Abstract: A method for committing a distributed transaction in a distributed database system. The database system includes an interval coordinator, a plurality of database server programs, called coservers, and at least one transaction log. More than one coserver can operate on a single computer or node, and the coservers could share a transaction log. The interval coordinator sends each coserver a succession of interval messages, and each coserver flushes its associated transaction log to non-volatile storage in response. After flushing its transaction log, each coserver transmits a closure message to the interval coordinator. The coservers maintain a state which identifies the most recently received interval message. Each distributed transaction includes an owner and a non-owner, or helper. For a transaction, the owner transmits a request message to the helper identifying an operation in the distributed transaction for the coserver to execute.