Introduction
Microsoft's Enterprise strategy to add scalability and reliability to the application
hosting world has a number of facets. If you are planning to expose your components
to the service level demands of the Internet, then Microsoft's Message Queue
(MSMQ) should be high on your list of things to master.
Now Microsoft did not create the concept of a message queue. It has been around
for decades (making it ancient by computing standards). And MSMQ is not the leading
message queue system. I doubt that anyone would dispute that IBM's MQSeries holds
that distinction. That having been said, MSMQ did bring the concepts and plumbing
of message queues to a group that, to this point, had not given it much thought
- PC developers. With that in mind, let us explore both the concepts and practice
of message passing as it relates to Microsoft.