1.3.1 Identifiers and Partner Roles

Each of the partners involved in an MSDTC Connection Manager: OleTx Transports Protocol session has a distinct UUID called its contact identifier (CID). Each partner is identified by the combination of its contact identifier (CID) and the NetBIOS name of the computer in which it resides. For more information on NetBIOS, see [NETBEUI], [RFC1001], and [RFC1002].

There are two slightly different roles in the MSDTC Connection Manager: OleTx Transports Protocol: primary partner and secondary partner. Any partner has the option to take either role, but within a session, one is chosen to be the primary partner, and the other is chosen to be the secondary partner. (A partner's role in the session is also referred to as its session rank.) Each partner in the pair self-determines its role by comparing its contact identifier (CID) with the contact identifier (CID) of the other partner. For comparing UUIDs, see [C706]. The partner that has the larger contact identifier (CID) is the primary partner, and the other partner is the secondary partner (larger means that the CID of the primary partner follows the CID of the other secondary partner).