Journals

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Journals

Queue and computer journals are system queues that are automatically created by Message Queuing. When a sending application sends a message, a copy of the message is optionally stored in the computer journal of each computer it passes through. When a receiving application removes the message from the destination queue, a copy of the message is optionally sent to the queue journal. Applications can only read the messages in queue and computer journals. They cannot send messages to queue or computer journals. In contrast, Message Queuing never removes messages from queue or computer journals. It is up to the application reading the messages to clear the messages from the queues. If an application uses journaling and no provisions are made to clean up the journals used, Message Queuing disk storage will quickly be consumed.

Computer journals

A computer journal is created whenever the Message Queuing service is installed on a Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7 computer. It is used to store copies of all messages successfully sent from the computer. Message Queuing stores copies of the messages sent from the computer whenever positive source journaling is specified by the sending application. For more information, see Source Journaling.

Computer journals can be referenced by a machine format name or a direct format name. The following lines show the syntax of these format names:

MACHINE=ComputerGUID;JOURNAL
DIRECT=AddressSpecification\SYSTEM$;JOURNAL (Introduced in MSMQ 2.0)

For instructions on setting the computer journal size, see Set the Journal Storage Size for Computers.

Queue journals

Queue journals are created whenever an application queue is created. Message queuing creates the queue journal on the same computer where the messages for the application-generated queue are stored.

Message Queuing stores copies of the messages removed from the application queue whenever target journaling is enabled on the queue. This does not include messages removed from the queue when their time-to-be-received elapses or messages purged from the queue in Computer Management. For more information, see Target Journaling.

For instructions on setting the queue journal size, see Set the Journal Storage Size for Queues.