Choosing an installation name

Each installation of IBM® WebSphere® MQ on UNIX, Linux®, and Windows, has a unique identifier known as an installation name. The installation name is used to associate things such as queue managers and configuration files with an installation.

You can choose the installation name and make it meaningful to you. For example, you might call a test system testMQ.

If you do not specify an installation name when the product is installed, a default installation name is automatically assigned. For the first installation, this name is Installation1. For the second installation, the name is Installation2, and so on. The installation name Installation0 is reserved for an installation of IBM WebSphere MQ Version 7.0.1. The installation name cannot be changed after the product is installed.

On UNIX and Linux systems, the first IBM WebSphere MQ installation is automatically given an installation name of Installation1. For subsequent installations, you can use the crtmqinst command to set the installation name before installing the product.

On Windows systems, you can choose the installation name during the installation process.

The installation name can be up to 16 bytes and must be a combination of alphabetic and numeric characters in the ranges a-z, A-Z, and 0-9. You cannot use blank characters. The installation name must be unique, regardless of whether uppercase or lowercase characters are used. For example, the names INSTALLATIONNAME and InstallationName are not unique.

You can find out what installation name is assigned to an installation in a particular location using the dspmqinst command.

Installation descriptions

Each installation can also have an installation description. This description can give more detailed information about an installation in cases where the installation name cannot provide enough information. These descriptions can be up to 64 single-byte characters, or 32 double-byte characters. The default installation description is blank. You can set the installation description using the setmqinst command.