Why does Nservicebus not use WCF?

Question

I see that NServiceBus uses MSMQ as its transport. Why doesn't it use WCF with MSMQ as the underlying transport?

@DanielAWhite is right, [here is some more info](http://www.nservicebus.com/Msmq.aspx) on the history of NServiceBus — Sixto Saez, May 16 '11 at 13:40

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited May 17 '11 at 12:34

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The primary reason was that the MSMQ code was written before WCF even existed. As time progressed, most of the work focused on adding new features rather than revisiting the already solution MSMQ integration.

There's also things that NServiceBus does with respect to MSMQ that WCF doesn't do. For example, NServiceBus will create a queue if it doesn't exist. This makes it much smoother to work with NServiceBus than with WCF.

This does not imply that this functionality could not be preserved if migrated to work on top of WCF/MSMQ but the main thing is that it is just too low a priority as compared to all the other things slated for the next release.

edited May 17 '11 at 12:34

Adam Fyles

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answered May 17 '11 at 08:31

Udi Dahan

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Thanks - I'm always reading about Java ESB's and JMS. I like .Net and I am interested in .Net ESB, especially NServiceBus. So, if you were to start again, would you use WCF? – Jason May 23 '11 at 13:53
Jason, that's a good question - seeing the complexity inherent in WCF, I still might prefer staying "closer to the metal". – Udi Dahan May 25 '11 at 14:40

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 16 '11 at 13:32

Once you realise that the Microsoft of today is a lot of teams who may (or most likely) may not use each others code. The NserviceBus guys made a decision that they didn't want to use WCF for whatever reason, and that's that.

Years ago, I was at a conference where a guy from MS was telling us about MTS and I asked him why the security groups in there didn't use Local Groups (ie WinNT security groups). He ummed and ahhem and said "yes, I see where you're coming from with that question, next question please". See, the group security in MTS was exactly the same as local groups were designed for - but the MTS guys decided that they would implement their own groups and ignore the underlying NT security system. I would be really nice if we could have 1 place to set security and have it apply to all Microsoft products, but that's not the way it goes. even by Microsoft's own devs.

Why does Nservicebus not use WCF?

2 Answers2