Selecting the target HA architecture for IBM MQ running in containers

Choose between single instance (a single Kubernetes Pod) and multi-instance (two Pods) to meet your high availability requirements.

Before you begin

This task assumes that you have updated the queue manager configuration for a container environment.

About this task

The IBM® MQ Advanced certified container provides two high availability options:

  • Single instance: A single container (Pod) is started and it is the responsibility of OpenShift® to restart in the event of a failure. Because of the characteristics of a stateful set within Kubernetes, there are several situations in which this failover might take an extended period of time, or require an administrative action to be completed.
  • Multi-instance: Two containers (each in a separate Pod) are started, one in active mode and another on standby. This topology enables much faster failover. It requires a Read Write Many file system that meets IBM MQ requirements.

In this task you only choose the target HA architecture. Steps for configuring your chosen architecture are described in a subsequent task in this scenario (Creating the new queue manager on Red Hat OpenShift).

Procedure

  1. Review the two options.

    For a comprehensive description of these two options, see High availability for IBM MQ in containers.

  2. Select the target HA architecture.

    If you are unsure which option to choose, start with the Single instance option, and verify if this meets your high availability requirements.

What to do next

You are now ready to create the queue manager resources.