Java Transaction API

The Java Transaction API (JTA), one of the Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) APIs, enables distributed transactions to be done across multiple X/Open XA resources in a Java environment. JTA is a specification developed under the Java Community Process as JSR 907. JTA provides for:

In the X/Open XA architecture, a transaction manager or transaction processing monitor (TP monitor) coordinates the transactions across multiple resources such as databases and message queues. Each resource has its own resource manager. The resource manager typically has its own API for manipulating the resource, for example the JDBC API to work with relational databases. In addition, the resource manager allows a TP monitor to coordinate a distributed transaction between its own and other resource managers. Finally, there is the application which communicates with the TP monitor to begin, commit or roll back the transactions. The application also communicates with the individual resources using their own API to modify the resource.

The JTA API consists of classes in two Java packages:

The JTA is modelled on the X/Open XA architecture, but it defines two different APIs for demarcating transaction boundaries. It distinguishes between an application server such as an EJB server and an application component. It provides an interface, javax.transaction.TransactionManager, that is used by the application server itself to begin, commit and roll back the transactions. It provides a different interface, the javax.transaction.UserTransaction, that is used by general client code such as a servlet or an EJB to manage the transactions.

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