Transactions and Component Services

Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) 2.0 is a component-based transaction processing system for building, deploying, and administering server applications. MTS is a set of extensions to the Component Object Model (COM). In Windows® 2000, MTS and COM will converge into COM+, also known as component services. Currently, MTS ships as part of the Windows NT® 4.0 Option Pack. For more information about MTS, and to keep up with developments and changes in component technology, see the site http://www.microsoft.com/com.

As its name implies, MTS enables you to build applications that can perform transactions that conform to the ACID properties. This feature adds a dimension to the Windows NT operating system that greatly enhances it as an enterprise platform. Yet MTS is perhaps most important as a run-time environment that allows for greater scalability and enhanced security in multitier applications. Building an application to take advantage of the services that MTS offers is the key to scaling it to an increasing number of users.

MTS provides a number of services to the custom COM components in which developers encapsulate an application's business rules. These services include:

For information about using MTS to instantiate COM objects, see About Creating COM Objects in MTS.