PI84035: MFT Loggers and/or agents report a BFGBR0067E error during startup when running as a Started Task on z/OS

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• When using the MQ V8 Managed File Transfer component on z/OS, a
  logger that has been configured to run as a Started Task reports
  the following errors when it starts up:
  
  BFGPR0067E: An error occurred when processing the contents of a
  credentials file. File path //MQMFTCredentials.xml. Reported
  error:
  BFGIO0045E: The specified data set name //MQMFTCredentials.xml
  is not a valid data set name.
  
  Despite reporting the errors, the database logger starts
  successfully and works as expected.
  

Local fix

• No Local Fix
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  USERS AFFECTED:
  This issue affects two categories of user:
  
  Category 1:
  ---------------
  Users of:
  
  - The MQ V8.0 Managed File Transfer component on z/OS.
  - The MQ V9.0 Managed File Transfer component on z/OS.
  
  who have agents that are:
  
  - Configured to run as a Started Task.
  - And do not have the property:
  
      agentQMgrAuthenticationCredentialsFile
  
   set in their agent.properties file.
  
  Category 2:
  ---------------
  Users of:
  
  - The MQ V8.0 Managed File Transfer component on z/OS.
  - The MQ V9.0 Managed File Transfer component on z/OS.
  
  who have a database or file logger that has been:
  
  - Configured to run as a Started Task.
  - And does not have the property:
  
      loggerQMgrAuthenticationCredentialsFile
  
  set in their logger.properties file.
  
  
  Platforms affected:
  z/OS
  
  ****************************************************************
  PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:
  The MQMFTCredentials file is used by:
  
  - Agents, to determine which user identifier and password to
  flow to the agent queue manager for authentication and
  authorization when the agent starts up.
  - File and database loggers, to determine which user identifier
  and password to flow to logger's queue manager.
  
  When an agent starts up, one of the first things it does is to
  load the MQMFTCredentials file as specified by the property
  "agentQMgrAuthenticationCredentialsFile", to see if a user
  identifier and password needs to be passed to the agent queue
  manager for authentication and authorization.
  
  Similarly, when a logger starts up, it will load the
  MQMFTCredentials file specified by the property
  "loggerQMgrAuthenticationCredentialsFile", to see if a user
  identifier and password need to be passed to its queue manager
  for authentication and authorization.
  
  If the property has not been explicitly set, then the agent or
  logger uses the default value, as shown below:
  
  On Windows, the default value is:
  
    %HOMEDRIVE%\%HOMEPATH%\\mqmftcredentials.xml
  
   where %HOMEDRIVE% and %HOMEPATH% map to the home directory for
  the user that the agent or logger is running as.
  
  On all other platforms the default value is:
  
    $HOME/MQMFTCredentials.xml
  
  where $HOME is the home directory for the user that the agent or
  logger is running as.
  
  
  If the attempt to load the MQMFTCredentials file from the
  default location fails with an exception that contains one of
  the following errors:
  
  BFGPR0065E: The specified credentials file could not be found.
  File path: <default location>
  BFGPR0134E: The credentials file path <default location> cannot
  be a relative path.
  
  then the logger or agent will report the message:
  
  BFGPR0127W: No credentials file has been specified to connect to
  WebSphere MQ. Therefore, the assumption is that WebSphere MQ
  authentication has been disabled.
  
  to it's event log (output0.log) and then carry on with its
  initialization.
  
  Now, when:
  
  - Either an agent is running as a Started Task on z/OS and does
  not have the agentQMgrAuthenticationCredentialsFile property set
  in it's agent.properties file.
  - Or a logger is running as a Started Task on z/OS and does not
  have the loggerQMgrAuthenticationCredentialsFile property set in
  it's logger.properties file.
  
  it attempted to load the MQMFTCredentials file from the default
  location of "$HOME/MQMFTCredentials.xml". However, if the user
  that was running the Started Task did not have the "$HOME"
  variable set, then the agent or logger resolved the default
  location to be "//MQMFTCredentials.xml". This location was
  invalid, and so the attempt to load the MQMFTCredentials file
  from that location failed with an exception containing the
  error:
  
  BFGPR0067E: An error occurred when processing the contents of a
  credentials file. File path //MQMFTCredentials.xml. Reported
  error:
  BFGIO0045E: The specified data set name //MQMFTCredentials.xml
  is not a valid data set name.
  
  As this exception was unexpected, the agent or logger wrote the
  error to it's event log (output0.log) and then carried on with
  it's initalization.
  

Problem conclusion

• MQ Managed File Transfer agents and loggers on z/OS have been
  updated so that if:
  
  - An agent is configured to run as a Started Task, and does not
  have the property agentQMgrAuthenticationCredentialsFile set in
  it's agent.properties file
  - A logger is configured to run as a Started Task, and does not
  have the loggerQMgrAuthenticationCredentialsFile property set in
  it's logger.properties file.
  
  then the following warning message will be written to the agent
  or logger's event log (output0.log) during startup:
  
  BFGPR0127W: No credentials file has been specified to connect to
  WebSphere MQ. Therefore, the assumption is that WebSphere MQ
  authentication has been disabled.
  
  The agent or logger will then carry on with its initialization.
  
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  The fix is targeted for delivery in the following PTFs:
  
  Version    Maintenance Level
  v8.0       8.0.0.8
  v9.0 CD    9.0.4
  v9.0 LTS   9.0.0.3
  
  The latest available FTE maintenance can be obtained from
  'Fix List for WebSphere MQ File Transfer Edition 7.0'
  http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27015313
  
  The latest available MQ maintenance can be obtained from
  'WebSphere MQ Recommended Fixes'
  http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=171&uid=swg27006037
  
  If the maintenance level is not yet available information on
  its planned availability can be found in 'WebSphere MQ
  Planned Maintenance Release Dates'
  http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=171&uid=swg27006309
  ---------------------------------------------------------------
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  WMQ MFT Z/OS

• Fixed component ID

  5655MFT00

Applicable component levels

• R800 PSY

     UP