Definition of Mbox Sets

The iProcess Engine uses a number of message queues to enable high volumes of transactions to be processed. iProcess uses a logical grouping of physical queues called Mbox sets in which processes read or write messages. An Mbox set can be defined as having one or more queues in which messages are posted in a round robin method. For example, an Mbox set can comprise a number of physical database tables operating as message queues.

There are many performance factors related to this design such as spreading queues over multiple disks. Instead of a process writing or reading messages from a specific queue, it can be configured to use an Mbox set. The Mbox set enables you to dynamically configure the queues used in a set as system resources change.

For example, two Mbox sets can be configured as follows:

MBOX_SET = queue_1, queue_2
MBOX_SET2 = queue_1
Note: A physical queue can be included in multiple Mbox sets but can only be included once in the same Mbox set.

Each iProcess Engine process is configured to use a particular Mbox set and has a process attribute type set for it. This information is configured in the process_attribute table.