Configuring Arbortext Publishing Engine > Understanding Transactions on the Arbortext PE server
  
Understanding Transactions on the Arbortext PE server
A transaction is a request transmitted to Arbortext PE Request Manager by a client, the response returned after processing, and any intermediate files or logs generated in the process of producing the response. After receiving a request, Arbortext PE Request Manager assigns a unique transaction ID, provides an optional transaction name if supplied, and allocates an associated Transaction Directory for the request. Arbortext Publishing Engine stores the data associated with the request in that directory. As it processes the request and generates a response, Arbortext Publishing Engine writes additional control information, intermediate files, and the response itself to the transaction directory.
A transaction is considered complete when the process is finished and a result is generated. The result of a complete transaction can be successfully published output or instead, contain errors or warnings, as long as the transaction finished.
If the request is an immediate transaction, meaning it will be processed as soon as possible, Arbortext Publishing Engine transmits the response to the waiting client immediately after processing is complete. The immediate transaction will then be deleted from the active transaction directory. However, you can configure the transaction to be archived in the Transaction Archive directory afterward.
If the request is a queued transaction, meaning Arbortext Publishing Engine places the transaction on a queue, it will wait in a queue until it can be processed according to the queuing configuration criteria. The associated files are placed in the active transaction directory to be available when the transaction is processed. After the transaction is processed, the client can retrieve the resulting output from the active transaction directory using the transaction ID. The transaction will be deleted from the active transaction directory according to the configuration settings for duration and retrieval by the client. Arbortext Editor users retrieve the output using Tools > Queued Transactions.
When a transaction is completed, expires, or is deleted from the active transaction directory, the Arbortext PE Request Manager determines if the transaction meets the criteria for archiving in a Transaction Archive directory afterward. A public Transaction Archive can be visible to users from the Arbortext PE server index page. If a particular transaction is considered secure, an alternate transaction archive can be configured to store it, where it will be unavailable through the index page. You can configure transaction archive parameters in e3config.xml.
Arbortext PE Request Manager tracks the transaction ID so that it’s not reused, but it has no knowledge about whether the transaction has been archived. The parameters that control transaction handling and storage are described in The Global Active Transaction Parameters and the The Global Transaction Archive Parameters. To learn about queuing, refer to Understanding Queuing on the Arbortext PE server. Transactions can also be named, supplied in the submitted query from an application or Arbortext Editor, or configured using a global parameter. Refer to Queuing Query Parameters and The Global Transaction Name Parameter for more information.
You can track queued transactions that are waiting to be processed or are completed. See Monitoring Queues for more information.