1.3 Overview
The MSMQ: ActiveX Client Protocol defines how clients interact with a queue manager to perform message queuing operations as shown in the protocol diagram in [MS-MQDMPR] section 1.4.
This document describes the client protocol that exercises an abstract system model rather than a specific implementation. However, some aspects of the client protocol reference specific details of the implementation of the Microsoft message queuing system (known as Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ)). Where that happens, the abstract meaning of the concepts is described together with informative references to the specific MSMQ implementation details.
A message queuing system consists of one or more queue managers that facilitate message exchanges between clients of this protocol and a directory that exposes relevant information about the queue managers. Clients of this protocol primarily discover information in a directory and operate via queue managers. A message queuing system implementation is not restricted to any particular distributed system topology as long as the externally visible behavior adheres to what is described in this document.