Introduction to Pathmaker

Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) Applications
Introduction to Pathmaker and Pathway
1–4 067867 Tandem Computers Incorporated
Online Transaction
Processing (OLTP)
Applications
It is essential to understand some basic information about the OLTP environment and
about the Pathway product before learning more about using the Pathmaker product.
This subsection explains the basic OLTP environment and some of its features and
functions and describes Pathway and the various components it supports in the OLTP
environment.
The term online transaction processing (OLTP) application has a specific definition
within the Tandem environment.
An application is a set of programs designed to perform a group of related tasks, such
as vehicle registration.
A transaction can be defined as a multistep operation that changes a database from
one consistent state to another consistent state. A database is considered to be
consistent when all parts of that database that represent a given entity are in
agreement.
For example, consider the registration of a new motor vehicle. This transaction must
perform several separate functions that affect different parts of the database, as
follows:
Add a row for the new vehicle to the Vehicle table.
Add a row to the License Plate table for this vehicle.
Add a row to the Owner table designating the owner of the vehicle.
In order for this transaction to complete successfully, each part of the transaction must
be successfully processed. If any portion of the transaction fails, the database will no
longer accurately reflect reality. For example, if during the registration of your new
car, a row is added to the Vehicle table and another to the License Plate table, but a
row is not added to the Owner table designating you as the owner, then the database’s
view and your view of reality will be radically different.
Online processing is the immediate handling of a transaction in a computer system.
The tasks of data acquisition and information processing are not separate as they are in
batch processing. Instead, these tasks are integrated together as one unified process to
ensure that business information is current and correct at any point in time. The most
significant characteristic of online processing is its immediacy.