Roadmap to the MTS Administrator's Guide

Article
02/20/2014

Archived content. No warranty is made as to technical accuracy. Content may contain URLs that were valid when originally published, but now link to sites or pages that no longer exist.

The MTS Administrator's Guide describes how and when to use the Microsoft® Transaction Server Explorer to create, install, distribute, and maintain packages. This guide contains information for the following users:

System administrators
Web administrators
Application developers

Developers can refer to the procedures when creating, deploying, and distributing MTS applications. System and Web administrators can use the task-oriented procedures for the MTS Explorer to deploy, administer and maintain MTS applications.

The following sections describe what it means to deploy and administer packages with the MTS Explorer:

What Does Creating an MTS Package Mean?

What Does Distributing an MTS Package Mean?

What Does Installing an MTS Package Mean?

What Does Maintaining an MTS Package Mean?

What Does Managing an MTS Transaction Mean?

What Does Automating MTS Administration Mean?

MTS Explorer on Windows 95

You can manage your MTS packages using the MTS Explorer on the Windows® 95 operating system. However, MTS administration on Windows 95 has the following limitations:

You can use a Windows NT computer to remotely administer a Windows 95 computer if you run the Remote Registry service on the Windows 95 computer. The Remote Registry service allows you to change registry entries for a remote Windows 95 computer (given the appropriate permissions).

To obtain the Remote Registry service, go to the \Admin\Nettols\Remotereg sub-directory on the Windows 95 CD. Review the Regserv.txt file for instructions on installing the Remote Registry service, and then run the Remote Registry setup program (Regserv.exe).
You cannot remotely administer MTS running on Windows 95 from another Windows 95 computer nor a Windows NT computer.
The left tree pane in the MTS Explorer does not appear. To navigate, double-click icons to move down the hierarchy and then click the Up one level toolbar button to move up the hierarchy.
Because the application executable utility is not supported on Windows 95, you cannot use the MTS Explorer to generate executables. For more information on the application executable utility, see the Generating MTS Executables topic.
Windows 95 administration does not support MTS security properties or roles. Therefore, you will not be able to view the Roles, Role Membership, or Users folders in the Explorer.
To add a user to a role on a Windows 95 computer, you must configure the Windows 95 machine for user-level access control.

To configure a Windows 95 computer for user-level access control, open the Windows 95 control panel and click the Network option. Choose the Access Control tab and select "User level access control". For more information about this setting, see the Windows 95 Resource Kit.
Components running on Windows 95 cannot be accessed remotely from a client on another computer.
Because Windows 95 does not have a system event log, event log entries are written to an HTML file named Transaction Server.html, which is located in the \MTSLogs subdirectory in the Windows directory. You can use this HTML file to monitor any significant occurrence in the system or a program.
There is a known problem that occurs when, if an MTS server process terminates unexpectedly (because of a failfast, an assert, or an access violation), subsequent attempts to restart the application create multiple MTS processes. (The correct behavior should be only one MTS process per package.) In case of unexpected server process termination, you must reboot your Windows 95 computer.

What Does Creating an MTS Package Mean?

Creating packages is the final step in the development process. Package developers and advanced system and Web administrators use the MTS Explorer to create and deploy packages. You use the Explorer to implement package and component configuration that is determined during development of the application.

For more information about how to design and build MTS applications, see the Building MTS Applications section of the MTS Programmer's Guide.

What Does Distributing an MTS Package Mean?

After the components of an MTS application have been built and packaged, you then distribute the application to clients.You distribute applications in the following ways:

Push components from your server computer to a system or Web site administrator's server computer using the MTS Explorer. In this case, it is required that both server computers be running MTS.
Use the application executable utility in the MTS Explorer to automatically generate application executables that reference a remote server. The client application does not have be running MTS.

It is recommended that you use the MTS Explorer application executable utility to distribute your server package to clients who may or may not have MTS on their computers. The application executable automatically configures a client computer to access components running on a remote MTS server. You can also configure remote components manually using the MTS Explorer.

Although using the application executable utility does not require programming knowledge, MTS application distributors should be thoroughly familiar with the implications of packaging and shipping client and server applications. For example, improper packaging of your application may result in providing clients with server application code in the client executable.

What Does Installing an MTS Package Mean?

After you build a package, you install and deploy it, which requires familiarity with the package and components properties. For example, after installing a package, a system or Web administrator must map Windows NT users to the roles associated with the package. The system or Web site administrator should thoroughly understand role-based declarative security and the roles associated with an application before mapping application users and groups to roles.

What Does Maintaining an MTS Package Mean?

You can use the MTS Explorer to maintain MTS applications by monitoring the status of installed packages and re-configuring component and package properties if applicable. This section describes how you can re-configure packages that are already installed and deployed.

What Does Managing an MTS Transaction Mean?

As an administrator, you should understand how distributed transactions work in order to understand the context in which you are managing transactions in the MTS Explorer. This section discusses transactions and transaction states, and how monitor and manage the transactions that you are administering.

What Does Automating MTS Administration Mean?

Scriptable administration enables you to automate MTS Explorer configuration of packages and components. If you know a scripting language such as Microsoft® Visual Basic®, you can use the scripting objects to automate administration tasks in the Explorer. For example, tool developers can also use the scriptable objects to create MTS Explorer add-ins such as an object that automatically configures remote clients.

Note: Using the scriptable objects requires a working knowledge of an Automation scripting language.

You must install MTS development samples and documentation in order to obtain the administrative sample scripts and MTS Administrative Reference, which contains Microsoft Visual Basic and Microsoft Visual C++® API reference pages and sample code for the scriptable objects. The administrative sample scripts are written in Visual Basic Script and take advantage of the Windows Script Host, which can be installed using the the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack setup program. See the Setting Up the MTS Administrative Sample Scripts topic for more information about using the MTS administrative scripts.

MTS Explorer Hierarchy

The MTS Explorer is the visual tool used to manage MTS packages and components executing in the MTS run-time environment. You use the MTS Explorer to perform tasks ranging from installing components into packages to monitoring the status of transactions.

The MTS Explorer is a snap-in hosted by the Microsoft® Management Console (MMC) on Windows NT and an executable file (mtxpd.exe) on Windows 95. The Explorer contains the following folders in the left tree view hierarchy:

Computers

Contains the computers managed from this server. The local computer is named My Computer.
Packages Installed

Contains the packages installed on a given computer.
Remote Components

Contains the components on remote computers used by packages on a given computer.
Transaction List

Displays the current transactions in which an MTS application participates.
Transaction Statistics

Displays statistics on the transactions in which the local computer participates.
Trace Messages

Lists current trace messages issued by the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC).

Note: The MTS Explorer on Windows 95 has a single pane. To navigate in the MTS Explorer hierarchy on Windows 95, double-click the icons to move down the hierarchy and then click the Up One Level toolbar button to move up the hierarchy.

In addition, you cannot use the Remote Components folder or the application executable utility on Windows 95.

See the MTS Explorer on Windows 95 section of the Road Map to the MTS Administrator's Guide topic for limitations of the MTS Explorer on Windows 95.

Remote computers administered by the MTS Explorer list the Packages Installed, Remote Components, Transaction List, Transaction Statistics, and Trace Messages windows in the hierarchy below the computer icon.

Each package installed in the MTS Explorer contains the following sub-folders:

Components

Contains the components installed in the selected package
Roles

Contains the roles available within a package.
Role Membership

Contains the roles assigned to the selected component or component interface.
Users

Contains the users mapped to the role for the package.
Interfaces

Contains the interface(s) for the selected component.
Methods

Contains the methods for the selected interface.

Computers Folder

The Computers folder contains My Computer and other computers that you have added to your Computers folder. By default, My Computer corresponds to the local computer on which MTS is installed.

You can add a computer to the Computers folder by doing one of the following:

Right-clicking the Computers folder and choose New and then Computer.
Selecting the Computers folder and clicking on the Create new object icon in the right pane toolbar
Selecting the Computers folder, opening the Action menu in the left pane of the Explorer, and choosing New.

In the Add Computer dialog box, type the name of the server that you would like to administer from your computer. The new server is added to the Computers folder below the My Computer icon in the MTS Explorer hierarchy.

My Computer

My Computer corresponds to the local computer on which MTS is installed.

See the following topics for procedures can be done at the Computer folder level:

Using MTS Replication

Managing MS DTC

All Computer folders contain the following folders:

Packages Installed

Contains the user-installed and system packages managed on this computer.

Remote Components

Contains the components on remote computers invoked by packages on the local computer.

Transaction List

Lists the current transactions being managed on this computer.

Transaction Statistics

Displays statistics on the transactions in which a computer participates.

Trace Messages

Lists current trace messages issued by the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC).

As with every computer in the Computers folder, the properties for My Computer can be configured using the following property sheets:

General
Options
Advanced

Packages Installed Folder

The Packages Installed folder lists all the packages that you have added to a given computer. You can perform the following functions at the package level:

Creating an Empty MTS Package
Installing Pre-built MTS Packages
Upgrading MTS Packages
Setting MTS Package Properties
Setting MTS Activation Properties
Setting MTS Package Identity
Enabling MTS Package Security
Setting MTS Transaction Properties
Locking Your MTS Package
Exporting MTS Packages
Monitoring Status and Properties in the MTS Explorer
Using Property Sheets in the MTS Explorer

The Packages Installed folder also contains the following system packages:

System

Utilities

Note: These are internal MTS packages, and generally should not be altered or configured by users. However, you may have to configure an internal MTS package in order to extend or restrict privileges for your MTS server. For example, in order to set up administrative privileges for a user on an MTS server, you add the user to the Administrator role for the System package.

You can install any number of packages in the Packages Installed folder. Each installed package contains the following subfolders.

Components

Contains the components installed in the selected package
Roles

Contains the roles assigned to the selected package.

Package properties can be configured using the following property sheets:

General
Security
Advanced
Identity
Activation

If you are using MTS with Internet Information Server (IIS) version 4.0, the Packages Installed folder also contains the following IIS-specific system packages:

IIS In-Process Applications

The IIS In-Process Applications folder contains the components for each Internet Information Server (IIS) application running in the IIS process. An IIS application can run in the IIS process or in a separate application process. If an IIS application is running in the IIS process, the IIS application will appear as a component in the IIS In-Process Applications folder. If the IIS application is running in an individual application process, the IIS application will appear as a separate package in the MTS Explorer hierarchy.
IIS Utilities

The IIS Utilities Folder contains the ObjectContext component required to enable transactions in Active Server Pages (ASPs). For more information about transactional ASPs, refer to the Internet Information Server (IIS) documentation.

Microsoft Transaction Server uses the ObjectContext component for internal functions. You can view but not set this component's properties.

Note: When you create secure IIS applications that use process isolation, IIS creates an MTS package that is set to run as IWAM_<computer name>. If you wish to change the identity of these packages, you should also add the new package identity to the "MTS Trusted Impersonators" group or security will not work properly in other out-of-process MTS components called by your package. If this is not done, the caller will appear to be IWAM_<computer name> rather than the actual client of IIS.

Utilities Package

The Utilities package includes two components, TransactionContext and TransactionContextEx. You can use TransactionContext/TransactionContextEx in your base clients to compose the work of one or more Microsoft Transaction Server objects into an atomic transaction, and to abort or commit the transaction.

System Package

The System package includes components that cannot be modified. Microsoft Transaction Server uses these components for internal functions. You can view but not set System component properties.

In order for a user to be able to delete and modify packages managed by the MTS Explorer, that user must be mapped to the Administrator role on the System package. If MTS is installed on a server whose role is a primary or backup domain controller, a user must be a domain administrator in order to manage packages in the MTS Explorer.

Components Folder

The Components folder contains the components in a selected package.

See the following topics for procedures at the component level:

Adding a Component to an MTS Package
Importing a Component into an MTS Package
Removing a Component from a Package
Monitoring Status and Properties in the MTS Explorer
Using Property Sheets in the MTS Explorer
Setting MTS Transaction Properties
Configuring MTS Roles for Declarative Security

The Components folder contains the following subfolders:

Interfaces

Contains the interface(s) associated with the selected component
Role Membership (Components)

Contains the roles and users associated with roles for the selected component

Component properties can be configured using the following property sheets:

General
Transaction
Security

Roles Folder

The Roles folder contains the roles assigned for a selected package. MTS allows you to define roles that determine user access for a package, component, or interface. Any role you add to the Role folder for the selected package you can also add to the Role Membership folder for a component or an interface in that package.

