Connecting two Windows XP with MSMQ

Question

This question is a cross between a developer and a server setup question. I asked on Serverfault but no answer yet. As a developer, I need to setup a test to see how MSMQ works between two machines, and I'm unclear what to do. I will use C# or BizTalk to do the read/write to/from the queues.

I have MSMQ installed on two Windows XP computers. Can I configure them to pass messages back and forth, or do I need an MSMQ server in the middle?

If I need an MSMQ server, does the normal MSMQ with Win2003 able to act as that? And then, how do I connect my Windows XP to that Windows 2003 server? Is it a) On screen admin dialog in the MSMQ plug-in to MMC, b) a config file, c) Active Directory, d) something else?

Thanks,

Neal Walters

Answer 1

Update: There is some magic. But it works in a different way. Your write as if you are writing to their queue. But actually your program is talking to the local msmq service. The local msmq service create a temporary queue (called outgoing queue). Then the msmq service is trying to communicate with the destination msmq service, and if it fails it will try again and again until it will succeed. So you are working against remote queue, but you don't have to worry about connectivity problems.

Before Update:From serverfault:

MSMQ on Windows XP operate the same as on windows 2003. So you don't need a server. But I think that you are missing something. MSMQ don't connect to one another by themselves. You can think of them as not more than file shares. You need some application to read and write to the queues to make them connect (by sending to remote queue your local msmq is communicating with the remote msmsq).