WebSphere MQ File Transfer Edition Agents and Queue Managers
Agents and Queue Managers are key components in WebSphere® MQ File Transfer Edition. Agents are the components that actually touch the files being transferred.
WebSphere MQ File Transfer Edition Agents
Files are transferred between agents. In each transfer there is a source agent and a destination agent. Source and destination agents interact with the file systems to create and retrieve files in a transfer. A source agent sends files, a destination agent receives files. By default, all agents are created to be both source and destination agents, so one agent can be a source agent for one transfer and a destination agent for another transfer.
Agents must be installed on each system with which you are transferring files. Each agent is associated with an agent queue manager and has its own set of queues that are maintained by the agent queue manager.
There are also Protocol Bridge Agents that interact with FTP servers to transfer files. These agents act as source and destination agents. For Sterling B2B Integrator, you must create a WebSphere MQ File Transfer Edition Agent Adapter to act as a Protocol Bridge Agent for file transfers within Sterling B2B Integrator to retrieve and deposit files in Sterling B2B Integrator mailboxes.
Transfer Types in Sterling B2B Integrator
- Inbound
- A transfer that moves a file into a Sterling B2B Integrator mailbox. The source agent is outside of Sterling B2B Integrator.
- Outbound
- A transfer that moves a file out of a Sterling B2B Integrator mailbox. The source agent is the WebSphere MQ File Transfer Edition Agent Adapter within Sterling B2B Integrator.
WebSphere MQ File Transfer Edition Queue Manager Roles
- Coordination queue manager
- This queue manager collects information from the messages about the agents and transfers in the network.
- Agent queue manager
- Each agent communicates only with its agent queue manager. Each agent has its own set of dedicated queues within its queue manager.
- Command queue manager
- Operational tools communicate with agents through the command queue manager.
A single queue manager can perform more than one role. A single queue manager can be the agent queue manager for several agents; but each agent associated with that agent queue manager will have its own queues within the agent queue manager.