Readme file for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1 and its maintenance

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This file describes product limitations and known problems.

In addition to this file, you can find more information on the IBM MQ websites:

The web-based IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1 documentation is available in IBM Documentation:
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mq-for-hpe-nonstop/8.1.0

The link for downloading IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1 is here:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7001725

For the fix list for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop Version 8.1 see:
https://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ibm10879471

Announcement letter
The announcement letter for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1 (US English) is available here:
https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=AN&subtype=CA&htmlfid=877/ENUSZP19-0010&appname=USN

You can find more information about IBM MQ on this site:
http://www.ibm.com/software/products/en/ibm-mq

For current information about known problems and available fixes, see IBM Support Portal:
http://www.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/support

See the announcement letter for the following types of information:
- Detailed product description
- Product-positioning statement
- Ordering details
- Hardware and software requirements

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UPDATE HISTORY

20 March 2024 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.20

7 December 2023 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.17

18 August 2023 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.16

05 June 2023 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.15

25 November 2022 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.12
3 August 2022 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.11
8 May 2022 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.10
5 October 2021 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.9
9 July 2021 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.8
19 March 2021 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.7
19 August 2020 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.6
24 June 2020 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.5
30 March 2020 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.4
22 January 2020 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.3
23 December 2019 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.2 - Note: This Fix Pack has been withdrawn.
25 July 2019 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.1
2 April 2019 - Updates for IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1

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Installation instructions are available as part of the IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1 product documentation published in IBM Documentation:
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mq-for-hpe-nonstop/8.1.0

Software requirements
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IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1 requires the following minimum Release Version Updates (RVUs):
• L16.05 (HPE NonStop X)
• L19.03 (HPE Virtualized NonStop)
• J06.20 (HPE NonStop Itanium)
IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1 was tested with the following Software Product Releases (SPRs) installed. IBM recommends that these SPRs are installed on the system before installing IBM MQ.
• NSX L18.08
– T1280ABV Posix User Threads (PUT)
– T2766ACW Java 7
– T0639 ACS Serverclass_APIs
• NSI J06.20
– T1280ABI Posix User Threads (PUT)
– T2766ACN Java 7
– T1202AAG Coreutils
– T8628ABD groupadd/del/mod
– T8626ADX groupadd/del/mod
– T0639 ACS Serverclass_APIs

This information supersedes the information in the announcement letter, as these RVUs come with the necessary compilers.

IBM MQ for HPE NonStop 8.1 support in HPE Virtualized NonStop environments
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IBM MQ v8.1 support has been broadened to include HPE Virtualized NonStop environments. The new support requires a minimum level of IBM MQ 8.1.0.9 or later, with L-Series RVU L19.03 or later.
Note that a different IBM product part number applies when IBM MQ v8.1 is run in a Virtualized NonStop environment.
See the support announcement for reference:
https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/ShowDoc.wss?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_ca/0/877/ENUSZP22-0060/index.html&request_locale=en

IBM MQ for HPE NonStop 8.1 Digital signatures for installation packages
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Beginning with IBM MQ v8.1 fix pack 10, IBM MQ fix pack and interim fix installation packages are digitally signed by IBM.  The signature file will accompany the install package itself and the existing checksum file. Customers who want to verify the signature should refer to the instructions in the following URL:
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ibm-mq/9.2?topic=overview-mq-code-signatures

HPE NonStop customers should refer to the section heading "*.tar.gz files".

Software recommendations
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Due to system software defects, unexpected errors might occur if IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1 is installed under a long path name. To overcome this problem, you should have the following SPRs installed:
FIX:T8306ADQ aka T8306L01^ADQ aka T8306L01-ADQ????
FIX:T8306ADR aka T8306H10^ADR aka T8306H10-ADR????
This affects all IBM MQv8 releases.

Due to a system software defect in PUT library memory leaks may occur and are most likely to be seen with IBM MQ Execution Controller(amqzxma0) and Channel Initiator(runmqchi) process instances.
A second defect in previous PUT library revisions might cause com.ibm.mq.soap.util.RunCommand.Execute() to hang indefinitely.
FIX: T1280L02-ABV for TNS/X systems
FIX: T1280H02-ABW for TNS/E systems
Genesis solution 10-190522-8775
This affects all IBM MQv8 releases.
Note: TNS/E systems running J06.23.00 and J06.23.01 with T1280H03 base are still affected by this.

A defect in the T1280 PUT (pthreads) library shipped with J06.21, L17.02 and L17.08 RVUs, can cause serious failures in IBM MQ v8.0.0 queue managers.
FIX: T1280L01-ABP for TNS/X
FIX: T1280H02-ABO for TNS/E
Genesis solution 10-170906-4909
This affects all IBM MQv8 releases.

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Changes to version naming scheme

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With the release of IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.15 the VRMF naming scheme switched to a new model: Fix packs: Fix packs contain roll-ups of all defects fixed since the previous fix pack delivery (or GA). Fix packs are produced exclusively for Long Term Support (LTS) releases during their normal support lifecycle. Cumulative security updates (CSUs): CSUs are smaller updates and contain security patches released since the previous maintenance (GA). CSUs are produced for LTS releases (including releases in extended support), and for the latest IBM MQ Continuous Delivery (CD) release, as required to deliver relevant security patches.

Both types of maintenance update the F-digit of the VRMF to a higher number than any previous maintenance: fix packs use “F” values divisible by 5, CSUs use “F” values not divisible by 5.

