MTS is an integral part of Windows NT, and is installed by default as part of the operating system in NT5. It is a service in much the same way as Internet Information Server or the File and Print services that we now take for granted. In other words, it is part of the system that is available in the background whenever one of our applications requires it.
Control and configuration of MTS is via either a snap-in to the Microsoft Management Console, or through the HTML administration pages that are included with MTS. This is very similar to the interface provided for Internet Information Server 4, and gives an integrated management function that is useful when building and setting up distributed applications.
At the time of writing, MTS was available as an add-on to Windows NT4 in the form of the NT4 Option Pack, or as part of the Windows NT4 Enterprise Edition. The Option Pack can be installed over the top of Windows NT4, requiring Service Pack 3 and Internet Explorer 4.01. Both are included in the Option Pack and are installed automatically.