Overview
The challenge
Modern large-scale applications are rarely built as monoliths. Instead, they are built as distributed network applications, with parts of the application in distinct processes and distinct parts of the world.
All the same, the parts need to work together to behave as one reliable application. They need a way to communicate, and they must be able to tolerate failures.
Messaging is a better way
Modern messaging systems aren't the only way to get processes talking. Your application's parts can share a view into a database, or you can use HTTP and REST to expose information. But these approaches have some serious drawbacks. A database is reliable, but it isn't designed to intermediate communication. Its focus is storing data, not moving it between processes. REST helps you communicate efficiently, but it offers no reliability. If the party you're talking to is unavailable, the transmission is dropped.
A store-and-forward messaging system gives you efficient, reliable communication. Message brokers take responsibility for ensuring messages reach their destination, even if the destination is temporarily out of reach. Messaging APIs manage acknowledgments so that no messages are dropped in transit.
Proprietary messaging solutions
For decades, the messaging approach to application integration was available only from proprietary vendors. Each vendor had its own messaging API and its own wire protocol, and without going to trouble, they wouldn't interoperate. Imagine each web server vendor using its own protocol. That would seem intolerable, but that's precisely the situation messaging was in.
With the introduction of the Java Message Service API, things got a little better. Now we had a standard messaging API. But JMS doesn't define a standard wire protocol, and it doesn't help you if you're not using Java.
Qpid and AMQP
AMQP is the first open standard wire protocol for messaging. AMQP is foremost about the choices it gives you. You can choose any AMQP solution you prefer, and if the one you chose doesn't work out, you can switch. Your application will still work.
The Qpid project aims to spur the growth of the AMQP ecosystem. We offer messaging APIs and message brokers for use in your application, and core libraries for making AMQP part of your own messaging product.
Open source - We do our work in the community, and you can gain from our contributions just as we can gain from yours.
Many languages, many platforms - We want AMQP to be available everywhere. That's why we have focused on supporting a wide range of programming languages and computing environments.
Application development - Messaging is essential to reliable distributed applications, and we offer the tools you need to build one. Check out our messaging APIs.
Messaging infrastructure - You can design and deploy an AMQP network that integrates with other services in your organization. See our messaging servers.
Your messaging product - We know that there are many established messaging systems, and we want to make it easy for them to speak AMQP. Consider using Qpid Proton instead of developing your own protocol support.
The future of messaging is bigger still
Traditional messaging has focused on the back office, with just one logical broker at the center of things. The AMQP 1.0 standard makes messaging possible in a new, larger dimension. The next incarnation of messaging will provide a diverse network of messaging intermediaries. It will leverage redundancy in the network to route around failures, just as TCP and routers do, and it will allow messaging applications to operate at unprecedented scale.
The Qpid community is building the foundations for these new technologies.
More information
Apache Qpid, Messaging built on AMQP; Copyright © 2015 The Apache Software Foundation; Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0; Apache Qpid, Qpid, Qpid Proton, Proton, Apache, the Apache feather logo, and the Apache Qpid project logo are trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation; All other marks mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners