WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2010

WebSphere MQ

WebSphere MQ Health Check

Shahryar Sedghi (ssedghi@us.ibm.com)
Executive Consultant
WebSphere Lab Services

IBM Corporation 2012

IBM Corporation 2010

WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Acknowledgement
l Material in this presentation is the accumulation of many WMQ
Healthcheck engagements by WebSphere Lab Services
Consultants at customer sites
l Special thanks to Robert (Bobbee) Broderick for collecting the
majority of these items ( rkbroder@us.ibm.com)

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

What does WebSphere MQ do?

Provides the back bone messaging
services for your SOA to applications
and Web services that need to
exchange data and events with:
Proven reliability
Transactional integrity
Consistency Application A Application Z

Time independence
Ease and Speed
WebSphere
Flexibility MQ
High-performance
Security MQ is like email for SOA applications
but email you can bet the business on
Scalability
Auditability

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Why a WebSphere MQ Health Check

Mediate existing and unrealized issues
Tap into SME knowledge
New features
Product Roadmap
Industry usage / customer experience
Business alignment
ROI

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Benefits
l Review Customers WebSphere MQ Environment
l Determines the health of the customers WebSphere MQ
l Provides a Architecture Review
- Physical, Logical Architecture
- Application architecture
- Operational procedures
l Analyze application messaging
l Review existing and future positioning
l Review application programming, verify the programmatic approach
l Review Security implementation
l Review capacity
l Review Standards and Governance
l Review SLA requirements

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Heathcheck At a Glance
Pre-Engagement activities
Setting the expectations
Discussing the issues
Filling up a questionnaire
On-Site Enragement
Interviews
Meetings
Possible Code Reviews
Final Presentation
Deliverables
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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Presentations
Customer Facing
Deliverable
Executive Summary
Engagement detail
Recommendations
Prioritized
Append Documentation

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Deliverables
Assessment Document, including all or any item applies:
l

Executive Summary
Architecture Review
Topology, Configuration
Messages
WMQ Code Review
Naming Standards
Logging
Error Processing
Backups/Recovery
High Availability
Queue Sharing Groups Features
Monitoring
Security
Accountability
Performance
Operations
Governance
Skills/Roles
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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Deliverables - Best Practices

Installation
Configuration
Development
Security
Performance
Product Stack

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Topology
l Components
l Intercommunication
- Clustering
l Overlapping clusters
- Distributed Queuing
l WMQ Clients
- Transactional
- Non-Transactional

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Configuration
l Applications
- Java, C/COBOL, CICS, IMS, RRS, DB2, .NET (XMS)
l WMQ clients
- Client Configuration, Reconnection
l Queue Managers
- Clustering
- Services (Channel Initiator, Listeners, Triggering, Exits,etc)
- Objects (Queues, Channels, etc)
- High Availability / Disaster Recovery
- Security
l Shared Queues (Z)
l Channel exit programs
l WAS Integration with MQ
l SIBus, MQ Link
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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Messages
l What are the Message formats? (Headers, data, etc)
l What are the Message sizes?
l What are the message types?
- Request/Reply
- Fire and Forget
- Pub/Sub
l What is the message flow between components?
l What is the Message persistence?
- Persistent/Nonpersistent
l Is Triggering used?

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

WMQ Code Review

Application Integration
Client usage JMS
XA requirements
Messaging Patterns
Unique Requirements are they required
Performance
- http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/perfharness?open&ca=drs-aw-
fb&S_TACT=105AGX21&S_CMP=AWRSSFB
Monitoring
Auditing

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Naming Standards
l Queue Manger
l Queues

l Channels

l Processes

l Listeners

l Clusters

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Logging
l How is logging implemented?
- Circular vs Linear
- Is it a right decision?
l Are defaults used, when creating the queue
manager?
l If using Linear are clean up scripts in place?

l Are the Archived logs being saved? How long?

l Is the space for logging sufficient?

l Access, Tools (z/OS, distributed)

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Error Processing
l Do the applications have error processing implemented?
l How WMQ clients handle a broken connection?
- HA Machines
- Auto-Reconnect
l Are backout queues defined?
l Dead-Letter Queue defined?
l How Dead letter queue messages are handled?
- Is Dead Letter queue handler in place?
- Are rules defined?

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Backups/Recovery
l Are there scripts taking backups of Objects?
l Are there scripts taking backups of Authorities?
l Backups of ini files and exit directories?
l Backups of SSL keyrings?
l If file system backups are performed, does this happen while
WMQ is shut down?
l Are the backups stored off of the server?
l Are there scripts to rebuild all the MQ objects? Authorities?
l Are these scripts secured? (Location)
l Are DB2 databases used by WMQ backed-up?
l How frequently do these back-ups occur?
l Is Change/Version control implemented?
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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

High Availability
l Is High Availability implemented?
- Multi-Instance Queue Managers
- OS Clustering:
l Power-HA (HACMP),
l Veritas
l SUN Cluster
l VMWare
l Are the resources set up correctly
l Failover testing procedures
l Is there DR replication to a DR site
l Is there a DR test plan in place
l Are Client Channels being used for connection faliover

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Queue Sharing Groups Features

l Intra-group queuing?
l Group listener?
l Shared channels?

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Monitoring
l Implementation
- Proprietary scripts
- Vendor package
l Queues
l Channels
l OS File System
l Processes
l Statistics
l Usage

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Security
l Authorization
- How are the MQ Objects secured?
- OAM (ie RACF, setmqauth) or External (ie MQAMS)
- How Is security controlled at the Queue manager level or queue-
sharing group level checking?
l Authentication
- Three types of remote identity to authenticate
l Other QMgrs
l Service accounts
l Interactive user
- Is there an MCAUSER set (statically or via an exit) on EVERY
inbound channel on the QMgr?
- Is there any 3rd party connectivity?
l Queue Manager Hardening
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Accountability
l Is admin access restricted to administrators?
l Is there an audit trail of administrative activity? (SOX,
HIPAA compliance)
l Is application isolation required? If so is it implemented
effectively?

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Performance
l How is the environment monitored?
- 3rd party Software?
- Support Pacs?
l How is performance measured? (message rate,
response time)
l What is the peak application message rate?
l What is the application availability? 24X7
l What tools are used to monitor performance?
l Is there ongoing performance tuning?
l Are the file systems created correctly (separate FS, High
Speed Disks)
- /var/mqm/logs
- /var/mqm/qmgrs
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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Operations
l Run Books in place
l Event notification (ie. EMAIL, SMS)
l Application escalation list
l In addition to start scripts, are the STOP scripts in place?
l Are channels and listeners on HA clusters bound to the virtual
address?

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Governance
l Processes covering:
- Deployment
- Fixpack installation
- Regression testing
- Migration
l Potential Migration concerns

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Skills/Roles
l Does an MQ Admin Role exist?
l Does the staff require immediate training to operate the
system successfully?
l Is there a continuing education plan for the staff?
l Are the administrative and productivity tools in place
sufficient?

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

Summary
WebSphere MQ - World leader in messaging technology

Health check provide vital information for the SOA infrastructure

Up to date information

Maximize ROI

Ask your WebSphere Services Sales Rep

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WebSphere MQ: Healthcheck 2012

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Questions
l Q&A

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