Event ID 4163 — Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator Service Log Availability

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator service (MSDTC) is running on a clustered server for increased reliability, based on the failover capabilities of the clustered servers.

Event Details

Resolve

Run the MSDTC Resetlog utility

The system indicates that the problem in the log file for the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator service (MSDTC) may be resolved by running the Resetlog utility. Before you run this utility, ensure that there are no transactions in the Transaction List with a status of In Doubt.

A status of In Doubt means that there is no information available about the outcome of this transaction. This can happen if the connection was lost between the MSDTC proxy and the transaction manager that is acting as the commit coordinator. The transaction may have committed or not. MSDTC lost communication with that transaction manager after preparing, but before receiving, the information about the transaction's outcome.

The transaction remains prepared and in doubt until communication is restored with the superior transaction manager. The system administrator can force an In Doubt transaction to commit manually by using the Component Services administrative tool.

Verify that all Resource Managers (RMs) that enlist in MSDTC transactions are consistent. RMs operate with relational databases, Message Queuing, transactional files, and object-oriented databases. After you are sure that all RMs are consistent, you can force an In Doubt transaction to commit manually.

To perform these procedures, you must have membership in Administrators, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To verify the status of transactions and commit In Doubt transactions manually:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. Type comexp.msc, and then click OK. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.

3. Click Component Services, click Computers, click My Computer, and then click Distributed Transaction Coordinator.

4. Click Local DTC, and then click Transaction List.

5. In the Transaction List, look for any transactions with a status of In Doubt. Right-click a transaction with the status of In Doubt, point to Resolve, and then click Commit.

   When a transaction's Commit outcome is forced (that is, the transaction is committed manually), the transaction is designated as Forced Commit.

To run the Reset utility:

1. Click Start, and then click Command Prompt.
2. At the command prompt, type msdtc -resetlog, and then press ENTER.

Verify

Use the Component Services administrative tool to verify that the log file for the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator service (MSDTC) is created in the appropriate location.

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in Administrators, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To open Component Services and verify the location of the MSDTC log file:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. Type comexp.msc, and then click OK. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
3. Click Component Services, click Computers, click My Computer, click Distributed Transaction Coordinator, and then click Local DTC.
4. Right-click the Local DTC, and then click Properties.
5. In the Local DTC properties dialog box, click the Logging tab. Under Log Information, verify that the location of the log file is appropriate for the MSDTC.

Related Management Information

Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator Service Log Availability

Application Server