Upgrading MTS 2.0 DTC to Support the Oracle 8.1 Release

• Microsoft Transaction Server 2.0

SUMMARY

The Oracle 8.1 release now provides support for OLE Transactions. Previously, Oracle 7.3 and Oracle 8 databases could participate in Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) transactions through Oracle's support of the X/Open DTP XA standard. The Oracle 8.1 release now supports MTS through both OLE Transactions and XA Transactions.

Oracle's support for OLE Transactions provides the following benefits:

• MTS applications may now use the Oracle OCI interface for database access.
• Improved performance.
• Oracle's ODBC driver which is included in the Oracle 8.1 release now supports MTS.
• Oracle Objects for OLE which is included in the Oracle 8.1 release now supports MTS.

MORE INFORMATION

Oracle Support for OLE Transactions

Oracle has enhanced its database to work with Microsoft OLE Transactions. The Oracle 8.1 release fully supports MTS, including connection pooling and automatic transaction enlistment through OLE Transactions. It allows MTS applications to update Oracle databases running on all Oracle-supported platforms. This includes Windows NT, OS/2, AIX, HP/UX, Solaris, IBM MVS, and so forth.

All updates can be performed under distributed transaction protection. This allows updates to Oracle databases to be synchronized with updates to other transaction protected resources including Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Message Queue Server, IBM DB2 databases, Informix databases, and so on.

The Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) has been enhanced to better support the Oracle 8.1 release. If you need to use the Oracle 8.1 release with MTS, you must install this enhanced version of MS DTC.

Where to Get This Release

This update (Hotfix: 0655d) is available for download on the Microsoft anonymous ftp server:

   ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/distapps/MTS/Public-Fixes/usa/DTC/Oracle

Who Should Install This Release?

You must install this update if you wish to access an Oracle 8.1 database from MTS components under the protection of MS DTC distributed transactions using the new OLE Transactions feature of Oracle 8.1.

This release can only be installed if you are running MS DTC file version 1997.11.532.0 or later. This version of MS DTC was released as part of the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack release and the MTS 2.0 release. If you are running an earlier version of MS DTC, you must upgrade MS DTC by installing the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack release before installing this release.

You can determine which version of MS DTC is installed on your system by using Windows NT Explorer. Start Explorer and select the Winnt\System32 directory. Right-click the Msdtc.dll file, click Properties on the shortcut menu, and then click the Version tab. Explorer displays the file version for the Msdtc.dll file.

If you are using either the Microsoft Oracle ODBC driver or the Microsoft Oracle OLEDB provider, you do not need to install this release. These products rely on the XA interfaces support by Oracle 7.3.3 or later and Oracle 8 or later. They do not rely upon Oracle's support for OLE Transactions.

The changes included in this update will also be included in the Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 release. When Service Pack 4 is available, you can install it in place of installing this update.

Procedure to Apply the Update

1. Create an empty temporary directory on your system.

2. Run the self-extracting executable file (I0655d.exe for i386; A0655d.exe for Alpha) and type the name of the temporary directory when you are prompted to do so. The program will unzip the following files into the temporary directory.

         Msdtcprx.dll
         Qfe0655d.txt
   

3. Ensure that the Microsoft DTC service is stopped. Ensure that any services which depend on MS DTC are also stopped including Microsoft Transaction Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Message Queue Server, and Microsoft COM Transaction Integrator (COMTI). Ensure that the Windows NT Control Panel is not active.

4. The Msdtcprx.dll file that you must replace is located in the Winnt40\System32 directory. You should first rename the existing DLL so that you can return to it later, if you need to do so.

5. Copy the Msdtcprx.dll file to the Winnt40\System32 directory.

6. Register the Msdtcprx.dll file by running the following command at a command prompt:

         regsvr32.exe msdtcprx.dll
   

7. Restart the MS DTC service and any other services that depend on it.

8. Install the Oracle 8.1 software release.

Special Notes

If you need to access both IBM DB2 databases and Oracle 8.1 databases, you must apply the hotfix for IBM DB2 XA before installing the hotfix discussed above. Hotfix 0722 is available at the following location:

   ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/distapps/MTS/Public-Fixes/usa/DTC/IBM )