The Microsoft support policy for the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator on clustered nodes

The Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC) is a Microsoft Windows service. In a typical configuration, Microsoft COM+ and Microsoft SQL Server use the MSDTC to run distributed transactions between different computers or resource managers.

The MSDTC is a cluster-aware application. You can configure the MSDTC as a clustered resource on clustered nodes. Microsoft only supports running the MSDTC on cluster nodes as a clustered resource. Microsoft does not support the MSDTC in a stand-alone configuration on cluster nodes.

Because the MSDTC setup varies between clustering products, Microsoft only supports running the MSDTC as a clustered resource on nodes that use the Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS). If you use a clustering product that differs from the MSCS, you must contact the third-party provider for any support issues that are related to the MSDTC.

For more information about how to configure the MSDTC on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 cluster, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about issues that can occur when you install the MSDTC on a Microsoft Windows 2000 Server-based computer that is part of a server cluster, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: