SoftLayer Message Queue

Get Started for FREE

Requests

• 100,000 FREE every month
• Additional request: $.01/10,000

Notifications

• 100,000 FREE every month
• Additional notifications: $.01/10,000

Build higher scalability into your applications with cost-effective messaging and notification.

Give your cloud-centric applications the flexibility that Internet scale services require.

SoftLayer Message Queue streamlines intra-application and inter-system communications, giving you more power to scale applications and workflows whenever, however needed.

SoftLayer Message Queue works as a queue for single messages and recipients or as a broker for notifications to many recipients. And while it integrates seamlessly with all aspects of the SoftLayer platform, including cloud and dedicated infrastructure, the service is available independent of your application—you're free to use the service to deliver messages and notifications from applications that reside on SoftLayer servers or anywhere else. Get started for free, or chat with an expert to find out more.

Key Advantages

SoftLayer Message Queue leverages Cloudant as the highly scalable, low latency data layer for storing and distributing messages and notifications.

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Higher Application Scalability

One-to-many paradigm for application modules or independent software systems that need to communicate.

Persistent Messaging

Leverages global cloud infrastructure to be independent and even geographically distributed from the systems that use it.

API and Flexible Language Options

Full-featured REST API, and support for Ruby, Python, Java, and PHP.

Easy-to-use Management UI

Simple interface integrated with the SoftLayer Customer Portal provides real time monitoring and control.

Example Use Cases

With SoftLayer Message Queue, you can automate most batch processes and distribute workloads to optimize workflows and compute resources usage. It can bring exceptional gains for uses including:

Online Photo and Video Sharing Applications—Automate workflows including image or video import, album or channel generation, asset transcoding or conversion, and distributed rendering.

E-commerce and Online Banking—Aggregate and batch process similar transactions to consolidate computing time, optimize application usage, and give end users a faster transaction experience.

Real-time Weather, Stock, or Score Services—Distribute time-sensitive information or updates automatically from any application to end users on desktop widgets or mobile devices in real time.

Social Networks and Applications—Optimize database storage and retrieval processes and develop scalable activity feeds with distributed processing and caching to make social networking interactions more efficient.

File and Record Archiving—Streamline auto-archiving workflows for emails, company records, and files or documents that have to be retained for legal or business purposes.

We've set up SoftLayer Message Queue with pay-as-you-go pricing. That means you will only pay for what you use, with no minimum or hidden fees. And as a bonus, we'll give you the first 100,000 notifications and 100,000 queue requests free each month.

SoftLayer Message Queue functions both as a queuing service and as a notification broker.

As a message queue service, it delivers one message to one consumer. A piece of an application or an independent software system puts messages into a queue, where they wait for another piece of the application or software system to retrieve and process the message. This helps eliminate the bottlenecks that can occur when messages are generated faster than they can be processed or acted upon. If there are no consumers available at the time the message is sent, the message remains in queue until an available consumer can process it. If a consumer receives a message and does not acknowledge it has received it before closing, then the message will be delivered to another consumer.

As a notification broker, SoftLayer Message Queue delivers one notification to many other application pieces or independent software systems. The notification is not queued; it is instantly sent to all pieces of an application that are subscribed to receive it (subscribers). Only subscribers with active subscriptions at the time the broker receives the notification will get a copy of the notification.

SoftLayer Message Queue is available for applications running on SoftLayer servers or on any other infrastructure. The service can be used and accessed by any computer connected to the Internet, and is not bound to one provider or network. This means your messages and notifications are delivered unhindered, regardless of a user's platform or network.

SoftLayer Message Queue is run on a full-featured, easy-to-use REST API, making it a quick and easy option for new and seasoned developers.

What is SoftLayer Message Queue?

SoftLayer Message Queue is a cost-effective, highly scalable, and robust messaging and notification service for developing scalable applications in the cloud. Message Queue enables efficient interaction between different pieces of an application or independent software systems. The service works as a queue for single messages and recipients or as a broker for notifications to many recipients.

