1. A system, comprising: one or more processors; memory coupled to the one or more processors and configured to store program instructions executable by the one or more processors to implement an application server comprising: a transaction manager module configured to provide a common interface for local and global transactions, wherein the common interface comprises a common application interface to a local transaction manager and a global transaction manager; wherein the transaction manager module is further configured to provide runtime logic to determine if a transaction initiated by an application component should be managed by the local transaction manager or the global transaction manager.