Message Queuing (also known as MSMQ) is a messaging infrastructure and a development tool for creating distributed messaging applications for Microsoft Windows. Applications developed for Message Queuing send messages to queues, which are temporary storage locations, from which messages can proceed to their final destination as conditions permit. Such applications can communicate across heterogeneous networks and can send messages between computers that might be temporarily unable to connect to one another. Message Queuing provides the following benefits:
- Guaranteed message delivery
- Efficient routing
- Improved security
- Support for sending messages within transactions
- Priority-based messaging
Software products with these features are often referred to in the industry as:
- Message-queuing software
- Store-and-forward software
- Message-oriented middleware
With Message Queuing, end users can communicate across networks and computers that might be offline, regardless of the current state of the network and computers. System administrators can use Message Queuing to efficiently manage large, complex networks of computers and message queues.