The present invention enables messaging service users to programmatically and administratively control the system's behavior in the event of an external resource failure. A destination pause/resume feature enables the user to “pause” and “resume” the production and consumption of messages, that are newly produced or produced as a result of “in flight work” completion, on a given destination or all the destinations hosted by a single messaging service server programmatically. This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.