Selecting the Transaction Coordinator

An application can specify the name of the system that will serve as the transaction coordinator by calling DtcGetTransactionManager and passing a server host name in the pszHost parameter. All transactions that are initiated by using the ITransactionDispenser::BeginTransaction method that DtcGetTransactionManager returns are started and coordinated on the specified computer on the network. If no server host name is specified, these rules determine where transactions are started and coordinated:

1. If the application is located on a system on which the complete MS DTC service has been installed, then the local MS DTC coordinator serves as the transaction coordinator.
2. If the application is located on a Windows 95 computer or a Windows NT computer on which only the MS DTC client utilities were installed, then the default MS DTC coordinator serves as the transaction coordinator. The default MS DTC coordinator is specified with the DTCCFG control panel application, which then records it in the system registry. For more information about DTCCFG, see Configuring the MS DTC Client Utility in Chapter 2, "Setup."