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Home > IT Blogs > SQL Server with Mr. Denny > What exactly is MSDTC, any when do I need it?
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Posted by: mrdenny

MS DTC

MSDTC (aka Microsoft Distributed Transaction Control) is a piece of software which a lot of people use, but they don’t really
know what it does, or how it works.

MSDTC is used by SQL Server and other applications when they want to make a distributed transaction between more than one
machine. A distributed transaction is simple a transactions which spans between two or more machines. The basic concept is that
machine 1 starts a transaction, and does some work. It then connects to machine 2 and does some work. The work on machine 2
fails, and is cancled. The work on machine 1 needs to then be rolled back.

DTC is for the most part a black box. It just sort of works without much interaction exept for the initial setup.

The only time that DTC needs to be used is when more than one physical computer is going to be involved in an explicet
distributed transaction. If you are going from one instance to another on the same server DTC will not be needed. If you are going
from one instance to another within a cluster you will want to have DTC available as you may have to go between nodes of the
cluster as you have no guarantee that the instances will be on the same physical node.

I hope this helps explain DTC a little bit at least. If you have specific questions about DTC, feel free to post them below and I’ll
try and find the answers for you.

Denny

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Msakip | Apr 15 2009 6:25PM GMT

hi
i want to learn about sql 2008 failover clustering on windows 2008 server.
what is the order for installation?
do we have to install MS DTC , and then the SQL instance?
or we have to install sql cluster failover instance and then add MS DTC resource?
and do we need to give a different ip to MS DTC?
thanks

mrdenny | Apr 26 2009 6:10PM GMT

Msakip,
It is recommended that you install MSDTC on the cluster first that way SQL Server 2008 doesn’t show a warning during the install.
However MSDTC can be installed afterward.

When using Windows 2003 you don’t need a dedicated IP for MS DTC. Windows 2008 does require a dedicated IP for MS DTC.

Dadio | May 1 2009 1:08AM GMT

Hi Denny,
I am new here and want to thank you for this valuable info.

I have a 2 node cluster….win 2003.

One node is iis server and the second is a file server. both are DC’s.
I have inherited this system configured and do not have much knowledge about it.

I have noticed in the past few months that every time i reboot the iis server (where there is a MS DTC resource)… it fails OK to the
other node.
But when it tries to fail back…..the DTC Fails…which cause the group to fail again to the other node….after few tries…the Cluster
service on the IIS server stops. only if i shutdown the SAN and the 2 nodes…it is being resolved upon rebooting.
Now…i don’t really know if i need this DTC on there since it is not SQL server….but let’s just say…. i want to delete every trace of
this DTC on both nodes and recreate it….
Can you give me some tips on how to do it?
I am shiting myself every time this server needs a restart…

cheers,

Dadio

Timo Kallio | Blogi | Aug 25 2010 6:27PM GMT

[...] koordinaattorina, joka valvoo transaktion toteutumista useamman tietokannan välillä ( aiheesta lisätietoa [...]

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mrdenny

Denny Cherry has over a decade of experience managing SQL Server and is currently a Sr. Database Administrator at Phreesia.
Denny holds several Microsoft Certifications as well as being a Microsoft MVP. READ MORE

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