Alphacourt presents a class to teach the delegates how to install, configure and implement IBM’s WebSphere MQ messaging middleware product on Microsoft’s Windows platform.

The course is available at two different code levels, version 5.3 and version 6.0.  The user interface changed significantly between these two releases and each version of the course reflects these changes in terms of the examples and practical exercises etc.

This three day class will equip the delegate with the ability to install WebSphere MQ on a Windows machine, create and configure queue managers so that they can operate independently and inter-operate with other queue managers.  Also the attendee will be able to set up the required queues, alias queues etc. to implement an application system using WebSphere MQ.

Building on a foundation gained by attending the Alphacourt Technical Appreciation course (or an equivalent), the attendee will extend their knowledge of WebSphere MQ.  Upon completion of the course, delegates will be competent WebSphere MQ administrators.

Focusing primarily on the administration role, the delegate will be given insight into the problems faced by WebSphere MQ programmers and designers, to the point where they will know what questions to ask of developers when implementing the WebSphere MQ infrastructure.  They will also appreciate why such questions are necessary and relevant.

This class is intended for trainee WebSphere MQ administrators on Microsoft’s Windows platform. The course is geared to Windows and all examples are expected to be implemented on Windows machines.

Any administration course must, by its nature, be platform specific to a degree. However, the information gained from this course will be 95% applicable to other platforms (non OS390 / OS400). Should you have a requirement to train people on multiple platforms, please contact us so that we can put together short presentations that will extend the knowledge gained here to other platforms. The length of these extra presentations depends upon the other platforms required.

This course has extensive practical exercises that reinforce the lecture sessions.  On single company courses clients are free to use their on site equipment or machines provided by Alphacourt.  Delegates will each receive a complete set of class notes.

Pre-requisites

The delegate is expected to have a level of understanding of WebSphere MQ gained either from the Alphacourt Technical Appreciation course or equivalent course.

Class Outline

The course is basically designed around four areas of administration:

• Installation 
• Configuration 
• Implementation 
• Day-to-day administration

Installation

In this area, the student will simply install WebSphere MQ onto a Windows machine.  Actually, there is little else to be done here, installation is a simple matter.  However, we also take a look at planning issues that need to be addressed before moving onto the “configuration” stage, e.g. naming conventions.

Configuration

This involves the creation of the queue managers and the infrastructure that is needed to allow them to inter-operate with other WebSphere MQ queue managers.  Thus covered in this area are such things as:

• WebSphere MQ clients and servers 
• Choice of logging methods (circular or linear) 
• The use of and need for default transmission queues 
• The dead letter queue 
• Channels 
• Channel initiation 
• Clustering 
• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Configuration

Implementation

Here, we look at the things that may be needed to implement an application system that uses WebSphere MQ. Such sub-topics as the following will be covered:

• Alias queue 
• Triggering 
• Queue level security 
• “Poisoned” messages

Day-to-day administration

Finally, we look at the things that need monitoring on a daily (or hourly) basis.  This includes such sub-topics as:

• Starting and stopping the queue manager 
• Log archiving 
• Media images and recovery Trace 
• The dead letter queue handler 
• Security 
• Accounting and Statistics (version 6 only) 
• Real Time Monitoring (version 6 only) 
• Message Monitoring (version 6 only)

Summary

On completion of the class, delegates will be able to:

• Set up and administer WebSphere MQ on Windows and get it to inter-operate with other queue managers
• Understand some of the problems faced by programmers and designers.