Configuring MS DTC Resources in Failover Clusters

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

You can use the Cluster Administrator tool to add a Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) resource to a cluster, move the resource from one group to another, or remove an MS DTC resource from a cluster, as follows:

  • Adding a resource

    When you use Cluster Administrator to add an MS DTC resource, you must supply specified values. For more information, see Requirements for Creating an MS DTC Resource in a Failover Cluster.

  • Moving a resource

    You can use Cluster Administrator to move an MS DTC resource from one group to another. When you move an MS DTC resource to another group, all resource dependencies move with it, by default.

  • Removing a resource

    If you configured the DTC as a cluster resource, but you would prefer to run the DTC on cluster nodes strictly as a local service, you can remove the MS DTC resource from the cluster. If any of the MS DTC dependencies of the removed MS DTC resource are also dependencies for other cluster resources, the cluster service sends you a notification message.

Note

When you delete an MS DTC resource from a cluster, you can no longer start the DTC as a local service on a cluster node. Therefore, if you plan to run the DTC as a local service, remove the MS DTC resource from the cluster, rather than deleting it.

Managing an MS DTC resource when a node is evicted

When you manage a cluster, you might have to evict a node from the cluster. This eviction requires that you first stop the cluster service that is currently running on that node.

If a node that you evict is an owner of an MS DTC resource, failover occurs, and all resources that are owned by that node, such as an MS DTC resource and its dependencies, are transferred to another node in the cluster. For information about managing failover, see Understanding MS DTC Resources in Windows Server 2003 Failover Clusters.

To configure and manage your resource dependencies successfully, you must understand how the Windows operating system handles changes that you make to the network name dependency and to the location of the MS DTC log file.

Changing the dependency on the network name

The network name is the name that an instance of the DTC that is running outside the cluster communicates to the MS DTC resource that is running on the cluster. The network name for an MS DTC resource is stored in the MS DTC log file as a way to resolve any in-doubt transactions that relate to the MS DTC cluster resource. Because the network name is stored in the MS DTC log file, we recommend that you not change the dependency on the network name. However, if you have to change the dependency, first verify that there are no in-doubt transactions related to the cluster.

Moving the MS DTC log file

You can use the Component Services user interface (UI) to move the log file in a clustered environment. If you move the log file to a different location on the same shared disk, the existing physical disk dependency is retained. If you move the log file to another disk, the DTC automatically creates a dependency on the new shared disk and removes the dependency on the old disk.

This section includes the following tasks for configuring MS DTC resources: