UNIX, Linux, and Windows: Staging maintenance fixes
Use multiple installations of IBM® MQ on the same server to control the release of maintenance fixes.
Before you begin
QM1
and QM2
,
running on a server. IBM WebSphere MQ 7.0.1 is not installed
on the server.- Install two copies of IBM MQ. In the example,
they are named
Inst_1
andInst_2
and IBM WebSphere MQ 7.1 is being used. - Make
Inst_1
primary by running setmqinst. - Associate all the queue managers on the server with
Inst_1
by running setmqm. - Start all the queue managers on the server.
- Show and connect all direct connections with the queue managers
associated with
Inst_1
in MQ Explorer. - Set up remote connections to all the queue managers in each instance of MQ Explorer.
About this task
You can install multiple copies of IBM MQ on a server to stage the release of IBM MQ fixes. Figure 1 illustrates a way of using two installations to roll out fixes. In this approach, you maintain two fix levels on a server, with the aim of getting all queue managers and applications to the production fix level before replacing the previous level on fix pack with the next level.
Which installation an application uses is driven by the queue manager an application connects to. The setmqm command associates a queue manager with an installation. You can associate a queue manager with a different installation as long as the installation is at the same or higher command level. In this example, all the installations are at the same command level. You can associate or reassociate a queue manager with either of the installations running any of the fix packs.
In the example, an application links to the primary installation. When it connects to a queue manager, IBM MQ switches the linkage to the installation associated with the queue manager; see Multi-installation queue manager coexistence on UNIX, Linux, and Windows.
For applications built with the link options described in the product documentation, the simplest way to configure the link library search path for IBM MQ applications is to make an installation primary. Only if it is important to pick up a fix in the IBM MQ link library itself, must you review the search path. Either you must make the installation with the IBM MQ link library fix primary, or make a local adjustment for the application, perhaps by running the setmqenv command.
Running commands is a different matter. Commands are always run from the primary installation, or the installation you have selected by running the setmqenv command. If you run a command from the wrong installation, the command fails. For example, if QM1
is associated with Inst_1
, running the Windows command, Inst_2_Installation_path/bin/strmqm QM1
fails.
If you are using MQ Explorer and you have two installations, you also have two MQ Explorer instances. One linked to one installation, and one to the other. Each MQ Explorer shows locally connected queue managers that are associated with the same installation as the instance of MQ Explorer. To monitor all the queue managers on a server, set up remote connections to the queue managers associated with the other installations.