COMPAQ Software Product Description ___________________________________________________________________ PRODUCT NAME: Reliable Transaction Router Version 4.1 for 80.68.03 Compaq Tru64 UNIX 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 enables enterprises to deploy distributed applications on Com- paq Tru64 UNIX systems. Reliable Transaction Router enables distributed applications to run in heterogeneous environments, allowing client and server applications to interoperate on the supported Windows, Compaq Tru64 UNIX, Sun So- laris, 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 applications. 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, August 2001 AE-RNJ5C-TE 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 interface provides a point 2 and click style of managing RTR from a browser. Both interfaces al- low the creation, deletion, and modification of virtual networks (fa- cilities) within a network, and permit control of distributed RTR pro- cesses 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 namespace and are trans- parent to the applications software. A monitoring utility can be in- voked to report application performance information on a local or re- mote 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 require reliable messaging and fault tolerant application con- trol over LANs or WANs. Reliable Transaction Router provides the en- abling technology for applications requiring fully distributed client/server models. Reliable Transaction Router provides an interface for controlling trans- action commitment directly with an XA compliant resource manager, such as ORACLE8. Reliable Transaction Router provides an interface for allowing RTR nested transactions to be part of a global transaction coordinated by an ex- ternal transaction manager. For example, Microsoft MTS, Encina, or Tuxedo applications can be written to use this functionality of the RTR API so that the application can coordinate RTR transactions as part of the globally coordinated transactions. It is the responsibility of the ex- ternal transaction manager application to ensure that it works with RTR. License Types 3 Reliable Transaction Router for Compaq Tru64 UNIX has two license types. The Back End license provides full client/router/server functional- ity. It is required for nodes configured as routers or servers, and can also be used for nodes configured as clients. 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 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. 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. 4 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 TCP/IP as the underlying network transport. DECnet-Plus 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. - 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. 5 o Supports anonymous clients, that is, allows clients to be config- ured with wildcarded node names. Frontend Features o Provides the ability for the client to start transaction branches, where the global transaction may be controlled by RTR or another external transaction manager. o Provides the necessary environment to run Reliable Transaction Router client applications under Compaq Tru64 UNIX as part of a Reliable Transaction 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. o Uses TCP/IP as the underlying network transport. DECnet-Plus is also supported. o Supports transactional and broadcast (nontransactional) 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. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS Any hardware that supports the Compaq Tru64 UNIX operating system. Re- fer to the Compaq Tru64 UNIX Software Product Description (SPD 70.70.xx) for more information. SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS Reliable Transaction Router runs with Compaq Tru64 UNIX Versions 4.0d, 4.0f, 4.0g, 5.0a Patch Kit 1, 5.1, and 5.1A. Refer to the Compaq Tru64 UNIX Software Product Description (SPD 70.70.xx) for more information on the operating system requirements and support. 6 One of the following: o Compaq DECnet-Plus for Tru64 UNIX V4.0 (formerly known as DECnet/OSI for Digital UNIX). Required for DECnet configurations. o TCP/IP as provided by the operating system OPTIONAL SOFTWARE Reliable Transaction Router applications can be written using Compaq C and C++ compilers. o Compaq C Version 6.3-126. For more information, see the Develop- ers' Tookit for Tru64 UNIX Software Product Description (SPD 44.36.22). o Compaq C++ Version 6.2-033 for Tru64 UNIX. For more information, see the C++ Software Product Description, SPD 41.91.14. o Use of the RTR XA interface requires ORACLE8 Version 8.1.5. o Remote execution software to support system management from remote nodes. o Windows-based browser for system management: Internet Explorer Ver- sion 5.01. 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. 7 DISTRIBUTION MEDIA The software and documentation for Reliable Transaction Router are avail- able on the Compaq CD-ROM Software Library for Compaq Tru64 UNIX as well as its own CD-ROM.The software documentation is also available in hardcopy format. ORDERING INFORMATION RTR for Compaq Tru64 UNIX Back End Software Licenses: QL-2K3A*-** Front End Software Licenses: QL-2K2A*-** Media and Hardcopy Documentation: QA-2K3AA-H8 Hardcopy Documentation: QA-2K3AA-GZ Back End Software Product Services: QT-2K3A*-** Front End Software Product Services: QT-2K2A*-** * 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. 8 TRADEMARKS Compaq and the Compaq logo are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Alpha, DEC, DECdtm, DECnet, OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, and VAX are trade- marks of Compaq Information Technologies Group, L.P. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Cor- poration. Intel is a trademark of Intel Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. All other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks or regis- tered trademarks of their respective companies. © 2001 Compaq Computer Corporation. 9