You can perform the following functions at the Roles level:

Mapping MTS Roles to Users and Groups
Enabling MTS Package Security
Adding a New MTS Role

The Roles folder has one subfolder:

Users

Role properties can be configured using the following property sheet:

General

Interfaces Folder

The Interfaces folder contains the interfaces defined for a selected component.

The Interfaces Folder contains two subfolders:

Methods
Role Membership

Interface properties can be viewed using the following property sheets:

General
Proxy

Note that you cannot configure interface properties aside from providing a description of the interface on the General property sheet.

Methods Folder

The Methods folder contains the methods defined in a selected interface.

Method properties have a single property sheet:

General

You cannot configure a method other than adding a description of the method in the General property sheet.

Role Membership Folder

The Role Membership folder contains the roles that you associated with a component or interface. When you add these roles the Role Membership folder from a package's Roles folder, you control who can access an interface or component.

You set the properties for Roles Membership at the Role folder level. For example, the description that you enter for a role for the package will be displayed for that role at the Role Membership level.

See the Enabling MTS Package Security topic to learn about declarative security.

Users Folder

The Users folder contains the Windows NT® users or groups that you associate with a role. Each user represents a Windows NT user account that you add to the Roles folder of a package. You can control access to packages, components, and interfaces by adding Windows NT user accounts or groups to the Roles folder.

You can perform the following functions at the Users level:

Adding a new user to a role
Removing a user from a role

There are no property sheets associated with the Users folder.

Remote Components Folder

The Remote Components folder contains the components that are registered locally on this computer to run remotely on another computer. Using the Remote Components folder requires that you have MTS installed on the client machines that you want to configure. If you want to configure remote computers manually using the Explorer, add the components that will be accessed by remote computers to the Remote Components folder.

Note that before you can configure remote components, you must add to your Computers folder any additional servers that will run remote components.

See the following topics to learn more about working with remote computers that are running MTS:

Exporting MTS Packages
Working with Remote MTS Computers

Note: Components running on Windows 95 cannot be accessed remotely from a client on another computer. See the MTS Explorer on Windows 95 section of Road Map to the MTS Administrator's Guide.

Transaction List

The Transaction List window displays the current transactions in which this computer participates, including:

Transactions whose status is in-doubt.
Transactions that have remained in the same state for the period of time specified on the Advanced tab on the Computer property sheets.

See the Transaction Icons topic for a description of the icons displayed in Transaction List

See the following topics for an overview of managing transactions:

Understanding MTS Transactions
Understanding MTS Transaction States

You can use the Transaction List window for to do the following tasks:

Monitoring MTS Transactions
Monitoring MTS Transactions with Windows 95
Resolving MTS Transactions

You can also view properties of a transaction by right-clicking on the selected transaction and clicking the Properties option.

Transaction Statistics

The Transaction Statistic window displays statistics on the transactions in which a computer participates. Some of the statistics are cumulative; others reflect current performance.

See the following topics for an overview of managing transactions:

Understanding MTS Transactions
Understanding MTS Transaction States

You can use the Transaction Statistics window for the following tasks:

Monitoring MTS Transactions
Monitoring MTS Transactions with Windows 95
Resolving MTS Transactions

Note that you are using the MTS Explorer on Windows NT, you can only open one Transaction Statistics window for a given server.

Current

Active — The current number of transactions that have not yet completed the two-phase commit protocol.
Max. Active — The highest number of active transactions at any time during the current Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) session.
In Doubt — The current number of transactions that are unable to commit because of a communication failure between the local database server and the commit coordinator.

Aggregate

Committed — The cumulative total of committed transactions. This number does not include forced (manually resolved) commits.
Aborted — The cumulative total of aborted transactions. This number does not include forced aborts.
Forced Commit — The cumulative total of manually committed transactions.
Forced Abort — The cumulative total of transactions that were manually aborted.
Total — The cumulative total of all transactions.

Response Times

This group shows the minimum, average, and maximum transaction response times in milliseconds. The response time is the duration of a transaction from the point when it began to the point when it was committed.

