Alternative configurations for the stand-alone logger

Typically a stand-alone logger, whether it is a file or a database type, is on the same system as the coordination queue manager and is connected to the coordination queue manager in IBM® MQ bindings mode. However, it can also be installed on the same system as any queue manager which has connectivity to the coordination queue manager. The stand-alone logger receives messages using a subscription, which the stand-alone logger creates automatically. This is the configuration described in the installation instructions.

However, if you have site-specific considerations, you can configure a stand-alone logger to receive messages in two other ways, controlled by the wmqfte.message.source.type property. This property is described in Database Logger properties.

Administrative subscription

By default, a stand-alone logger creates its own subscription to the SYSTEM.FTE/Log/# topic, using the default durable subscription options and a managed subscription (that is, the queue manager controls the backing queue used to hold the messages before they are passed to the application). If other options are required on the subscription or the queue, you can instead create a subscription yourself, set the options that you require, and configure the stand-alone logger to use that subscription instead. Remember to add permission for the stand-alone logger to use the subscription that you create.

An example of using this configuration is to partition the log space by using two wildcard subscriptions, to send logs from agents whose name begins with FINANCE into one database and logs from agents beginning with ACCOUNTING into another. This type of configuration requires two stand-alone logger instances, each with its own logger.properties file referring to the required subscription and its own command queue and reject queue.

To collect log messages only from agents whose names begin with ACCOUNTING, create a subscription object on your coordination queue manager with a topic string of SYSTEM.FTE/Log/ACCOUNTING*. Set the Wildcard usage value to Character level wildcard. You must also add entries to the logger.properties file for your logger. For example, if you create a subscription object called ACCOUNTING.LOGS with these settings, add the following entries to the logger.properties file:


wmqfte.message.source.type=administrative subscription
wmqfte.message.source.name=ACCOUNTING.LOGS

The stand-alone logger handles log messages that start with the topic string of SYSTEM.FTE/Log/ only. You can specify a more restrictive topic string, but you cannot specify a less restrictive string. If you do specify a less restrictive string in error, all publications that relate to a topic string other than SYSTEM.FTE/Log/ go to the reject queue, and the stand-alone logger produces the error message BFGDB0002E. This error message implies that there is a problem with the stand-alone logger configuration.

Queue

The typical topology is where the stand-alone logger runs on the same system as the coordination queue manager. If this is not possible, you can create a subscription on the coordination queue manager using a queue on another queue manager as the subscription destination (either using a remote queue definition or by using the DESTQMGR property of the subscription). The logger can then run on the system hosting the second queue manager and read the messages from the queue. To ensure transactional integrity, the stand-alone logger must always connect to its queue manager in bindings mode. You must define the reject queue and command queue on the same queue manager that the stand-alone logger connects to. The queue managers must be at WebSphere® MQ Version 7 or later.

For example, to collect log messages which are being placed on the queue USER.QUEUE by a subscription, add these entries to the logger.properties file:


wmqfte.message.source.type=queue
wmqfte.message.source.name=USER.QUEUE