Queuing Transactions

Updates to a database on a remote server could delay or abort the completion of a transaction due to network delays or failures. Because all portions of a transaction must be committed, your application might be held up waiting for the commit or abort message from the remote server or might abort a transaction because the database update could not be sent.

For updates that must be completed simultaneously, it is appropriate to abort or even delay the completion of the transaction until all participants in the transaction can commit. For example, an airline ticket-ordering application should complete both the debit to a customer's bank account and the credit to the airline's bank account simultaneously. If an update is integral to a transaction but could occur later than the other updates, you might prefer not to keep the customer waiting for the completion of the update. For example, a transaction to order an airline ticket might also send a special meal request to a food services vendor or update the customer's mileage. These activities must be completed, but could be completed later.

You can use Message Queuing to bundle an update or set of updates into a transactional message that is delivered to a remote server. Message Queuing guarantees that updates will be delivered to the remote server, even if the network is currently unavailable. Your application receives a commit message and can continue with the transaction.