What makes SoftLayer Message Queue scalable?

When combined with SoftLayer's industry-leading infrastructure and Cloudant's Data Layer, messages can have a higher level of persistence and availability, so your queues and messages are available when you need them. Cloudant's Data Layer provides a low-latency, highly-available, distributed, persistent data store.

What can I do with SoftLayer Message Queue?

SoftLayer Message Queue can be used as both a message queue and as a notification broker.

As a message queue:

• Resize uploaded images to generate different resolutions of images, avatars, or gallery snapshots
• Reformat videos to match your player requirements
• Bulk process transactions, data syncs, or aggregation of feeds

As a notification service:

• Relay weather, stock, and sports notifications to applications and devices
• Alert social network subscribers about events of interest
• Easily communicate with a wide audience instantaneously
• Move information between data stores or update business records automatically with notification message

How can I get started using SoftLayer Message Queue?

You can start using SoftLayer Message Queue today by visiting our Order page. Or, you can log in to the SoftLayer Customer Portal. You can also see our API docs and getting started guides on SLDN (SoftLayer Developer Network).

Where can I find sample code snippets?

Sample code can be found on SLDN.

What type of messages does the SoftLayer Message Queue support?

• body - string 64k max
• visibility_delay - 0 to 29 days max (specified in seconds); (Delivery Delay)
• fields - key/value pairs, strings - max 32 characters key, max 256 characters value; max 32 fields per message

What is the maximum limit for message visibility?
Queue properties

• visibility_interval - 30s default, 10s min, 86400s max (Default Visibility Timeout)
• expiration - 10m min; 7d default; 30d max; (Message Retention Period)
• inactivity - 6 months; deletes queue if no access;

Can SoftLayer Message Queue be used with other SoftLayer services?

Yes. SoftLayer Message Queue integrates seamlessly with all SoftLayer infrastructure, including cloud and dedicated servers, security, networking, and more. And, since the service operates independently from your application, you can use it for any application running on any server, anywhere.

How do I interface with SoftLayer Message Queue?

SoftLayer Message Queue is designed to be used programmatically through the REST API. In addition to the core API, we also provide language bindings for C#, Java, PHP, Python, and Ruby. Visit SLDN to view the API documentation, as well as our getting started guides.

What are the available operations for account?

Authenticate, Get Account Stats

What are the available operations for queues?

List Queues, Get Queue, Create Queue, Modify Queue, Delete Queue, Push Message, Pop Messages, Delete Message

What are the available operations for topics?

List Topics, Get Topic, Create Topic, Modify Topic, Delete Topic, Create Subscription, List Subscriptions, Delete Subscription, Publish Message

Who can perform operations on a queue?

When a Message Queue account is initially ordered, the admin account is set up with access. Additional users can be granted access by using the Message Queue management in the SoftLayer Customer Portal.

How are messages identified in the system?

All messages have a unique identifier. This identifier is dynamically generated when the message is received, and is returned with the message.

Does SoftLayer Message Queue provide first-in-first-out (FIFO) message access?

While the system does it's best to return messages in FIFO order, it is not guaranteed. A number of factors can influence message ordering, including message timeouts and updated visibility intervals.

How can a developer determine 'time-in-queue'?

The system adds a timestamp to the message when it is received. When a message is requested from the queue, it includes the timestamp in the "initial_entry_time" property.

How can multiple readers access the same message queue, without losing messages or processing them many times?

Queues can be accessed by any number of consumers/clients. When a consumer requests messages from the queue, each message is marked invisible—this prevents other consumers from receiving the same message. However, the distributed nature of the message queue cannot guarantee single delivery of any one message. While the system makes a best effort, clients should expect the possibility of receiving the same message multiple times.

How reliably is my data stored in SoftLayer Message Queue?

Cloudant's data layer is used to persist all data for Message Queue. Cloudant's data layer provides a low-latency, highly-available, distributed, persistent data store.

Does SoftLayer Message Queue support anonymous access?

No, queues and topics can only be accessed using an authentication token.