2.1.6 MSMQ Components

The queue manager is the central piece of the Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) communication service. Conceptually, the queue manager deals with every queued messaging aspect of the MSMQ protocol set. A queue manager instance interacts with other queue manager instances by implementing the client and server sides of the relevant MSMQ protocols. A queue manager instance interacts with applications to support message creation, modification, deletion, and exchange operations on a queue. A queue manager instance listens to and handles all incoming MSMQ network traffic for a machine network identifier and processes all the higher-layered triggered events, as described in [MS-MQDMPR] section 3.1.4.

The following diagram depicts the different facets of the queue manager on one machine (the central box) and the communications between these facets and remote queue managers, as well as the other subcomponents of MSMQ, such as client applications, the Transaction Coordinator, and the Directory Server.

Figure 15: MSMQ internal architecture

The abstract data model and processing rules shared by the different facets of the queue manager are described in [MS-MQDMPR] section 3. This common model describes the abstract data model (ADM) elements that are shared across the MSMQ protocol set.

The Client facet of the queue manager (the dotted box labeled "Client") interacts with the client applications. This facet implements the server sides of the Message Queuing (MSMQ): Queue Manager Client Protocol (MQMP), the Message Queuing (MSMQ): Queue Manager Management Protocol (MQMR), and the Message Queuing (MSMQ): ActiveX Client Protocol (MQAC). The applications use the client side of these protocols to interact with the queue manager for message exchange and management functionalities.

The Directory facet of the queue manager (the dotted box labeled "Directory") handles the various directory-related operations. In MSMQ versions 1.0 and 2.0, the server side of the Message Queuing (MSMQ): Directory Service Protocol (MQDS) is implemented by the MSMQ Directory Service server and is collocated with the queue manager as part of the Directory facet. Client applications on these versions of MSMQ use the client side of the MQDS protocol to interact with the Directory Server. Similarly, a queue manager that is not collocated with the MSMQ Directory Service server uses the client side of MQDS to interact with a remote MSMQ Directory Service server. Furthermore, the queue manager uses the client side of the Message Queuing (MSMQ): Directory Service Discovery Protocol (MQSD) to discover the other MSMQ Directory Service servers. A queue manager running the role of an MSMQ Directory Service server implements the server side of MQSD to broadcast its presence. The MQDS and MQSD protocols are superseded by Active Directory in subsequent versions of MSMQ. With Active Directory, both the client applications as well as the Directory facet of the queue manager use Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and Message Queuing (MSMQ): Directory Service Schema Mapping (MQDSSM) to communicate directly with the directory. The operations on the Directory facet are invoked only when MSMQ is functioning in Directory-Integrated mode, as described in section 2.1.3.3.

The Resource Manager facet of the queue manager (the dotted box labeled "Resource Manager") handles the interaction with the Transaction Coordinator to enable transactional operations on the transacted queues as described in section 2.1.3.2. To manage the queue as a transactional resource, the queue manager implements the resource manager role of the Transaction Coordinator, as described in [MS-DTCO] section 1.3.3.2, and participates with the resource manager facet of a transaction manager coordinated by an external Transaction Coordinator, as described in [MS-DTCO] section 1.3.3.3.

The Remote Read and Management facet of the queue manager (the dotted box labeled "Remote Read/Mgmt") handles certain message exchange and management functionalities that involve queues hosted by remote queue managers. The operations on this facet are initiated by the actions performed by the Client facet of the queue manager. The queue manager implements the client side of MQRR and MQQP to invoke the remote queue operations on a remote queue manager. The Remote Read and Management facet of the remote queue manager implements the server sides of MQRR and MQQP to perform the remote operations requested.

The Change Notification facet of the queue manager (the dotted box labeled "Change Notification") handles changes made to the resources owned by one queue manager to another. The queue manager implements the client side of MQCN to send the change notifications to a remote queue manager that implements the server side of MQCN. The operations of this facet are initiated by the actions performed by the Client facet and the Directory facet of the queue manager.

The Message Transfer facet of the queue manager (the dotted box labeled "Message Transfer") implements the client and server sides of MQSRM, MQQB, and MQBR. The queue manager uses the client side of those protocols to send messages to the remote queue manager. The remote queue manager uses the server protocols to accept such messages. Operations on the Message Transfer facet are initiated by the actions performed by the Client facet, as well as the Change Notification facet of the queue manager.