Message Queues

Async processing with Kafka, RabbitMQ, and SQS

Message Queues

Message queues enable asynchronous communication between services. Producers send messages to a queue, and consumers process them independently. This decouples services, improves reliability, and enables load leveling.

Message Queue Architecture

When to Use Message Queues

  • Async Processing: Email sending, image processing, report generation
  • Load Leveling: Buffer traffic spikes, process at constant rate
  • Decoupling: Services communicate without knowing each other
  • Fan-out: Same message processed by multiple consumers
  • Retry Logic: Failed messages re-queued automatically
  • Event Sourcing: Store events as immutable sequence

Comparison

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│ Feature        │ Kafka            │ RabbitMQ         │ SQS              │
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│ Model          │ Log/Stream       │ Queue/Exchange   │ Queue            │
│ Throughput     │ Millions/sec     │ Thousands/sec    │ Thousands/sec    │
│ Ordering       │ Per-partition    │ Per-queue        │ Best-effort      │
│ Retention      │ Configurable     │ Until consumed   │ 14 days max      │
│ Use Case       │ Event streaming  │ Task queues      │ Serverless async │
│ Replay         │ Yes              │ No               │ No               │
│ Protocol       │ TCP binary       │ AMQP             │ HTTP/HTTPS       │
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