Configure MSMQ Monitoring
Easily configure and manage your MSMQ servers for enterprise-grade monitoring with Nodinite. This guide walks you through adding, enabling, disabling, and removing servers, setting queue thresholds, including/excluding queues, and managing authentication for secure, flexible, and proactive monitoring.
✅ Add, enable, disable, or remove any number of MSMQ servers
✅ Set global and specific queue thresholds for proactive alerting
✅ Include or exclude queues with advanced options and RegEx filters
✅ Secure connections with robust authentication options
Note
Before any monitoring and remote configuration can be performed, you must first install the Message Queueing Monitoring Agent and create a Monitoring Agent Configuration. First-time users start here.
From the MSMQ tab you can manage any number of MSMQ Servers, each with its own set of properties.
To monitor and control one or more MSMQ Servers, provide the required connection details.
Access the MSMQ tab to manage your servers.
Configuring the connection
- Add MSMQ Server
- Remove MSMQ Server ✅ Enable MSMQ Server
- Disable MSMQ Server
- Manage Queue thresholds
- Global - Use if not overridden by a specific setting
- Specific - Overrides global configuration on named queue
- Apply exclusion filters Authentication
Remember to click on the Save button to persist changes. It may take some time (depending on the user-defined synchronization interval) for Nodinite to reflect changes.
Add MSMQ Server
Click the Add button to add a new MSMQ Server to monitor. Repeat as needed.
Expand the accordion to configure the connection.
Configure the basic connection details for your MSMQ server.
- Enable MSMQ monitoring - When checked, this specific MSMQ configuration will be monitored
- Configuration name - User-friendly name for this MSMQ connection. Also becomes the default Application name for all monitored Resources.
- Description - (optional) User-friendly short description for this configuration.
- Name or IP - The Host name or IPv4 address of MSMQ server used by the Message Queueing Monitoring Agent to connect to the MSMQ Server.
Remove MSMQ Server
Click the Remove button to remove the configuration for monitoring the MSMQ Server and its queue Resources.
Remove an MSMQ Server from monitoring.
Instead of removing an MSMQ Server, you can simply disable monitoring to keep your configuration for later use.
Enable MSMQ Server
A disabled Monitoring Configuration is clearly marked with a ban sign. Only disabled servers can be Enabled.
Disabled MSMQ Server is marked with a ban sign.
Click the checkbox to re-enable monitoring of MSMQ Server related Resources.
Monitoring is enabled when the checkbox is checked.
Disable MSMQ Server
You can stop monitoring the MSMQ Server without removing the configuration by disabling the selected configuration. An enabled Monitoring Configuration does not have the ban sign. Only enabled MSMQ Servers can be Disabled.
Enabled MSMQ Servers do not have a ban sign.
Un-check the checkbox to disable monitoring of MSMQ Server related Resources.
Included queues options
In the Advanced tab, you can select which type of queues to include in monitoring.
- Get private queues - Get all private queues from server
- Get public queues - Get all public queues from server. NOTE: MSMQ Agent must be installed on a domain joined Windows Server
- Get system queues - Get system queues from server (Dead-letter, Transactional dead-letter and Journal)
Options for queues to include in monitoring.
Thresholds tab
From within the Thresholds tab you can manage the following queue monitoring properties:
-
- Global - Default values used when not overridden by a specific setting
-
- Specific queue settings - Overrides global configuration on named queue
-
- Queue exclusion filter - use one or more RegEx expressions to remove queues you do not want to monitor
Queue tab with global and specific thresholds.
You can provide different global thresholds for different configurations (e.g. different subscriptions).
Global thresholds for Azure Service Bus Queues.
The following settings are available:
- Queue thresholds:
- Time-based evaluation
- Number based evaluation
- Count Evaluation Type
- None
- Fixed
- Percent
- Which comes first (both)
Time-based evaluation
Time-based evaluation is always evaluated. If you do not want to perform evaluation based on time, simply provide long enough thresholds.
| State | Name | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warning TimeSpan | Timespan 00:05:00 (5 minutes) | The age of first message on the queue to trigger Warning alert | |
| Error TimeSpan | Timespan 01:10:00 (1 hour 10 minutes) | The age of first message on the queue to trigger Error alert |
Count based evaluation
Here's an example of the Count Evaluation Type
None
If you select the None option for Count Evaluation Type, monitoring is not based on the number of messages in the queue.
Fixed
If you select the Fixed option for Count Evaluation Type, monitoring is based on the number of messages in the queue.
| State | Name | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warning Count | integer | The number of messages to go above on the queue to trigger Warning alert | |
| Error Count | integer | The number of messages to go above on the queue to trigger Error alert |
Percent
If you select the Percent option for Count Evaluation Type, monitoring is based on the quota set for the queue.
| State | Name | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warning Count Limit % | integer | The percentage to go above on the queue to trigger Warning alert | |
| Error Count Limit % | integer | The percentage to go above on the queue to trigger Error alert |
Which comes first (both)
If you select the Which comes first (both) option for Count Evaluation Type, monitoring is based on both Fixed and Percent.
Specific queue settings
You can provide specific thresholds for named service bus queues belonging for each subscription.
Add one or more named queues to provide specific settings.
Each specific queue needs to be identified by its queue name. You can also provide a user-friendly description.
Important
Private queues must be prefixed
private$\
The rest of the properties are the same as already described in the global configuration.
Tip
It is much easier to perform specific configurations using the Edit threshold menu item available on the Actions button in the list of queues (Resources) with Monitor Views with Remote Actions Option checked.
Queue exclusions filter
Resources can be excluded using a RegEx based filter. You can Add and Remove as many RegEx expressions as you like.
Example #1: Remove all queues that start with the letter '_'
^[_].*
Example: Remove all queues starting with the letter '_'
You can also use the filter to remove everything that does not match your provided RegEx expression, like
^((?!ONLYLIKEMYNAME).)*$
Whenever you apply one or more filters, the configuration accordion will display a filter icon to indicate exclusions are in use.
Filter icon appears when exclusions are configured.
Important
We have had many support incidents with reports of missing queues due to this functionality. If you miss a queue in your Monitor Views, first check your filters. Remember: With great power comes great responsibility.
Next Step
Related Topics
Add or manage a Monitoring Agent Configuration
Install Message Queueing Monitoring Agent