MS DTC Started/MS DTC Stopped

This group shows the date and time that the current MS DTC session started. The date and time started will not appear unless MS DTC is started. The group will also show that MS DTC is stopped.

Some statistics are cumulative; others reflect current performance.

When you stop the MS DTC service, the values of all cumulative statistics are reset to zero.

Trace Messages

The Trace Messages window lists current trace messages issued by the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC). Tracing allows you to view the current status of various MS DTC activities, such as start up and shut down, and to trace potential problems by viewing additional debugging information.

For an overview of managing transactions, see the following topics:

Understanding MTS Transactions
Understanding MTS Transaction States

You can use the Trace Messages window for the following tasks:

Monitoring MTS Transactions
Monitoring MTS Transactions with Windows 95

You can use the Trace slider on the Advanced tab of a computer's property sheet to specify the level of tracing that is displayed in this window.

Severity

Icon	Description

	Errors Something has happened that requires restarting MS DTC. For example, a corrupt log file is detected.
	Warnings Something could go wrong soon.
	Information Information is provided about infrequent events, such as start up and shut down.
	Trace Debugging information is provided about events such as new client connections or resource manager enlistments.

Source

Displays the source of the trace message:

SVC — The MS DTC Service is the source of the trace message.
LOG — The MS DTC log is the source of the trace message.
CM — The MS DTC network connection manager is the source of the trace message.

The tracer and the Windows NT event log tag each message with its source.

Message

Displays the message.

Transaction Icons

The following icons are displayed in the Transaction List:

Icon	Description
	Active The transaction has been started
	Aborting The transaction is aborting. MS DTC is notifying all participants that the transaction must abort. It is not possible to change the transaction outcome at this point.
	Aborted The transaction has aborted. All participants have been notified. Once a transaction has aborted, it is immediately removed from the list of transactions in the MS DTC Transactions window. It is not possible to change the transaction outcome at this point.
	Preparing The client application has issued a commit request. MS DTC is collecting prepare responses from all participants.
	Prepared All participants have responded yes to prepare.
	In Doubt The transaction is prepared, is coordinated by a different MS DTC, and the coordinating MS DTC is inaccessible. The system administrator can force the transaction to commit or abort by right-clicking in the Transactions window and choosing the Resolve/Commit or Resolve/Abort command. Once an outcome is forced, the transaction is designated as forced commit or forced abort. Caution: Do not manually force an in-doubt transaction until you have read the Resolving MTS Transactions topic.
	Forced Commit The administrator forced the in-doubt transaction to commit (see the Resolving MTS Transactions topic).
	Forced Abort The administrator forced the in-doubt transaction to abort (see the Resolving MTS Transactions topic).
	Committing The transaction has prepared successfully and MS DTC is notifying participants that the transaction has been committed. MS DTC does not end the transaction until all participants have acknowledged receiving (and logging) the commit request. It is not possible to change the transaction outcome at this point.
	Cannot Notify Aborted MS DTC has notified all connected participants that the transaction has aborted. The only participants not notified are those that are currently inaccessible. This transaction state occurs when MS DTC must inform any resource manager (such as an IBM LU 6.2 system) that a transaction has aborted but is unable to do so because the connection to the IBM system is down. The system administrator can force MS DTC to forget the transaction by right-clicking in the Transactions window and choosing the Resolve/Forget command. Caution: Do not manually forget a transaction until you have read the Resolving MTS Transactions topic.
	Cannot Notify Committed MS DTC has notified all connected participants that the transaction has committed. The only participants not notified are those that are currently inaccessible. The system administrator can force MS DTC to forget the transaction by right-clicking in the Transactions window and choosing the Resolve/Forget command. Caution: Do not manually forget a transaction until you have read the Resolving MTS Transactions topic.
	Committed The transaction has committed and all participants have been notified. Once a transaction commits, it is immediately removed from the list of transactions in the MS DTC Transactions window. It is not possible to change the transaction outcome at this point.

Computer Properties

Computer properties determine general information about the computer and control how Microsoft Transaction Server updates the computer.

General

Options

Advanced

General Tab (Computer)

The General tab defines the computer's name and description.

Name

Displays the name of the computer.

