WebSphere Application Server supports asynchronous messaging as a method of communication based on the Java Message Service (JMS) programming interface.
The base JMS support enables WebSphere J2EE applications to exchange messages asynchronously with other JMS clients by using JMS destinations (queues or topics). A J2EE application can explicitly poll for messages on a destination.
WebSphere Application Server also provides a message listener service that J2EE applications can use to automatically retrieve messages from JMS destinations for processing by message-driven beans, without the application having to explicitly poll JMS destinations.
With WebSphere Application Server Enterprise,
J2EE applications can use another level of functionality for asynchronous
messaging, called extended messaging. The application server
manages the messaging infrastructure, and extra standard types of messaging
beans are provided to add functionality to that provided by message-driven
beans. This level of functionality enables application developers to concentrate
on the business logic to be implemented by the enterprise beans and to leave
the messaging usage to standard messaging objects and configuration of the
extended messaging service.
You can use the WebSphere administrative console to administer the WebSphere Application Server support for asynchronous messaging. For example, you can configure JMS providers and their resources, and can control the activity of the JMS server and the messaging services.