The management of alarms and log messages is in many cases still handled by different applications even though they have a lot in common. Focusing on the common aspect that all of them can be handled as messages allows a generic approach for all of them. The Java Message Service is a specification by Sun which provides an ideal basis to store and forward any kind of messages throughout a control system. Several independent messages sources can generate JMS messages which get sent to JMS servers. Client applications like operator panels as well as message filters or a persistent store (e.g. in Oracle) can register on the JMS server to receive any incoming message. This paper will describe the whole data chain from EPICS front end controllers, system log messages or other control systems through central JMS servers to client applications, persistent stores and an elaborate alarm management system based on the experience during the last two years of operation.