Channel
RTR configuration
Roles
RTR Terminology
Figure 1–2 Server Symbol
RTR expects client and server applications to identify themselves before they request RTR services. During the identification process, RTR provides a tag or handle that is used for subsequent interactions. This tag or handle is called an RTR channel. A channel is used by client and server applications to exchange units of work with the help of RTR. An application process can have one or more client or server channels.
An RTR configuration consists of nodes that run RTR client and server applications. An RTR configuration can run on several operating systems including OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, and Windows NT among others (for the full set of supported operating systems, see the title page of this document, and the appropriate SPD). Nodes are connected by network links.
A node that runs client applications is called a frontend (FE), or is said to have the frontend role. A node that runs server applications is called a backend (BE). Additionally, the transaction router (TR) contains no application software but acts as a traffic cop between frontends and backends, routing transactions to the appropriate destinations. The router also eliminates any need for frontends and backends to know about each other in advance. This relieves the application programmer from the need to be concerned about network configuration details.
Introduction