avail- able. 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 processes in the server tier. Server applications typically ex- ecute 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 application developer. This model enables application software to be independent of physi- cal hardware (CPU) location, network naming conventions, and commu- nications protocol. This facilitates single-node development, and trans- parent scalability of applications in complex network 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. Callout servers implement user authentication control, and concurrent servers provide dynamic message load balancing for high performance. High performance transactional messaging is implemented as a full-duplex conversation with remote server procedures using real- time flow control techniques. Use of these features generally requires no special user application programming logic. The RTR system management interface is available as a command line in- terface and a web-based interface. The web-based interface provides a point and click style of managing RTR from a browser. The browser interface provides monitoring and management of the RTR configuration with the RTR Manager. 2 Both interfaces allow the creation, deletion, and modification of ap- plication networks (facilities) within a network, and permit control of distributed RTR processes from a single system in the distributed environment. The RTR system management interfaces are used to bind the physical hardware (CPU and communications) to a virtual network names- pace and are transparent to the applications software. A monitoring utility can be invoked to report application performance information on a local or remote node. Reliable Transaction Router is independent of forms and window man- agement systems and databases. Multiple databases and other resource managers (for example, flat-file systems) can be updated within the same distributed transaction. Reliable Transaction Router is intended for distributed applications that require continuous computing services and transaction integrity (for example, trading systems, banking systems, electronic commerce, payment systems, transportation systems, and telecommunications sys- tems). Reliable Transaction Router can also be used for applications that re- quire reliable messaging and fault tolerant application control over LANs or WANs. Reliable Transaction Router provides the enabling tech- nology for applications requiring fully distributed client/server mod- els. On Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003, RTR provides an inter- face for controlling transaction commitment directly with a Microsoft DTC compliant resource manager such as Microsoft SQL Server. On Windows NT, Reliable Transaction Router provides an interface for controlling transaction commitment directly with an XA-compliant re- source manager, such as ORACLE8. On the Windows 98 and Windows ME operating systems, RTR can be used as a frontend (that is, for client support) in an RTR application net- work. It is used in conjunction with RTR backend and router nodes to create a distributed, fault-tolerant application network. In addition, when running on Windows 98 or Windows ME, RTR provides router and server 3 functionality for development and testing of applications on a sin- gle PC node. 4 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 Frontend 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, Windows 2000, and Windows 2003 operating systems. o May be started as a Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 ser- vice. 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. o Acts as a layer between client and server applications, thus de- coupling the end-to-end relationship normally required by user ap- plication 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 server applications. o Offers at-most-once semantics for valid transactions. This includes specially flagged transaction replay to a surviving server appli- cation, or a later instantiation of that server on the same or a different machine on the virtual network. 5 o Supports multiple (concurrent) servers as well as multithreaded clients and servers. o Supports user authentication control (callout servers) with con- sistent reply in shadow environments. 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 server applications on mul- tiple backend systems while remaining transparent to client appli- cations executing on remote systems. RTR can maintain application operation in many instances of single or multiple failures in a widely distributed software/hardware configuration. o Includes system management interfaces for online control of vir- tual networks from any workstation or terminal with the appropri- ate privileges. Monitoring of statistics, software and hardware states, and clients and servers is provided from local and remote nodes. o Uses HP TCP/IP as the underlying network transport. HP DECnet is also supported. o Enables the operator to manage partitions, providing the ability to: - Create or delete a partition with a user-specified name. - Define a key range definition. - Select a preferred primary node. - Select the failover precedence option to choose between local and cross-site shadow failover. - Suspend and resume operations to synchronize database backups with transaction flows. 6 - Override RTR's automatic recovery decisions to allow manual spe- cial recovery procedures. - Specify retry limits for problem transactions. o Enables the operator to selectively inspect, modify the state of, or remove transactions from the journal or the running RTR system. o Supports anonymous clients, that is, allows clients to be config- ured with wildcarded node names. o Supports compression and decompression of broadcast event and trans- action reply data to improve network throughput. o Supports failover between multiple IP addresses for any host ma- chine with multiple network adapters. Frontend Features o Provides the ability for the client to start transaction branches, where the global transaction may be controlled by RTR. o Provides the necessary environment to run Reliable Transaction Router client applications under Windows as part of a Reliable Transac- tion Router application network (facility). o Provides client functionality in a production environment. o Uses TCP/IP as the underlying network transport. DECnet is also sup- ported. o Supports transactional and broadcast (nontransactional) messages. o Supports router load balancing in a facility. o Supports automatic router failover in the event of a communication link failure. o Supports Reliable Transaction Router system management operations. 7 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS o For client/server/router (backend) functionality, any Intel sys- tem that runs Windows NT Version 4.0 SP6, Windows 2000 SP1, Win- dows 2003, or Windows XP Service Pack 1. o For client (frontend) functionality, any Intel system that runs Win- dows NT Version 4.0 SP6, Windows 2000 SP1, Windows 2003, Windows XP Service Pack 1, Windows ME, or Windows 98 SP1 Y2K update. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS o Windows NT Version 4.0 SP6, Windows 2000 SP1, WIndows 2003, Win- dows XP SP1, Windows 98 SP1 Y2K update (client only), or Windows ME (client only). o For Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 is required. o For Windows NT Version 4.0, Microsoft Windows NT Service Pack 6 is required. o For Windows 98, Second Edition or Customer Service Pack 1 plus the Y2K Update is recommended. One of the following: o TCP/IP as provided by the operating system o DECnet as supplied with HP PATHWORKS 32 Version 7.0A, 7.2 OPTIONAL SOFTWARE o Remote execution software to support system management from remote nodes. o Microsoft-supported Windows-based browser for system management run- ning on a Windows[R] PC: Internet Explorer Version 5.01, 5.5, 6.0. o HP PATHWORKS 32 Version 7.0A, or 7.2 (required for DECnet config- urations). See the PATHWORKS Software Product Description, SPD 56.33.xx, for more information. 8 o Use of the RTR XA interface requires ORACLE8 Version 8.1.5, Microsoft SQL Server 7, or Microsoft SQL Server 2000. o Microsoft SQL Server 7 is recommended for use with the DTC inter- face. Reliable Transaction Router applications can be written using the fol- lowing C and C++ compilers: o Microsoft Visual C++ .NET 2003 o Microsoft Visual C++ Version 6.0 Service Pack 5 Refer to the optional product's Software Product Description for more information on optional software products, 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 RTR for Windows Backend Software Per-Processor License, Software on CD-ROM, and Doc- umentation on CD-ROM: QB-4BTAB-SA Backend Per-Processor Software License: QM-4BTAB-AA Frontend Software Per-Processor License, Software on CD-ROM, and Doc- umentation on CD-ROM: QB-36DAB-SA Frontend Per-Processor Software License: QM-36DAB-AA 9 Hardcopy Documentation: QA-4BTAA-GZ Backend Software Product Services: QT-4BTA*.** Frontend Software Product Services: QT-36DA*.** SOFTWARE LICENSING This software is furnished only under a license. HP Reliable Transaction Router Version 4.2A for Windows is licensed per-processor (PPL) with one license required for each active phys- ical processor in the system or hard partition. If additional proces- sors are later added to the system or hard partition, each requires an additional per-processor license (PPL). SOFTWARE PRODUCT SERVICES A variety of service options are available from HP. For more infor- mation, contact your local HP office. SOFTWARE WARRANTY This software is provided by HP with a 90 day conformance warranty in accordance with the HP warranty terms applicable to the license pur- chase. © 2003 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows, and Windows NT are US registered trade- marks of Microsoft Corporation. Intel is a US registered trademark of Intel Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. Confidential computer software. Valid license from HP and/or its sub- sidiaries required for possession, use or copying. Consistent with FAR 12.211 and 12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Doc- umentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license. 10 Neither HP nor any of its subsidiaries shall be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. The information in this document is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind and is subject to change without notice. The warranties for HP products are set forth in the express limited warranty statements accompanying such products. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an ad- ditional warranty. 11 12