What is a Resource Manager, Transaction & Syncpoint

What is a resource manager?

A resource manager is a computer subsystem that owns and manages resources that can be accessed and updated by applications (i.e., WMQ queue manager – whose resources are its queues, DB2 database – whose resources are its tables).

What is a unit of work?

When a application updates the resources of one or more resource managers, it's often vital that all updates complete successfully as a group, or none of them complete. Updates that complete this way are said to occur within a 'unit of work' or 'transaction'.

What is a sync point coordinator?

The point in time when all updates within a unit of work are either committed or backed out is called a 'sync point'. The computer subsystem that manages units of work is called a sync point coordinator.