Multiple IBM MQ installations

IBM® WebSphere® MQ 7.1 introduced support for multiple IBM MQ installations on Windows, AIX®, HP-UX, Linux®, and Solaris (but not IBM i ) and gives you the option to install and select between one or more IBM MQ installations.

[z/OS]

z/OS

On z/OS® multiple releases can exist, but the information within this topic does not apply to z/OS.

Use STEPLIBs to control which level of IBM MQ is used.

For further information, see Coexistence.

Overview

You can select between:
  • Simplicity of maintaining a single IBM MQ installation.
  • Flexibility, by allowing up to a maximum of 128 IBM MQ installations on a system. The first of these 128 installs is reserved for an (optional) IBM WebSphere MQ 7.0.1 installation of level 7.0.1.6 or above. The other installations must be IBM WebSphere MQ 7.1 or above.

You can install multiple copies of the same code level; this is especially convenient for maintenance purposes.

For example, if you want to upgrade IBM WebSphere MQ 7.1.0.0 to IBM WebSphere MQ 7.1.0.1, you can install a second copy of IBM WebSphere MQ 7.1.0.0, apply the maintenance to bring it to IBM WebSphere MQ 7.1.0.1, and then move the queue managers across to the new installation.

You still have the original installation, so it is a simple matter to move the queue managers back if you encounter any problems.

Notes:
  1. [Solaris][Linux]On Linux and Solaris only, you must ensure that each package installed has a unique name.
    You need to use a tool to create a unique set of packages:
    • $ crtmqpkg PACKAGE_SUFFIX
    • This takes the IBM MQ installation packages, and repackages them with a new name of your choice. You then install as usual.
  2. All installations share a data directory; this is where mqs.ini is located for example.
  3. All installations share the same namespace for queue managers. This means that you cannot create several queue managers of the same name in different installations.
  4. IBM MQ installations are fully relocatable; each installation has a separate installation path. You can choose where you would like to install IBM MQ.
  5. IBM MQ resources have installation-scope resource isolation, so operations on one installation do not affect the others.

    This means that the resources created by one installation are isolated from those created by other installations. It enables actions, such as removing an installation of IBM MQ, while queue managers are running under another installation.

  6. Queue managers are "associated" with an installation You can move them, but you cannot migrate data back to earlier releases.

Working with multiple installations

To work with a queue manager, you need to use the commands from its installation. If you select the wrong installation, you see: 

AMQ5691: Queue manager 'MYQM' is associated with a different installation (Inst1)
To work with a queue manager, you have to use the control commands from its associated installation. You have a choice of:
  • Using the full path to the control commands, for example: 
    
$ MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH\bin\strmqm MYQM
    or
  • Setting the environment variables for an installation with one of: 
    
$ MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH/bin/setmqenv 's
$ setmqenv -m MYQM
$ setmqenv -n InstallationName
$ setmqenv -p MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH
You might consider using a shell script or batch file to set up the environment for each IBM MQ installation. You can use the setmqenv or crtmqenv commands to help with this.
  • setmqenv sets the values of the environment variables, such as PATH, CLASSPATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH, for use with an IBM MQ installation.
  • crtmqenv creates a list of the environment variables and their values for use with a particular IBM MQ installation. You can then use this list to incorporate into a shell script or batch file.

Commands

In general, you must use the commands for the correct installation. However, there are some exceptions: