What is the VM Connector and when is it used vs Anypoint MQ?

The VM Connector provides in-memory or persistent queues within the same Mule runtime (or domain-shared across applications on the same runtime). Operations: Publish, Consume, Publish-Consume (request-reply). Two queue types: transient (in-memory, lost on restart) and persistent (disk-backed, survives restart). Use cases:

1. Decoupling flows within the same application without external infrastructure.
2. Sharing messages between applications on the same server via a domain project.
3. Implementing request-reply patterns. VM vs Anypoint MQ: VM is for intra-runtime communication on the same server/cluster — no external broker needed. Anypoint MQ is a cloud-based, fully managed messaging service for cross-application, cross-region, or cross-environment messaging. Use Anypoint MQ when applications run on different servers (including CloudHub) or need guaranteed cross-environment delivery; use VM for simple intra-application or co-located inter-application messaging.