METHOD, APPARATUS AND COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR ADMINISTERING MESSAGES WHICH A CONSUMING APPLICATION FAILS TO PROCESS

• US 20080229329A1
• Filed: 03/17/2008
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ware, David, Leonard, Andrew M., Ayres, Malcolm D., Whitfield, Andrew J., Hickson, Andrew I.
• Granted Patent: US 9,146,788 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/314
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for administering messages. In response to a determination that one or more consuming applications have failed to process the same message on a queue a predetermined number of times, the message is made unavailable to consuming applications. Responsive to determining that a predetermined number of messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications, one or more consuming applications are prevented from consuming messages from the queue.

Claims

1. A method for administering messages, the method comprising:

in response to a determination that one or more consuming applications have failed to process the same message on a queue a predetermined number of times, making that message unavailable to consuming applications; and

responsive to determining that a predetermined number of messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications, preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising:

receiving a request to process a message from a consuming application; and

locking the next appropriate message to the requesting consuming application.

3. The method of claim 2 comprising:

receiving an indication as to whether the message has been successfully processed by the requesting consuming application.

4. The method of claim 2 comprising:

responsive to determining that the requesting consuming application has failed to process the message successfully, making the message re-available to consuming applications; and

adjusting a retry count for the message.

5. The method of claim 4 comprising:

using the retry count to determine that one or more consuming applications have failed to process the same message a predetermined number of times.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining that a predetermined number of messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications comprises:

determining that a predetermined number of consecutively consumed messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining that a predetermined number of messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications comprises:

determining that a predetermined number of messages within a set of messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of making the message unavailable to consuming applications comprises:

moving each message to a side queue.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of making the message unavailable to consuming applications comprises:

leaving the message on the queue but making it invisible to consuming applications.

10. The method of claim 9 comprising:

making invisible messages visible again to consuming applications;

permitting a previously prevented consuming application to consume messages;

permitting a number of additional attempts by one or more consuming applications at processing previously invisible messages before moving such messages to a side queue.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue comprises:

stopping the one or more consuming applications.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue comprises:

blocking access by the one or more consuming applications to the queue.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue comprises:

preventing those consuming applications interested in consuming messages of a particular type.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue comprises:

identifying one or more consuming applications responsible for messages being made unavailable; and

preventing any such specific consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue comprises:

disabling the queue.

31. A computer program product comprising program code means adapted to perform the method of claim 1 when said program is run on a computer.

16. Apparatus for administering messages, the apparatus comprising:

means, responsive to a determination that one or more consuming applications have failed to process the same message on a queue a predetermined number of times, for making that message unavailable to consuming applications; and

means, responsive to determining that a predetermined number of messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications, for preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 comprising:

means for receiving a request to process a message from a consuming application; and

means for locking the next appropriate message to the requesting consuming application.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 comprising:

means for receiving an indication as to whether the message has been successfully processed by the requesting consuming application.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 comprising:

means, responsive to determining that the requesting consuming application has failed to process the message successfully, for making the message re-available to consuming applications; and

means for adjusting a retry count for the message.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 comprising:

means for using the retry count to determine that one or more consuming applications have failed to process the same message a predetermined number of times.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for determining that a predetermined number of messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications comprises:

means for determining that a predetermined number of consecutively consumed messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for determining that a predetermined number of messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications comprises:

means for determining that a predetermined number of messages within a set of messages have been made unavailable to consuming applications.

23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for making the message unavailable to consuming applications comprises:

means for moving each message to a side queue.

24. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for making the message unavailable to consuming applications comprises:

means for leaving the message on the queue but making it invisible to consuming applications.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 comprising:

means for making invisible messages visible again to consuming applications;

means for permitting a previously prevented consuming application to consume messages; and

means for permitting a number of additional attempts by one or more consuming applications at processing previously invisible messages before moving such messages to a side queue.

26. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue comprises:

means for stopping the one or more consuming applications.

27. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue comprises:

means for blocking access by the one or more consuming applications to the queue.

28. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue comprises:

means for preventing those consuming applications interested in consuming messages of a particular type.

29. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue comprises:

means for identifying one or more consuming applications responsible for messages being made unavailable; and

means for preventing any such specific consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue.

30. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for preventing one or more consuming applications from consuming messages from the queue comprises:

means for disabling the queue.