Installing the MS DTC Service

The complete MS DTC service is automatically installed on any node on which you install SQL Server.

For a more detailed discussion of installing Microsoft SQL Server, including supported hardware platforms and hardware and software requirements, see What's New in SQL Server 6.5 and Microsoft SQL Server Setup.

The setup program updates information about the MS DTC files in the Windows NT Registry.

The MS DTC Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) and executable files are installed in the \BINN subdirectory of the SQL root directory (C:\MSSQL). The MS DTC log file is installed in the \DATA subdirectory of the SQL root directory.

Important Because of the possible changes to the format of the MS DTC log file between releases, later versions of MS DTC may not be able to read log files created by earlier versions. Therefore, before upgrading to a later version, make sure that all in-doubt transactions are resolved on the earlier version.

After installing the MS DTC on the server, verify a successful installation by performing the following procedure:

    To verify your installation

1. Use SQL Enterprise Manager to start MS DTC as described in Starting MS DTC from the Server.
2. Once the MS DTC has started, right-click the Distributed Transaction Coordinator icon.
3. Choose Statistics from the displayed menu to open the MS DTC Statistics window.
4. Click the SQL Query Tool button on the SQL Enterprise Manager toolbar.
5. Type BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION in the Query window.
6. Press Ctrl-E to execute the query.
7. Return to the MS DTC Statistics window.

   The Current / Active counter should show one active transaction.

8. Return to the Query window and click the Query tab.
9. Type ROLLBACK TRANSACTION in the Query window. For information about the ROLLBACK TRANSACTION statement, see the Microsoft SQL Server Transact-SQL Reference.
10. Press Ctrl-E to execute the query.
11. Return to the MS DTC Statistics window.

    The Current / Active counter returns to 0.