Configuring a client connection to WebSphere MQ
On distributed systems, you can configure a client connection
to IBM® MQ by defining a connection
channel and listener on WebSphere MQ and
setting the MQ Connection properties of the MQ node on IBM App Connect
Enterprise.
Before you begin
Complete the following tasks:
- Read the topic Configuring connections to WebSphere MQ.
- Ensure that the required queue manager has been created on the WebSphere MQ server.
- Decide how you want to connect to the queue manager. You can either configure the connection
properties on the MQ Connection tab of the MQ node, or you can use an MQEndpoint policy on the Policy tab. The steps in this topic explain
how to configure connections by using the properties on the MQ Connection tab. The properties that
you can set in a policy are listed in the MQ node topics, such as the MQInput node;
for more information about using an MQEndpoint policy, see MQEndpoint policy.
About this task
WebSphere MQ is available as a separate installation package, and your
IBM App Connect
Enterprise license entitles you to install and use WebSphere MQ with IBM App Connect
Enterprise. For more information,
see Installing IBM MQ.
You
can define a client connection on the MQ node either by specifying
the connection details of the queue manager explicitly, through the
MQ client connection properties,
or by selecting the
Connect with
CCDT property to use a client channel definition table (CCDT)
that contains the details of the connection. The MQ Connection properties
are available on the following MQ nodes:
- MQInput
- MQOutput
- MQGet
- MQReply
Procedure
You configure a client connection by configuring the
connection channel and listener on WebSphere MQ,
and setting the MQ Connection properties on IBM App Connect
Enterprise.
On the machine that is
running your WebSphere MQ queue manager:
- Define a server-connection channel for the queue manager,
and ensure that the number of shared conversations is set to a minimum
of 10. The number of conversations that can share a TCP/IP
connection is specified by the SHARECNV property
on the WebSphere MQ channel, and the
default for this property is 10. If too few shared conversations are
defined on the channel, errors can occur when the MQ node attempts
to connect to the queue. For information about how to define a channel,
see the
WebSphere MQ Version 7.5 product
documentation online.
- Define a TCP/IP listener. For information about
how to define a listener, see the
WebSphere MQ Version 7.5 product
documentation online.
Define the client connections on the machine that is running your integration
server:
- Decide how you want to define the connections to the queue manager. You can either configure them on the MQ Connection tab of the MQ node,
or you can control them by using an MQEndpoint policy on the
Policy tab. The remaining steps in this topic explain how to configure
connections by using the properties on the MQ Connection tab. The properties
that you can set in a policy are listed in the MQ node topics, such as the MQInput node; for more information about using an MQEndpoint policy, see MQEndpoint policy.
- On the MQ Connection tab, choose
one of the following options for the Connection property:
- Select MQ client connection
properties to make a client connection to the queue manager
by explicitly specifying the connection details of the target queue
manager. Specify the following connection properties for the target
queue manager:
- Queue manager host name
- Listener port number
- Channel name
- Destination queue manager name
- Optional: Configure the connection to use a
security identity for authentication, SSL for confidentiality, or
both, by completing the steps described in Connecting to a secured WebSphere MQ queue manager.
What to do next
All
WebSphere MQ connections
remain open until one of the following events occurs:
- An error occurs while the queue manager is being accessed, and
a new connection is required as a result.
- The message flow is stopped.
- The message flow is idle for a time that exceeds the timeout threshold
set for the connection. By default, this threshold is set to 1 minute;
however, you can change the threshold by setting the sharedConnectorIdleTimeout property
of the mqsichangeproperties command.
For more information, see WebSphere MQ connections.
If you later decide that you want to control connection properties by using an MQEndpoint policy, property values that are set on the MQ Connection
tab are ignored when a policy is attached to the message flow node.