CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#wcf
Learner
Learner

Reputation: 1542

how to use netMsmqbinding - with server connected scenario

This might look a question where you can read the answer on MSDN, but I still want to ask about the scenario, as I want to solve the business problem.

I have a service hosted on a server, and a client makes service calls. It currently uses netTCP binding. Everything works fine when the service is available, when the server is up and running. Now, I need to handle the server down scenario. I use the local cache file on the client to serve the client requests in case of server down scenario. Now I want to cache all the requests made while server down and want to make service calls once server is up and running.

I am thinking about using the netMsmqBinding, because all I've read suggests that it works well in the disconnected scenario.

EDIT : The scenario is Client-Server. But i do need to give response on every call to the client. The client is also developed and maintained by me only so i am in a good position to implement the best suitable solution.

Please guide me as I'm not too good with WCF.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 178

Answers (2)

Jeroen
Jeroen

Reputation: 63830

Ad question 1: using MSMQ is excellent for a scenario where the service may not always be up and running. Note that the server that hosts the message queue must be up and reachable to receive the messages. However, you haven't told us anything else about your scenario, particularly why you currently have NetTCP. The reason that's important, is because there are some things you can not do with MSMQ, for example duplex communication won't work out of the box.

Ad question 2: an alternative may be to implement logic in the client (it's unclear from the question if you're the owner of the client software) to have a local queue and retry messages later if a service is (temporarily) offline. I guess you may even have a proxy MSMQ service on the client, relaying the messages to the main service once it's up.

Ad question 3: yes, you can use Discovery for this. The service will have to announce to the clients when it goes online or offline. The simplest example is using the UdpAnnouncementEndpoint. In the clients you can use the AnnouncementService class to listen to the service coming online or offline, and keep a local list of available services. Alternatively (for example when UDP broadcasts aren't feasible) you can create a discovery proxy service at a well known location that listens to announcements, which the clients can access for instant-knowledge on whether the service they need is online

Upvotes: 1

Diego Mijelshon
Diego Mijelshon

Reputation: 52745

Yes, you can use netMsmqBinding for this purpose. We are doing that for services running over a satellite link that can be down often.

One important limitation you need to take into account is that all calls must be one way, being a queue-based transport. If you need to get the results of a request, you'll have to provide a separate response mechanism (it can be a similar queue in the opposite direction)

Upvotes: 1

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