XX00217: MQ V8 EXPLORER PASSWORD FIELD IN THE USERID PANE OF THE QUEUE MANAGER PROPERTIES APPEARS POPULATED WHEN NO PASSWORD DEFINED

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• After upgrading a WebSphere MQ v7.5 Explorer to the WebSphere MQ
  v8 Explorer, when viewing the connection details Userid pane for
  a remote queue manager, the field titled "Password:" is
  populated with eight asterisks and the "Clear password.." button
  is enabled. This occurs despite no password being set for the
  connection to this remote queue manager. This suggests a
  password is being used when connecting to the queue manager when
  in fact it is not, which is misleading.
  

Local fix

• Two workarounds exist:
  
  Option 1:
  ------------
  Click the "Clear password.." button on the queue manager's
  connection details Userid pane. This will cause the WebSphere MQ
  V8 Explorer to set the password
  value to null internally and prevent the eight asterisks from
  appearing.
  
  Option 2:
  -----------
  Remove the remote queue manager definition from the WebSphere MQ
  V8 Explorer (that was previously added using an pre-version 8
  WebSphere MQ Explorer) and re-add it using WebSphere MQ V8
  Explorer.
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  USERS AFFECTED:
  This issue affects all users who have migrated a WebSphere MQ
  v7.5 Explorer, that has remote queue manager definitions, to
  WebSphere MQ V8.0 Explorer and have not set a password within
  the user identification information that is passed to the queue
  manager on connection attempts.
  
  
  Platforms affected:
  Windows, Linux on x86-64, Linux on x86
  
  ****************************************************************
  PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
  When using the WebSphere MQ V7.5 Explorer, the default password
  value for the user connection information was the empty string
  "". This was persisted to the queue manager handles file when
  the WebSphere MQ Explorer was closed. The WebSphere MQ V8.0
  Explorer uses a null value by default and, as such, no value is
  persisted to the queue manager handles file.
  
  When the WebSphere MQ V8 .0 Explorer starts, it reads in the
  properties persisted to the queue manager handles file to
  construct the internal objects required to display the queue
  manager within the Navigator view of the WebSphere MQ Explorer
  itself. Upon viewing a queue manager's connection details Userid
  pane, if the password value as read from the queue manager
  handles file for this queue manager was not null, then the
  WebSphere MQ V8.0 Explorer would display eight asterisks in the
  field titled "Password:". This is to indicate a password would
  be flowed to the queue manager when establishing a connection.
  
  This was misleading as reading a remote queue manager definition
  that was added prior to the WebSphere MQ Explorer being migrated
  to version 8.0, where the password attribute for the queue
  manager had the default empty string value, resulted in the
  WebSphere MQ V8.0 Explorer displaying eight asterisks in the
  "Password:" field and enabling the "Clear password.." button
  even though no password was being flowed.
  

Problem conclusion

• The WebSphere MQ V8.0 Explorer has been updated such that it
  will only display eight asterisks in the field titled
  "Password:" of a queue manager's connection details Userid pane
  and enable the "Clear password.." button if a password has been
  configured to use when establishing connections with a value
  that is not null and not the empty string.
  
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  The fix is targeted for delivery in the following PTFs:
  
  Version    Maintenance Level
  v8.0       8.0.0.1
  
  The latest available maintenance can be obtained from
  'WebSphere MQ Recommended Fixes'
  http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=171&uid=swg27006037
  
  If the maintenance level is not yet available information on
  its planned availability can be found in 'WebSphere MQ
  Planned Maintenance Release Dates'
  http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=171&uid=swg27006309
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  WEBSPHERE MQ V8

• Fixed component ID

  5724H7250

Applicable component levels

• R800 PSY

     UP