Distributed transaction is a fascinating topic. Think about developing a software application which needs to manage multiple databases. We usually develop software that talks to only one database in a single transaction. This is called as local transaction. If one transaction encompasses multiple databases, it is known as Distributed transactions. The distributed transaction is possible through the usage of JTA - Java Transaction API.
Before we discuss more, lets get the definitions of some terms correct -
Resource - Thnk about this as a database or JMS Queue.
Resource Manager - Its the JDBC Driver which manages the Resource - like database.
Transaction Manager - It manages the transactions across resource managers.
Transaction originator - its the client code that starts the transaction.
The transaction originator is the EJB beans that kicks off the transaction. EJB containers support distributed transactions through a protocol called "Two Phase Commit". In case of two phase commit, the Transaction Manager sends a request to all the resources before really committing the transaction. If the response is OK from all the resource managers, the transaction gets committed in the second phase or else get rolled back.
The beauty of distributed transaction is that, the transaction manager can propagate the "Transaction Context" from one Resource Manager to other Resource Manager. And all this happens in the background at the EJB Container level. Of course, your container needs to support this feature, like WebLogic Server supports distributed transactions and the two-phase commit protocol for enterprise applications.
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