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/changes-ibm-mqs-maintenance-delivery-model

Information regarding fscontext.jar and providerutil.jar
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Oracle fscontext.jar and providerutil.jar are part of the product installation as of IBM MQ for HPE NonStop V8.1.0.20 release level.
 

Upgrade of OpenSSL to v3.0

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Due to the EOL of OpenSSL v1.1.1, MQ v8.1.0.15 and later ship an upgraded OpenSSL 3.0.x product to support MQ's cryptographic functionality. See APAR IT43863.
OpenSSL 3.0 imposes stricter rules on X509 digital certificates compared with its predecessor. In particular the requirements for X509 digital certificates should be noted:

TLSv1.3 support
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TLSv1.3 support was introduced for HPE NonStop IBM MQ server 8.1.0.7.
To utilize TLS v1.3 features with Java applications Java 8 version 1.8.0_251 or later is required.
IBM MQ Java and JMS clients running on HPE NonStop do not support TLS channels that use alias ciphers.  
Additionally, these client programs will ignore the mqclient.ini AllowedCipherSpec attribute.
Native IBM MQ clients running on HPE NonStop, and IBM MQ Java and JMS client programs running on other platforms but connecting to IBM MQ queue managers on HPE NonStop, do not have these limitations.

API Exit Paths for Guardian Applications
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API Exit paths to Guardian locations have to be configured in unix-like fashion, either absolute (/G/...) or as symlinks (/path/to/G -> $volume.subvol) and not as a Guardian style path ($volume.subvol).
IBM MQ will implicitly assume that a symlink '/OSS/PATH/TO/EXIT/G ->$volume.subvol' exists for each configured path.
Note:
Due to defect APAR IT30639 API Exits do not work for Guardian applications before version 8.1.0.2.

Non-native application support
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Due to APAR IT31432 it is required to rebind non-native applications if upgrading from releases before IBM MQ v8.1.0.4.

Guardian Agent Default Parameters
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The default values for a queue manager's 'TuningParameters' Stanza are examples and you might need to reconfigure these values to match the expected workload of the queue manager.

Socket-bound errors under high connectivity load
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If TCP/IP sockets are created and closed in high volume, IBM MQ might report an error like 'Address already in use' when attempting to start new channels. This can also be seen with (Java) client applications. Currently it is unknown if this is a product defect, system software defect, or system configuration issue. A case with HPE is opened and known as Genesis Solution 10-200527-2481.

SharedBindingsUserId
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The 'SharedBindingsUserId' attribute in the qm.ini service stanza is not supported anymore as of HPE NonStop IBM MQ server 8.1.0.9 release.
The attribute is ignored by the queue manager and the default behavior is used.

Handling of Environment Variables

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The configuration and handling of environment variables via the RUNNSCNF tool was changed with the release of IBM MQ v8.1.0.5 to use the new object 'Environment' instead of 'CurrentQMGR'. As a result of this change previous configurations may not be active after upgrading to IBM MQ v8.1.0.5 or later. For further information on how to (re-)configure environment variables please visit https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mq-for-hpe-nonstop/8.1.0?topic=runnscnf-setting-environment-variables.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.20
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None.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.17
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None.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.16
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None.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.15

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See OpenSSL 3.0 notes above on changed digital certificate requirements. Fixpack 15 ships OpenSSL 3.0.8.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.12
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None.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.11
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None.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.10
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None.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.9
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This release and all previous are affected by HIPER APAR IT38869.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.8
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None.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.7
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IBM MQ Java and JMS clients running on HPE NonStop cannot use channels with TLS ALIAS ciphers nor the AllowedCipherSpecs mqclient.ini attribute.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.6
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APAR IT33491 forces all TLS channels to contact an Entropy Daemon (EGD) for initial seeding of their RNG. If an EGD is not running then the TLS channel will not start and message AMQ9620 mentioning 'error retrieving entropy', is written to the queue manager's error log.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.5
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None.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.4
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Additional note for APAR IT30957:
IBM MQ v8 for NonStop will abort the current transaction in case of a queue file IO error during write operations, when persisting after retries.
This situation can be avoided by properly sizing queue files and configuring queues, to force MQRC_Q_FULL before the queue file gets full.
IBM MQ v8 for NonStop might report MQRC_BACKED_OUT unexpectedly in cases where an MQI transaction has been aborted externally, until the transaction state is resolved by calling MQBACK.
This can occur, for example, due to a persistent IO error while writing to a queue file, due to an auto-abort or due to an exit inheriting the transaction for operations caused transaction abort.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.3
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All limitations known for version 8.1.0.2 also apply to version 8.1.0.3, except for the defect fixed with HIPER APAR IT31268.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1.0.2
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8.1.0.2 has been withdrawn due to defect HIPER APAR IT31268.

If fix pack version 8.1.0.2 has been previously installed it is recommended to contact IBM support.

TMF Gateway limitation and defects
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While clients are able to connect to multiple queue managers in a single thread, the limitations of the distributed XA-Client apply as well and only one connection per thread can be used while utilizing global transactions.
The result of using global transactions on a single thread with multiple connections within this thread may lead to unexpected behavior.
This affects all IBM MQv8 releases below version 8.1.0.4.
Due to a defect in the TMF Gateway situations may occur where messages are committed in the wrong order and are visible in an unintended order on the remote end.
This affects all IBM MQv8 releases below version 8.1.0.4.

LIMITATIONS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS FOR VERSION 8.1
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MQRC_OFFSET_ERROR from amqrrmfa or amqzlaa0 processes. Queue manager can end immediately.                                
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IBM recommends that 8.1.0.0 HP NonStop queue managers are not to be included in production cluster environments due to APAR IT28562.

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