Using the WMQDotnetXAMonitor application

The IBM® MQ .NET client provides an XA Monitor application, WmqDotnetXAMonitor, that you can use to recover any incomplete distributed transactions. The WmqDotnetXAMonitor application establishes a connection to the queue manager where the transactions are in-doubt and then resolves the transaction based on the parameters that you set.

About this task

The WMQDotnetXAMonitor application must be run manually. It can be started at any time. You can start it when you see the messages on the SYSTEM.DOTNET.XARECOVERY.QUEUE or you can keep it running in the background before you do any transactional work with the applications that are written using IBM MQ .NET classes.

You can either set the parameter values for WMQDotnetXAMonitor through the command line or by using an application configuration file. Values that are provided through the application configuration file take precedence over values set through the command line.

Before IBM MQ 9.3.0, the connection that WMQDotnetXAMonitor establishes is a nonsecure connection.

From IBM MQ 9.3.0, you have the option of establishing a secure connection to the queue manager by setting additional parameters for WMQDotnetXAMonitor.

Procedure

  • To provide input to WmqDotNETXAMonitor by using an application configuration file, see WmqDotNETXAMonitor application configuration file settings.
  • To start the WMQDotnetXAMonitor application from the command line, use the following command with the parameters that you require:
    Before IBM MQ 9.3.0:
    WmqDotnetXAMonitor.exe -m QueueManagerName -n ConnectionName -c ChannelName -i
    From IBM MQ 9.3.0:
    WmqDotnetXAMonitor.exe -m QueueManagerName -n ConnectionName -c ChannelName -i -k SSL Key Repository -s Cipher Spec
    The parameters that you can specify are as follows:
    • -m QueueManagerName
      The queue manager name.
      Optional
      -n ConnectionName
      The connection name in host (port) format. ConnectionName can contain more than one connection name. Multiple connection names must be given in a comma separated list, for example localhost (1414), localhost (1415), localhost (1416). The WMQDotnetXAMonitor application runs the recovery for each of the connection names specified in the comma separated list.
      -c ChannelName
      The channel name.
      -i
      Heuristic branch completion.
      Optional
      -k SSL Key Repository
      The name of the SSL key repository. The supported values are:
      • *SYSTEM (this is the default value)
      • *USER
      Optional
      -s Cipher Spec
      The CipherSpec that you set must be one of the CipherSpecs for the supported version and it can preferably be the same as the one specified in the Windows Group Policy. For more information, see CipherSpec support for the managed .NET client.
      Mandatory for establishing a secure connection to the queue manager.
      -dn SSLPeer Name
      The SSL peer name used to check the Distinguished Name (DN) of the certificate from the peer queue manager.
      Optional
      -cl Certificate Label
      The label name that identifies the certificate.
      Optional
      -sn OutboundSNI
      Whether the Server Name Indication (SNI) should be set to the target IBM MQ channel name to the remote system when initiating a TLS connection, or to the hostname. The supported values for this option are:
      • CHANNEL (this is the default value)
      • HOSTNAME
      • *
      If no value is set then the default value, that is CHANNEL, is used.
      Optional
      -cr Certificate Revocation Check
      Whether certification revocation checking is to be done. The supported values for this option are:
      • true
      • false (this is the default value)
      Optional
      -kr KeyResetCount
      The total number of unencrypted bytes that are sent and received on the channel before the secret key used for encryption is renegotiated.
      The default value of 0 indicates that secret keys are never renegotiated
      Optional
    The WMQDotnetXAMonitor application performs the following actions:
    1. Checks the queue depth of SYSTEM.DOTNET.XARECOVERY.QUEUE at an interval of 100 seconds.
    2. If the queue depth is greater than zero, browses the queue for messages and checks if the messages satisfy the incomplete transaction criteria.
    3. If a message satisfies the incomplete transaction criteria, pulls it out, and retrieves the transaction recovery information.
    4. Determines if the recovery information relates to the local Microsoft Distributed Transaction coordinator (MS DTC). If this is the case, then WMQDotnetXAMonitor proceeds to recover the transaction, otherwise it goes back to browse the next message.
    5. Makes calls to the queue manager to recover the incomplete transaction.