Questions[msdtc](server)

I'm looking for some documentation on the content of a dtc trace file. Some columns is understandable like "pid" could be process id. But what is "tid". Guesswork would lead me to transaction id or thread id.

The reason for this question is that in most cases tid is the same for all log rows for one transaction but in a couple of cases tid is different and mixed between two transactions that happens at the same time. In those cases it looks like I end up with an orphaned transaction in SQL Server,

Before I draw any conclusions on that I need to know what tid is.

• 2 node Win 2008 R2 quorum cluster
• Configured 192.168.0.0/24 "public network"
• Configured cluster MSDTC
• Installed SQL 2008 R2 cluster instance
• Manually failover groups - OK
• Reboot server w/o failing over groups - failover OK
• Pull public network cable from one node - failover OK
• Added crossover cable 10.2.0.0/24 "private network"
• Verified ping on private network
• Verified file share browse on private network to C$ admin shares
• Pull public network cable from one node - MSDTC IP address resource fails on original host rather than failing over
• Manually moved MSDTC group to other node - everything onlines normally
• Reseat public network cable on node 1 & verified everything online on node 2
• Pull public network cable from node 2 - MSDTC and SQL IP address resources fail on original host rather than failing over
• Reseat public network cable on node 2 and manually fail all resources back and forth - OK
• Reboot server w/o failing over groups - failover OK
• Removed crossover cable private network and disabled private network NIC's (only single public network remains)
• Pull public network cable from one node - everything including MSDTC fails over normally

Several people have told me in the aftermath not to do a cable pull test - anyone have any documentation on why and potential impact? Just saying MVP says so won't fly with manager w/o documentation.

More importantly, why would adding a crossover cable have this kind of impact?

I need MSDTC(Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator) in one of my application. I am not sure whether it is available on Sql Server Express editions.

I googled on MSDN and haven't got clear answer on this. It seems with googling that it is avaialble but not started when sql server is installed.

I'm a developer and running a SQL Server 2008 SP1 instance (default instance) on my local machine (Windows 7 RC 32-Bit). Sometimes when the program I'm developing sends a query to the SQL Server, the whole SQL Server crashes. The SQL queries are not complex, just simple CRUD queries. When I restart the server, the next query kills him again.

The event log entry states that an error happens because of MS DTC. Unfortunately I don't have any idea why. When I'm using the SQL Server for other purposes through SQL Server Management Studio, I haven't encountered any problems, so I don't think it has to do with my operation system.

Does anybody have ideas why SQL Server crashes? It makes development really difficult, sometimes even impossible.

Best Regards,
Oliver Hanappi

PS: Here is the event log entry.

An MS DTC component has generated an exception. Error Specifics: The process '"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe" -sMSSQLSERVER' hit an exception in a MSDTC related component.
The following exception (0xc0000005) was generated at 0x 00FEAC8C, Pid:7400.
The process is being terminated.
Additional information useful in a debugger:
You can do '.exr 0x0369E930' to display the exception record.
You can do '.cxr 0x0369E94C' to display the context at the time of the exception.

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We have a web server (IIS) and a database server (MS SQL 2005) separated by an application proxy / firewall. We want to keep the number of open ports between the two machines at a minimum. Obviously port 1433 (or equivalent) is needed, however, we also need to support MSDTC transactions. The MS advice here suggests port 135 and a range of other ports.

However, there is no guidance regarding the number of ports to keep open. Is one enough? Do I need ten? What determines the number of ports we need open.

Any pointers appreciated!