I have recently developed a simple messaging application with Spring Boot and Spring Security. The application takes in 2 users - user A and user B. Once, user A performs a specific task a notification is sent to user B. Currently I am doing this by adding a Spring Messaging dependency and SockJS and it works great.
Here is where I am confused and hoping to receive some guidance. I realize there are many tutorials that speak about RabbitMQ and ActiveMQ. From what I understand, they are message brokers. May I ask what is the difference between SockJS and RabbitMQ/ActiveMQ? And do I need RabbitMQ/ActiveMQ in my current application together with SockJS?
SockJS is JavaScript based WebSocket client library that runs in a browser. It can be used to send messages to or receive messages from a broker.
Both RabbitMQ and ActiveMQ are message brokers, examples of message-oriented middleware. They both support WebSocket clients which use a messaging protocol (e.g. STOMP or AMQP). Brokers receive messages from and dispatch messages to clients.
You haven't really provided enough information to determine whether or not you actually need to use either RabbitMQ or ActiveMQ in your current application given that it's already working as it is.