What's new and what's changed in IBM MQ Explorer

Learn about the main new and changed functions in IBM® MQ Explorer.

Note: For the latest version of this information, see the online version of this page in IBM Documentation.

New IBM MQ Explorer features in IBM MQ 9.3.0

[MQ 9.3.0 Jun 2022][MQ 9.3.0 Jun 2022]From IBM MQ 9.3.0, IBM MQ Explorer has been removed from the IBM MQ install package. It remains available as a separate download.

New IBM MQ Explorer features in IBM MQ 9.2.x

From IBM MQ 9.2.0, IBM MQ Explorer is built on Eclipse 4.15.

For more information about installation requirements, see IBM MQ Explorer installation requirements and Installing IBM MQ Explorer into Eclipse environments.

New IBM MQ Explorer features in IBM MQ 9.1.x

Change to version of Eclipse that IBM MQ Explorer is built on
[Long Term Support]From IBM MQ 9.1.0, IBM MQ Explorer is built on Eclipse 4.7.3 instead of Eclipse 4.6.3.
[Continuous Delivery]From IBM MQ 9.1.4, IBM MQ Explorer is built on Eclipse 4.8 instead of Eclipse 4.7.3. This change to the Eclipse level applies to Continuous Delivery only. For Long Term Support, the Eclipse level remains at Eclipse 4.7.3.
[Continuous Delivery]From IBM MQ 9.1.5, IBM MQ Explorer is built on Eclipse 4.11 instead of Eclipse 4.8. This change to the Eclipse level applies to Continuous Delivery only. For Long Term Support, the Eclipse level remains at Eclipse 4.7.3.
Changes to delivery mechanism for updates to stand-alone IBM MQ Explorer
[Continuous Delivery]From IBM MQ 9.1.4, the stand-alone IBM MQ Explorer, previously known as SupportPac MS0T, is available as a stand-alone application from Fix Central. SupportPac MS0T is no longer available from the IBM download site.

For more information about installation requirements, see IBM MQ Explorer installation requirements and Installing IBM MQ Explorer into Eclipse environments.

New IBM MQ Explorer features in IBM MQ 9.0.4

IBM MQ Explorer is built on Eclipse 4.6.3 instead of Eclipse 4.4.2.
For more information about installation requirements, see IBM MQ Explorer installation requirements and Installing IBM MQ Explorer into Eclipse environments.

New IBM MQ Explorer features in IBM MQ 9.0

IBM MQ Explorer is built on Eclipse 4.4.2 instead of Eclipse 4.3.2.
For more information about installation requirements, see IBM MQ Explorer installation requirements and Installing IBM MQ Explorer into Eclipse environments.

New IBM MQ Explorer features in IBM MQ 8.0

IBM MQ Explorer is built on Eclipse 4.3.1 instead of Eclipse 3.6.2.
For more information about installation requirements, see IBM MQ Explorer installation requirements and Installing IBM MQ Explorer into Eclipse environments.
Support for topic host routing for publish/subscribe clusters
In previous versions, when you configure a clustered topic on a queue manager, all queue managers in the cluster become aware of all other queue managers in the cluster. When performing publish and subscribe operations, each queue manager then connects directly to all the others. This approach is still available in IBM MQ 8.0, where it is known as direct routing.
In IBM MQ 8.0, an alternative approach has also been added, known as topic host routing. With this approach, all queue managers in the cluster become aware of the cluster queue managers that host the routed topic definitions. When performing publish and subscribe operations, queue managers in the cluster connect only to these topic host queue managers, and not directly to each other. The topic host queue managers are responsible for routing publications from queue managers on which publications are published to queue managers with matching subscriptions.
To support topic host routing, the following parameters are added:
  • Cluster publication route. The routing behavior of publications between queue managers in a cluster. This is set on the cluster tab of a topic object and is displayed on the cluster tab of a topic object and when displaying cluster topics.
  • Cluster object state. The current state of the clustered topic definition. This is displayed on the cluster tab of a topic object, and when displaying cluster topics.
  • Version. The version of the IBM MQ installation that the cluster queue manager is associated with. This is displayed on the cluster-sender channels tab of the queue manager clusters display.
Support to better understand the size of your system
The following parameters are added to the publish/subscribe information reported. They are displayed on the Publish/Subscribe status page for a given queue manager.
  • Sub count. Shows the total number of subscriptions against the local topic tree.
  • Topic count. Shows the total number of topic nodes in the local topic tree.
For more information, see Queue manager Publish/Subscribe Engine status attributes.
New connection details properties
For more information, see Connection details properties.
CHCKLOCL
Setting CHCKLOCL to Required for administrators or Required for all stops you from locally administering the queue manager by way of the runmqsc commands unless you specify the -u UserID parameter on the runmqsc command line.
For more information, see the CHKLOCL MQSC parameter explanation in the User ID + Password page section of Authentication information properties.
Security enabled remote queue manager connections
The SSL cipher specification RC2_MD5_EXPORT is no longer supported. Connections that use this cipher specification and that are imported into IBM MQ Explorer for IBM MQ 8.0 have a blank SSL cipher specification setting. A new cipher specification must be selected.
If a connection that was using this cipher specification is imported into IBM MQ Explorer 8 and then used without changing it, a dialog that contains the IBM MQ error message AMQ4199 is displayed.
Deprecation of specific SSLv3 Cipher Suites
The three SSL cipher specifications listed in Java and JMS: changes to CipherSuite support in the IBM MQ 8.0 online product documentation are no longer supported.
However, you can re-enable other SSLv3 ciphers. See Deprecation: SSLv3 Ciphers in the IBM MQ 8.0 online product documentation.
[z/OS]
New for z/OS
For z/OS, the following changes are described in Queue manager properties and Channel properties: