UTS Tuxedo Index

Amdahl TUXEDO Enterprise Transaction Manager

High-capacity OLTP bridging open and legacy systems

Amdahl TUXEDO provides unique interoperability with open systems and MVS/CICS environments.

The Amdahl TUXEDO(R) Enterprise Transaction Manager brings large-scale advantages in availability, high performance, and capacity to commercial online transaction processing in an open systems environment.

Based on Novell TUXEDO/T Release 4.2, Amdahl TUXEDO is enhanced for use with the UTS(R) system (Amdahl's large-scale implementation of the UNIX(R) System V operating system). With Amdahl TUXEDO running on the UTS system, customers can implement an enterprise-wide information system that accommodates high volumes of transactions efficiently and securely.

Amdahl TUXEDO links disparate transaction processing systems, enabling migration of certain online transaction processing applications to the UTS system environment while maintaining ties to corporate databases in the MVS/CICS environment. It supports business processes in which many users update a shared database in real time on an open systems platform.

By prioritizing and automatically routing transactions from any client to the correct server, Amdahl TUXEDO boosts open system distributed networks that might otherwise lag in capacity and response time. With this product, enterprises can also control and dynamically reconfigure distributed transaction processing systems from a central site.

Amdahl TUXEDO is a member in Amdahl's growing family of A+Performance Engineered(TM) products.

Amdahl TUXEDO features

Amdahl TUXEDO provides several services to facilitate transaction processing on the UTS system.

Name server. The name server ensures efficient communications between clients and servers. Servers may be moved or additional copies added without application changes. This capability can also be used to tune the system's performance in order to provide even higher availability.

Communications services. Standard communications services maximize configuration flexibility and support existing terminal networks, desktop systems, midrange systems, and other enterprise-class systems (running both MVS and UTS systems).

TUXEDO OA&M. Amdahl's TUXEDO Operations, Administration, and Management services (referred to as OA & M) include bringing servers up and down, relocating servers, and controlling the number of copies of a particular service while the system is in operation.

Transaction control services. Transaction control services define the
beginnings and ends of transactions. There can be only two outcomes to a transaction: either the work is successfully completed and all changes are permanent, or the transaction is aborted and all affected data is restored. Amdahl TUXEDO coordinates these activities and uses an industry-standard, X/Open(R) XA two-phase commit protocol to control transactions that modify more than one database.

MVS/CICS gateway. The optional MVS/CICS gateway tool (called the /Host extension) allows transactions initiated by Amdahl TUXEDO users to access and update MVS/CICS legacy services.

MVS/CICS integration

Taking advantage of the wide range of connectivity options afforded by the UTS system, Amdahl TUXEDO unites open and legacy systems in one online transaction processing system. With Amdahl's Multiple Domain Feature(TM)or IBM's PR/SM or Hitachi's MLPF features, MVS and UTS systems can coexist on a single processor. Amdahl TUXEDO exploits channel-to-channel connectivity to route transactions among open and proprietary operating systems and databases.

Amdahl TUXEDO interoperates with MVS/CICS systems by means of the optional /Host extension which utilizes the UTS/SNA (PU5) and UTS/APPC (LU6.2) protocols.

Amdahl TUXEDO also works with relational database management systems available on the UTS system including Ingres, Informix, and Oracle. When used with Informix and Oracle, the XA standard allows for reliable multiple updates even among multiple databases. In addition, Amdahl TUXEDO interoperates with other TUXEDO systems giving customers a range of platforms from which to choose.

High performance

Amdahl TUXEDO delivers the fast response times that enterprises require of transaction processing systems. Its client/server architecture permits many service requests to execute in parallel for maximum throughput. Prioritized processing lets enterprises define which transactions take precedence. Typed buffers minimize CPU-intensive encoding and decoding of messages for more efficient processing. System management facilities start, stop, control, and relocate processes to make efficient use of all resources. The combination of these various features provides the top performance necessary for mission-critical applications.

Increased capacity

Enterprises with rapidly growing transaction processing applications can benefit from the extraordinary capacity available through Amdahl TUXEDO. Running on the UTS operating system and a large-scale processor, Amdahl TUXEDO offers a transaction processing environment capable of supporting thousands of users and terabytes of data.

Maximum flexibility

Amdahl TUXEDO gives enterprises the flexibility to implement a transaction processing system that meets their needs. With the product's consistent applications programming interface, users and developers need not be concerned about the location of data and servers. Therefore, enterprises can reconfigure their transaction processing systems at any time to improve capacity and availability-without impeding productivity.

Amdahl TUXEDO enables enterprises to migrate growing distributed transaction processing applications from distributed networks to the central server as those applications become more mission-critical.

Furthermore, enterprises can implement new technology as it becomes available without disrupting existing applications. Additional clients and UTS system databases can easily be added to accommodate change and growth.

Amdahl TUXEDO, interoperating with TUXEDOs running on other platforms, can coordinate data access and perform updates across a multi-tiered client/server implementation.

Superior data integrity

Regardless of how enterprises configure their transaction processing systems, Amdahl TUXEDO ensures the integrity of essential data. By bringing large-scale security to open systems transaction processing, mission-critical applications can now be protected by the industry's most reliable and highly available processors.

For maximum integrity of distributed data, Amdahl TUXEDO coordinates multi-site database updates using the X/Openreg. XA two-phase commit protocol. (This process requires XA-compliant database management systems.) Amdahl TUXEDO tracks all participants in each transaction, ensuring that updates are made. If the transaction fails, the product automatically
coordinates the restoration of all shared resources.

Protection of investment

Linking proprietary and open systems, Amdahl TUXEDO preserves customer investment in legacy hardware, operating systems, applications, and databases. New clients and servers can be added as needed and additional applications can be implemented at any time. Migration to new database management systems is easier as well.

Amdahl TUXEDO transaction manager components

The Amdahl TUXEDO Enterprise Transaction Manager consists of three optional, components.

Development System. The Development System is a UTS system-based software product that provides online transaction processing and allows users to develop new applications using TUXEDO.

Runtime System. The Runtime System is ideally suited for environments in which application clients need to execute TUXEDO applications but do not require the capacity to develop those applications.

/Host Extension. The /Host Extension, in conjunction with either the Development or Runtime System, links services from on MVS/CICS application, thereby enabling access to the databases on the MVS
machines.

Additional Information

Support and service. Amdahl
TUXEDO products are fully supported by Amdahl's highly rated Customer Service organization. Central site support is included in the license fee. Periodic maintenance updates are provided at no additional charge to licensed users of record at the time of the update.

Pricing. The Amdahl TUXEDO Development System, Runtime System, and the /Host Extension products are offered as three separately priced components. To obtain prices, terms and conditions, or additional information about these products, contact your local Amdahl representative.

Standards Conformance

Compliance with standards also helps protect customer investments. Amdahl TUXEDO conforms to prevailing industry standards including:
Amdahl and UTS are registered trademarks and the A+ logoand A+Performance Engineered are trademarks of Amdahl Corporation. X/Open is a registered trademark of X/Open Company Limited and UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited. TUXEDO is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
The information in this document may be superseded by subsequent documents. For details regarding delivery of specific products, features, and services, contact your local Amdahl representative.
(c) 1995. Amdahl Corporation. All rights reserved. MM002092-001