MSMQ -- Microsoft Message Que Overview by Charles Carroll

Microsoft Message Que is a programming tool that simplifies building client-server applications that can be robust and reliable even when all the components of the architecture are not functioning perfectly 24 x 7.  If your code currently requests that another server (be it the database back end or other services) perform a task and that server is down or overloaded, it is imperative that the request be eventually serviced or be able to continue without catastrophically failing. It should be able to send a request, and then await an answer, as opposed to request immediate fullfillment -- something that cannot be accomodated if the service being requested is temporaily unavailable.

Traditional Approach
Client => send request  => Server => send result => Client

The traditional approach fails catastrophically if the server is down or the client is down at the instance the communication occurs. And if either fails and restarts, the results are usually not coded for and the task is left inderminately resolved.

MSMQ Approach
Client => send request through MSMQ
Client => check results through MSMQ

Server => check for requests through MSMQ
Server => send results through MSMQ

In the MSMQ Approach, whether each side is up or down does not affect the other, though it may introduce delays. There is no direct communication.

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