AIX: Applying maintenance level upgrades on IBM MQ

How to apply maintenance level updates to IBM® MQ for AIX® using installp.

Before you begin

Ensure you have enough disk space to apply maintenance level updates. A maintenance level update requires hard disk space for installation. In addition, the installation process might require a similar amount of disk space to save the previous level. For example, a 16 MB update might require 32 MB of space. The additional space allows a maintenance level update to be removed, and the previous level to be restored automatically.
If you are running on a server with multiple IBM MQ installations, you must identify the installation. Make sure that the commands you enter run against the correct installation; see setmqenv.

About this task

Stop applications using the installation and use the installp command, to install maintenance level updates to clients and servers. Alternatively, if the installation is in the default installation location, you can use the System Management Interface Tool, SMIT.

Important: You cannot go back from a later version of the product to a prior version of the product, for example from IBM MQ 8.0 to IBM WebSphere® MQ Version 7.x.

You can apply and remove maintenance from a IBM MQ MQI client that is not installed on the same server as a queue manager. You do not have to stop any queue managers or logon as administrator. Because you do not have to stop any queue managers, do not do steps 1 to 3 in the following maintenance procedure.

Major full versions of the base product are COMMITTED by default. Fix packs on a full base version can be in APPLIED state, and you can go back one release level.

If you need the ability to revert to an earlier version, you should perform a side-by-side migration, and migrate your queue managers to the later version at any time. See UNIX, Linux, and Windows: Side-by-side migration to a later version for further information.

However, if you start a queue manager under IBM MQ 8.0, that queue manager is automatically migrated, and cannot be downgraded to the previous version.

You require a backup of the IBM WebSphere MQ Version 7.x queue manager and data logs to restore if needed.

Procedure

Log in as a user in group mqm.
Stop all applications using the IBM MQ installation.
If you use the MQ Managed File Transfer (MFT) component, ensure that any MFT agents have finished all of the file transfers that they were engaged in. There should be no incomplete transfers associated with the agents, and their SYSTEM.FTE.STATE queues should contain no messages.
End all the activity of queue managers associated with the IBM MQ installation.
1. Run the dspmq command to list the state of all the queue managers on the system.
  Run either of the following commands from the installation that you are updating:
```
dspmq -o installation -o status
dspmq -a
```
  dspmq -o installation -o status displays the installation name and status of queue managers associated with all installations of IBM MQ.
  
  dspmq -a displays the status of active queue managers associated with the installation from which the command is run.
2. Run the MQSC command, DISPLAY LSSTATUS(*) STATUS to list the status of listeners associated with a queue manager.
```
echo "DISPLAY LSSTATUS(*) STATUS" | runmqsc QmgrName
```
3. Run the endmqm command to stop each running queue manager associated with this installation.
  The endmqm command informs an application that the queue manager it is connected to is stopping; see Stopping a queue manager.
  - For the maintenance to proceed, applications must respond to an endmqm command by disconnecting from the queue manager and releasing any IBM MQ libraries they have loaded. If they do not, you must find another way to force applications to release IBM MQ resources, such as by stopping the applications.
  - You must also stop applications that are using the client libraries that are part of the installation. Client applications might be connected to a different queue manager, running a different installation of IBM MQ. The application is not informed about queue managers in the current installation being shut down.
  - Any applications that continue to have IBM MQ shared libraries from the installation loaded prevent you applying IBM MQ maintenance. An application might disconnect from a queue manager, or be forcibly disconnected, but keep an IBM MQ shared library loaded.
  Note: The topic, Applying maintenance level updates to multi-instance queue managers, describes how to apply maintenance to a multi-instance queue manager. A multi-instance queue manager can continue to run on one server, while maintenance is applied to another server.
4. Stop any listeners associated with the queue managers, using the command:
```
endmqlsr -m QMgrName
```
Log in as root, or switch to the superuser using the su command.
Install the update in one of the following ways:
- Update the whole installation in the default location:
```
installp -agXYd . all
```
- Update selected filesets in the default location:
```
installp -agXYd . list of file sets
```
- Update the whole product in a non-default location using the -R flag:
```
installp -R USIL_Directory -agXYd . all
```
- Update selected filesets in a non-default location using the -R flag:
```
installp -R USIL_Directory -agXYd . list of file sets
```
USIL_Directory is the installation parent directory. IBM MQ is installed underneath the directory. For example, if /USIL1 is specified, the IBM MQ product files are located in /USIL1/usr/mqm. /USIL1/usr/mqm is known as the MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH.