Using the MQParms command

Before you begin

You can use the MQParms command to invoke installation or uninstallation. This command can use parameters on a command line, or those specified in a parameter file. The parameter file is an ASCII text file that contains the parameter values that you want to set for the installation. The MQParms command takes the specified parameters and generates the corresponding msiexec command line.

This means that you can save all the parameters that you want to use with the msiexec command in a single file.

If you are running IBM® WebSphere® MQ on Windows systems with User Account Control (UAC) enabled, you must invoke the installation with elevated privileges. If you are using the Command prompt or IBM WebSphere MQ Explorer elevate privileges by using a right-click to start the program and selecting Run as administrator. If you try to run the MQParms program without using elevated privileges, the installation fails with an error of AMQ4353 in the installation log.

For silent operations, this must include the /q or /qn parameter, either on the command line, or in the [MSI] stanza of the parameter file. You must also set the AGREETOLICENSE parameter to "yes".

You can specify many more parameters in the parameter file that you use with the MQParms command than you can in the response file that you use directly with the msiexec command. Also, as well as parameters that the IBM WebSphere MQ installation uses, you can specify parameters that can be used by the Prepare IBM WebSphere MQ wizard.

If you do not complete the Prepare WebSphere MQ Wizard directly after IBM WebSphere MQ installations or if for any reason your machine is rebooted between completing IBM WebSphere MQ installation and completing the Prepare WebSphere MQ Wizard, ensure that the wizard is run with Administrator privilege afterward, otherwise the installation is incomplete, and might fail. You might also see Open File - Security Warning dialog boxes that list International Business Machines Limited as the publisher. Click Run to allow the wizard to continue

An example of the file MQParms.ini is supplied with IBM WebSphere MQ. This file contains default installation parameters.

There are two ways to create a parameter file for installation:

Copy and edit the file MQParms.ini that is supplied with the product, using an ASCII file editor.
Create your own parameter file using an ASCII file editor.

About this task

To invoke installation using the MQParms command:

Procedure

From a command line, change to the root folder of the IBM WebSphere MQ Server DVD (that is, the location of the file MQParms.exe).
Enter the following command:
```
MQParms parameter_file parameters]  
```
where:

parameter_file

is the file that contains the required parameter values. If this file is not in the same folder as MQParms.exe, specify the full path and file name. If you do not specify a parameter file, the default is MQParms.ini. For a silent install, the MQParms_silent.ini parameter file can be used. For further details, see MQParms parameter file.

parameters

are one or more command-line parameters, for a list of these, see the MSDN Command-Line Options web page.

Example

A typical example of an MQParms command is:


MQParms "c:\MyParamsFile.ini" /l*v c:\install.log

A typical example of an MQParms command when you are installing a second copy of IBM WebSphere MQ Version 7.5 is:

MQParms "c:\MyParamsFile.ini" /l*v c:\install.log TRANSFORMS=":InstanceId2.mst;1033.mst" MSINEWINSTANCE=1

Alternatively, TRANSFORMS and MSINEWINSTANCE can be specified in the MSI stanza of the parameter file.

If you specify a parameter both on the command line and in the parameter file, the setting on the command line takes precedence.

If you specify a parameter file, you might want to run the encryption utility before you use the MQParms command (see Encrypting a parameter file).

If you do not specify /i, /x, /a, or /j, MQParms defaults to standard installation using the IBM WebSphere MQ Windows Installer package, IBM WebSphere MQ.msi. That is, it generates the following part of the command line:

/i "current_folder\MSI\IBM WebSphere MQ.msi"

If you do not specify a WIZPARMFILE parameter, MQParms defaults to the current parameter file. That is, it generates the following part of the command:

WIZPARMFILE="current_folder\current_parameter_file"