OLTP systems are characterized by many users accessing online data simultaneously.
In addition, and probably of more importance,
these users are waiting for a response from the system.
OLTP systems take a variety of forms, such as the following:
* Online purchasing
These applications are widely used because Internet commerce is growing rapidly.
When purchasing products over the Internet,
users often experience a delay while data is transmitted,
as well as while it is retrieved and processed.
By minimizing the database access time,
you improve the entire transaction time.
* In-store purchasing
When the cashier at a store swipes your credit card,
that transaction is accessing a database.
This transaction might pass through many systems before it accesses a database.
* Business systems
Every company has some sort of application that is accessing databases.
It might be your accounts payable system, your purchasing system,
your human resources system, your inventory control system, or a variety of other systems.
These might be written as intranet applications, in a language such as C++ or Microsoft Visual Basic,
or using a fourth-generation language (4GL) tool.
In any case, the data eventually comes from a database.
All OLTP systems have one thing in common.
The user is waiting on a response from them.
It is your job to design a system that can adequately service user requests in the specified response time.
Source:
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Administrator's Companion eBook