Patent ID: 7613814

Claim:
In a commit tree topology including a plurality of transaction managers to manage transactions, the transactions including a set of operations that are all performed if a transaction is completed or all aborted if a transaction is not completed, the transaction managers storing transaction result information to allow recovery of a transaction in case of system failure, a method of discovering transaction managers participating in a transaction, the method comprising the following acts: receiving at a first transaction manager, a token from a second transaction manager on a machine external to the first transaction manager, the token specifying that the first transaction manager is the originator of the token, wherein the token is associated with a transaction; identifying that the first transaction manager has not previously participated in the transaction associated with the token; and identifying a transaction manager that is participating in the transaction associated with the token, wherein identifying a transaction manager that is participating in the transaction comprises recursively discovering transaction managers associated with the transaction by delegating the task of identifying a transaction manager that is participating in the transaction to another transaction manager.