Queue Path Names
Applies To: Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server Technical Preview, Windows Vista
The path name of a queue provides the information Message Queuing needs to create the queue. The path name of the queue specifies the name of the computer where the messages in the queue will be stored, an optional PRIVATE$ keyword that indicates whether the queue is a private queue, and the name of the queue. The application must provide a unique path name when the queue is created.
Path Name Syntax
The following examples show the syntax of path names used to create public and private queues. Note that the third example substitutes a period for the name of the computer. This is a shortcut to indicate that the messages of the queue will be stored on the local computer. (For dependent clients, the local computer is the client's supporting server.)
ComputerName\QueueName
ComputerName\PRIVATE$\QueueName
.\QueueName
Queue names have the following characteristics:
The name of the queue is case insensitive. For example, "MyQueue" and "myQueue" are treated as the same name.
Queue names longer than 124 Unicode characters are not supported. Using names longer than 64 Unicode characters for public queue names may cause a slight reduction in performance. Furthermore, they are not easily displayed in the directory service.
Valid characters for queue names vary slightly depending on what version of Message Queuing is creating the queue. The following table lists the characters that cannot be used.
Message Queuing version Invalid queue name characters MSMQ 1.0 \ (backslash)
; (semicolon)
CR (ASCII 13); private queues only
LF (ASCII 10); private queues onlyMSMQ 2.0 and later \ (backslash)
; (semicolon)
CR (ASCII 13)
LF (ASCII 10)
+ (plus)
, (comma)
" (double quotation mark)
NetBIOS and DNS Path Names
As of version 2.0, Message Queuing supports both NetBIOS and DNS path names for creating queues. The maximum length allowed for the full DNS name of a computer in a path name is 256 Unicode characters.
Specifying the Computer where Messages Are Stored
Messages are always stored on the local computer. However, the properties for public queues are stored in Message Queue Information Service/Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), so they are accessible from any computer in your enterprise, which allows you to create public queues remotely. However, the properties for private queues are stored on the local computer, so only the local computer can be specified in the path name when creating a private queue.
For information on | See |
---|---|
Referencing a queue by its format name | Format Names |
Referencing a queue by its queue handle | Queue Handle |
Properties used to specify the path name of a queue | PROPID_Q_PATHNAME -or- MSMQQueueInfo.PathName |
DNS queue and computer path name properties | PROPID_Q_PATHNAME_DNS PROPID_QM_PATHNAME_DNS -or- MSMQQueueInfo.PathNameDNS |
Example code for creating queues | Creating Queue Examples |