Microsoft® SQL Server 2008 R2 Unleashed

Defining Transactions

You can carry out transaction processing with Microsoft SQL Server in three ways:

• AutoCommit—Every T-SQL statement is its own transaction and automatically commits when it finishes. This is the default mode in which SQL Server operates.

• Explicit—This approach provides programmatic control of the transaction, using the BEGIN TRAN and COMMIT/ROLLBACK TRAN/WORK commands.

• Implicit—In this mode, when you issue certain SQL commands, SQL Server automatically starts a transaction. You must finish the transaction by explicitly issuing the COMMIT/ROLLBACK TRAN/WORK commands.

Each of these methods is discussed in the following sections.

Note

The terms for explicit and implicit transactions can be somewhat confusing. The way ...