Introduction to changes for Windows on IBM MQ 8.0

A number of changes have been made for IBM® MQ 8.0 for Windows. You must understand these changes before planning any migration tasks using IBM MQ 8.0 for Windows.

Installing a single copy of the product

If you have an existing previous version of the product on your system, and want to upgrade to the latest version, you have various options. You can either:
  • Uninstall the previous version and then install the latest version,
  • Install the new copy alongside the currently installed one and uninstall the original at a later time. See Installing the product alongside an existing version, or
  • Perform a migration install, electing to replace the currently installed version when prompted.

After you have installed the product, start each queue manager and its data migration takes place. This includes the migration of queue managers from 32 bit to 64 bit.

Installing the product alongside an existing version

If you want to install another version of the product alongside your existing product you can do so. See Multiple IBM MQ installations and UNIX, Linux, and Windows: Side-by-side migration to a later version for further information.

When you install the new version of the product, run the setmqm command to associate the queue managers with the new installation.

Start each queue manager in turn and its data migration takes place.

Upgrading one of a pair (or more) of installations

If you already have, for example, a IBM WebSphere MQ 7.5 installation and an IBM MQ 8.0 installation on a machine, upgrading the Version 7.5 installation to Version 8.0 requires the following additional step.

When you start the Version 8.0 installer, you are asked whether you want to Install a new instance or Maintain or upgrade an existing instance.

However, only the other Version 8.0 installation, or installations, are displayed; not the Version 7.5 installation in the selection box. At this point, select Install a new instance.

After the splash screen has been displayed, a second panel appears, which lists any older installations that you can upgrade to Version 8.0 using the Version 8.0 installer.

On this panel, select Upgrade 7.5.0.n Installation 'Installation m', and then click Next.

Change of digital signature algorithm

The IBM MQ programs and installation image are digitally signed on Windows to confirm that they are genuine and unmodified.

In older releases the product was signed using the SHA-1 with RSA algorithm.

In IBM MQ 8.0, the SHA-256 with RSA algorithm is now used. Some old versions of Windows do not support the new digital signature algorithm, but those versions are not supported by IBM MQ 8.0.

See Hardware and software requirements on Windows(tm) systems, and ensure that you install IBM MQ 8.0 on a supported version of Windows.

Existing applications

All applications that were built with previous versions of the product continue to work with a 64 bit queue manager.

All applications using the C++ object interface need to be rebuilt; applications using the C interface are not affected.

Exits

Queue manager exits on Windows 64-bit operating systems must be compiled as 64-bit exits. Any 32-bit queue manager exits must be recompiled before they can be used with a 64-bit queue manager. If you try to use a 32-bit exit with a 64-bit queue manager on IBM MQ 8.0, an AMQ9535 "invalid exit" error message is issued.

Clients

32-bit client applications can connect transparently to queue managers from all supported versions of IBM MQ. This includes 64-bit IBM MQ 8.0.

Samples

The samples for the C and C++ languages are compiled as 64-bit.