Description

Displays a description of the computer. You can type a description to help you identify and manage the computer.

Options Tab (Computer)

The Options tab is used to set the computer's transaction timeout property and replication information.

The transaction timeout value is measured in seconds and indicates the maximum time period that transactions started on this computer can remain active. Transactions that remain active beyond the specified time are automatically aborted by the system. The default value is 60 seconds. You can disable transaction timeouts by specifying the value 0; this setting is particularly useful when debugging MTS applications.

Use the Replication section of the Options tab to provide replication information for your MTS computer. In the Replication share box, enter the name of your Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) virtual server name to ensure failover support. You cannot replicate an MTS catalog on a Windows 95 computer.

You can also specify a computer that you want your client executables to access. Enter the name of the physical server for your clients to access in the Remote server name box before you generate the application executable. If this string is blank or empty, the physical computer name of the exporting computer will be used. If you put the name of the remote server as the string, the application executable generated by the MTS Explorer will point to that remote server name.

Advanced Tab (Computer)

The Advanced tab is used to configure properties for the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC). These settings only apply to the Transaction List, Transaction Statistics, and Trace Messages windows.

Note: You will not be able to access the Help documentation from the Advanced tab of the My Computer property sheet.

View

Display Refresh — Ranges from Infrequently to Frequently with a slider bar. Infrequently means the transaction windows are updated every 20 seconds, whereas Frequently means they're updated every 1 second. More frequent updates increase administrative overhead on the running transactions but also provide more current information.
Transactions Shown — Ranges from Very Old to New + Old with a slider bar. Selecting Very Old displays transactions only after they have been active for 5 minutes, while selecting New + Old displays transactions that have been active for 1 second or more.

Trace — Ranges from Less (faster MS DTC) to More (slower MS DTC) with a slider bar. The settings are as follows:
- Send no traces.
- Send only error traces.
- Send error and warning traces.
- Send error, warning, and informational traces (default).
- Send all traces.

Log Properties

Location — Where to store the log file.
Capacity — The maximum size of the log file.

Reset Log

Used to update the log file after any changes have been made.

Caution: Do not reset the MS DTC log file while there are unresolved transactions.

Package Properties

Package properties control how a package is accessed.

General

Security

Advanced

Identity

Activation

Important: You cannot modify Security or Identity properties (or shut down a package) using the property sheets for Library packages.

On Windows 95 computers, the package property sheets do not include the Security tab, as role-based security is only supported on Windows NT.

General Tab (Package)

The General tab displays general information about the selected package.

Name

Displays the name of the package.

Description

Displays a description of the package. You can type a description to help you identify and manage the package.

Package ID

Displays the package identification number, a unique number that is generated when you create the package. You can use the Package ID to identify particular versions of a package on a computer.

Security Tab (Package)

The Security tab displays security information about the selected package.

Enable authorization checking

If selected, Microsoft Transaction Server checks the security credentials of any client that calls the package. Authorization checking is enabled by default.

Authentication level for calls

The level of authentication for clients calling the package.

Advanced Tab (Package)

The Advanced tab determines whether the server process associated with a package always runs, or whether it shuts down after a certain period of time.

If you want the package to shut down automatically after a certain period of inactivity, you can use the Shut down after being idle for selection to set when the server process should be shut down.

If you want the server process always to be available, you should select the Leave running when idle option.

You can use the Shut Down Server Processes command from the Tools menu to shut down all server processes running on the selected computer.

Identity Tab (Package)

The Identity tab is used to set the user identity for all components running in a given package. The default value is Interactive User, which is the user who logged on to the Windows NT server account. If you want to select another user, you can select the This user option and specify an account name and password.

Important: When setting package identity, MTS validates the password that you enter. However, if you change the password for the account without updating the password in the MTS Explorer, the package cannot run. If you specify another user and password, Microsoft Transaction Server does not validate the password when it is specified. Running a package with an invalid password results in a run-time error and a message in the event log.

To set the This user option to a user, you must be logged on to the computer that maps to that user..

Activation Tab (Package)

The Activation tab is used to determine how components are activated in your package.

You can select a package to run in process of the client that called it (as a Library package) or in a dedicated local process (as a Server package).

