Configuring the IBM MQ resource adapter

To configure the IBM® MQ resource adapter, you define various Java Platform, Enterprise Edition Connector Architecture (JCA) resources and, optionally, system properties. You must also configure the resource adapter to run the installation verification test (IVT) program. This is important because IBM service might require this program to be run to indicate that any non-IBM application server has been correctly configured.

Before you begin

This task assumes that you are already familiar with JMS and IBM MQ classes for JMS. Many of the properties used to configure the IBM MQ resource adapter are equivalent to properties of IBM MQ classes for JMS objects and have the same function.

About this task

Every application server provides its own set of administration interfaces. Some application servers provide graphical user interfaces to define JCA resources, but others require the administrator to write XML deployment plans. It is therefore beyond the scope of this documentation to provide information about how to configure the IBM MQ resource adapter for each application server.

The following steps therefore focus only on what you need to configure. Refer to documentation supplied with your application server for information about how to configure a JCA resource adapter.

Procedure

Define JCA resources in the following categories:

Define the properties of the ResourceAdapter object.
These properties, which represent the global properties of the resource adapter, such as the level of diagnostic tracing, are described in Configuration of the ResourceAdapter object.
Define the properties of an ActivationSpec object.
These properties determine how an MDB is activated for inbound communication. For more information, see Configuring the resource adapter for inbound communication.
Define the properties of a ConnectionFactory object.
The application server uses these properties to create a JMS ConnectionFactory object for outbound communication. For more information, see Configuring the resource adapter for outbound communication.
Define the properties of an administered destination object.
The application server uses these properties to create a JMS Queue object or JMS Topic object for outbound communication. For more information, see Configuring the resource adapter for outbound communication.
Optional: Define a deployment plan for the resource adapter.
The IBM MQ resource adapter RAR file contains a file called META-INF/ra.xml, which contains a deployment descriptor for the resource adapter. This deployment descriptor is defined by the XML schema at https://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/connector_1_5.xsd and contains information about the resource adapter and the services that it provides. An application server might also require a deployment plan for the resource adapter. This deployment plan is specific to the application server.

Specify JVM system properties as required:

If you are using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), specify the locations of the keystore file and truststore file as JVM system properties, as in the following example:
```
java ... -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStore= 
key_store_location
         -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=trust_store_location
         -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword=key_store_password
```
These properties cannot be properties of an ActivationSpec or ConnectionFactory object, and you cannot specify more than one keystore for an application server. The properties apply to the whole JVM, and might therefore affect the application server if other applications, running in the application server, are using SSL connections. The application server might also reset these properties to different values. For more information about using SSL with IBM MQ classes for JMS, see Using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) with IBM MQ classes for JMS.
Optional: If required, configure the resource adapter to log warning messages to your application server's standard output log.
The resource adapter logs, warning, and error messages use the same mechanism as the IBM MQ classes for JMS. For more information, see Logging and IBM MQ classes for JMS. This means that, by default, the messages will go to a file called mqjms.log. To configure the resource adapter to additionally log warning messages to your application servers standard output log, set the following JVM system property for your application server:
```
-Dcom.ibm.msg.client.commonservices.log.outputName=mqjms.log,stdout
```
For information on how to set a JVM system property, see your application server documentation.

Configure the resource adapter to run the installation verification test

Configure the resource adapter to run the installation verification test (IVT) program supplied with the IBM MQ resource adapter.
For information about what you need to configure in order to run the IVT program, see The installation verification test program for the IBM MQ resource adapter.
Important: You must configure the resource adapter before you can run the program.