Chapter 1. Introduction to Performance Tuning

Before considering how to improve performance, you need to consider what the limiting factors are. The main obstacles to a fast messaging system are, as follows:

Ultimately, the tuning suggestions in this guide tackle the preceding limits in various ways.

The range of options for tuning non-persistent brokers are slightly different from the options for tuning persistent brokers. Most of the tuning techniques described in this chapter can be applied either to non-persistent or persistent brokers (with the exception of flow control, which is only relevant to non-persistent brokers).

Techniques specific to persistent brokers are discussed in Chapter 6, Persistent Messaging.

One of the major techniques for coping with large scale messaging systems is to establish a broker network, with brokers deployed on multiple hosts. This topic is discussed briefly in Section 2.7, “Horizontal Scaling”, but for a comprehensive discussion and explanation of how to set up a broker network, please consult Using Networks of Brokers.