JTA - Java Transaction API

The numbered boxes around the transaction manager correspond to the three interface portions of JTA:

1—UserTransaction—The javax.transaction.UserTransaction interface provides the application the ability to control transaction boundaries programmatically. The javax.transaction.UserTransaction method starts a global transaction and associates the transaction with the calling thread.

2—Transaction Manager—The javax.transaction.TransactionManager interface allows the application server to control transaction boundaries on behalf of the application being managed.

3—XAResource—The javax.transaction.xa.XAResource interface is a Java mapping of the industry standard XA interface based on the X/Open CAE Specification

Notice that a critical link is support of the XAResource interface by the JDBC driver. The JDBC driver must support both normal JDBC interactions, through the application and/or the application server, as well as the XAResource portion of JTA.(So called XP compliant resource manager)

See: Understanding JTA—the Java Transaction API