Discovering AMQP and RabbitMQ

Message queuing is a one-way communication style that provides asynchronous interaction between systems. As this chapter continues to describe how message queues work, the benefits will become clear. Some background on the request-response message exchange pattern will shed light on how RabbitMQ works.

The request-response message exchange pattern

There are many types of message exchange patterns, but the request-response style is the most common. A system, acting as a client, interacts with another remote system, which is acting as a server. The client sends a request for data, and the server responds to the request, as shown in the following diagram:

Fig 1.1: The request-response interaction between the client and the server

The request-response style is used when the client must have an immediate response or wants the service to complete a task without delay, such as being placed on hold when calling a restaurant to reserve a table:

Fig 1.2: Request...