Library Package

Select this option to run the package as a Library package. A Library package runs in the process of the client that creates it. This option is only available for clients on the computer on which the package is being installed and configured. Note that Library packages offer no component tracking, role checking, or process isolation.

Server Package

Select this option to run this package as a Server package. A server package runs in its own process on the local computer. Server packages support role-based security, resource sharing, process isolation, and process management (such as package tracking).

Component Properties

Component properties control transaction support and security settings. You can also use the Properties tab to view the component's identifying properties, such as its Name, programmatic identifier (ProgID), and class identification (CLSID).

General

Transaction

Security

General Tab (Component)

The General tab displays general information about the selected component.

Component ProgID

Displays the programmatic identifier (ProgID).

Description

Displays a description of the component. You can type a description to identify and manage the component.

DLL

Displays the path of the DLL containing the class and interface definitions for the component.

CLSID

Displays the unique class identifier (CLSID) of the selected component. You can use a CLSID in code to identify and access a component.

Package

Displays the name of the package where the selected component is installed.

Security Tab (Component)

The Security tab is used to configure security for the selected component. See the Enabling MTS Package Security topic for learn about declarative security.

Enable authorization checking

Select this box to check the security credentials of any client that calls the component.

Transaction Tab (Component)

The Transaction tab determines how a component supports transactions.

Requires a transaction — This indicates that the component's objects must execute within the scope of a transaction. When a new object is created, its object context inherits the transaction from the context of the client. If the client does not have a transaction, MTS automatically creates a new transaction for the object.
Requires a new transaction — This indicates that the component's objects must execute within their own transactions. When a new object is created, MTS automatically creates a new transaction for the object, regardless of whether its client has a transaction.
Supports transactions — This indicates that the component's objects can execute within the scope of their client's transactions. When a new object is created, its object context inherits the transaction from the context of the client. If the client does not have a transaction, the new context is also created without one.
Does not support transactions — This indicates that the component's objects should not run within the scope of transactions. When a new object is created, its object context is created without a transaction, regardless of whether the client has a transaction.

Remote Component Properties

Remote component properties are used to display information about the components that have been added to the Remote Components folder. You cannot configure remote component properties other than to provide a description of the component in the General tab.

General Tab

General Tab (Remote Component)

The General tab displays identification information about the selected remote component.

Name

Displays the name of the remote component.

Description

Displays a description of the remote component. You can type a description to help you identify and manage the remote component.

CLSID

The class ID for the component.

Runs On

Identifies the name of the computer the component was installed from.

Role Properties

Role properties are used to view the name, description, and Role ID for a particular role.

General

General Tab (Role)

The General tab displays general information about the selected role.

Name

Displays the name of the role.

Description

Displays a description of the role. You can type a description to help you identify and manage the role.

Role ID

Displays the role identification number that MTS generates when you add a role. You can use this number to distinguish between roles with similar names that you have identified for different packages.

See the Roles Folder topic for an overview of the objects in the Roles folder and the functions performed at the role level.

Role Member Properties

Role member properties are used to display information about the roles that have been added to a component or interface.

General

General Tab (Role Member)

The General tab displays general information about the selected role.

Name

Displays the name of the role.

Description

Displays a description of the role. You can type a description to help you identify and manage the role.

Role ID

Interface Properties

Interface properties are used to display information about an interface exposed by a component.

General

Proxy

General Tab (Interface)

The General tab displays identification information about the selected interface.

Name

Displays the name of the interface.

Description

Displays a description of the interface. You can type a description to help you identify and manage the interface.

IID

Displays the interface identifier.

Proxy Tab (Interface)

Displays identification information about the selected proxy/stub.

Proxy/Stub

Displays the CLSID and file name of the proxy/stub DLL.

Type Library

Displays the Library ID and file location for the type library.

Method Properties

Method properties are used to display information about the methods exposed by an interface.

General

General Tab (Method)

The General tab displays identification information about the selected method.

Name

Displays the name of the method.

Description

Displays a field in which you can type a description of the method.

Roadmap to the MTS Administrator's Guide

On This Page

MTS Explorer on Windows 95

What Does Creating an MTS Package Mean?

MTS Explorer Hierarchy

Computers Folder

Additional resources