Category Archives: IBMMQ

Anything related to IBM MQ – operations, administration, development, architecture, security, etc.

Command Server Gotcha

Posted on May 14, 2018 by T.Rob

The title of my last post, Client-based runmqsc gotcha, was a bit of a misnomer.  Although I stumbled onto it using runmqsc client, the root cause of the issue really lies with the Command Server.  That means anything that drives … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, IIB, MQ AMS, MQMFT, News | 1 Comment

Client-based runmqsc gotcha

Posted on May 3, 2018 by T.Rob

Most shops running more than a handful of queue managers end up writing a script or two that sends commands to runmqsc and parses the responses.  Until recently the options were to run those scripts locally or to access remote … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, MQTC | 3 Comments

When deprecated != deprecated

Posted on January 19, 2018 by T.Rob

Every now and then we hear that a cipher algorithm has fallen to a new cracking technique. This cascades into a new round of deprecating any ciphersuites that rely on the newly cracked algorithms.  Over the years we’ve moved from … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Parsing MQ error logs in Splunk

Posted on December 18, 2017 by T.Rob

A how-to tutorial and code samples for parsing #IBMMQ error logs in @Splunk.
#IBM @IBMChamp Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ | 7 Comments

MQ start/stop woes

Posted on October 22, 2017 by T.Rob

After I tweeted a link to an IBM blog post on how to start and stop IBM MQ using systemd, an IBMer responded to say “it surprised me to hear that some #IBMMQ customers have to manually restart their QMs … Continue reading →

Posted in Fail, IBMMQ | 4 Comments

Driving MQ admin cost, defects to near-zero

Posted on September 27, 2017 by T.Rob

The theme of my sessions at this year’s MQTC (and hopefully also at IBM Think if they are accepted) is cloud and virtualization, if you are reading the abstracts.  If you come to the session you find it’s really about … Continue reading →

Posted in Events, IBMMQ, MQTC | 1 Comment

Dude, IBM broke my stash!

Posted on July 28, 2017 by T.Rob

In case you hadn’t noticed yet, IBM has quietly changed the format of the stash file so that the various unstash programs no longer work. In this post I’ll discuss some of the security implications of that change and, since … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, Security | 2 Comments

Inaccurate MQ auths event messages

Posted on November 1, 2016 by T.Rob

The security maturity progression in MQ starts with access control.  First we isolate MQ Admin access, then add granular user and application access.  This class of security control is known as intrusion prevention.  After mastering that the next phase includes … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, News, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

MQ Password/CHLAUTH research – Exec Summary

Posted on October 25, 2016 by T.Rob

As of v8.0, MQ now can natively validate user IDs by checking the password against the Operating System or LDAP.  Checking against Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) was added in v8.0.0.4.  Prior to v8.0 it was necessary to use a channel … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Knowledge Center corrections

Posted on October 6, 2016 by T.Rob

Keen-eyed observers will have noticed that the MQ and IIB Knowledge Centers now have a floating “Contact Us” overlay at the bottom-right of the page.  There’s a bit of history there but long story short, for a while there was … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, IIB, News | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment