Choosing how you want to use IBM MQ in containers

There are multiple options for using IBM® MQ in containers: you can choose to use pre-packaged certified containers, or you can build your own images and deployment code.

Using the IBM MQ Advanced certified containers

If you are planning to deploy on Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform, then you probably want to use the certified containers. There are three varieties of certified container:

IBM MQ Advanced certified container for IBM Cloud Pak® for Integration. This is a separate IBM product that includes a version of a certified container.
IBM MQ Advanced certified container
IBM MQ Advanced for Developers certified container (unwarranted)

IBM MQ 9.1.4 and earlier CD releases were also supported on IBM Cloud® Private and IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service.

Note that the certified containers are evolving rapidly, and are therefore only supported under Continuous Delivery releases.

The certified containers include both pre-built container images, as well as deployment code for running on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. From IBM MQ 9.1.5 onwards, queue managers are managed using an IBM MQ Operator. Prior versions of IBM MQ, up to and including version 9.1.5, are managed using Helm charts.

Some IBM MQ features are not supported when using the certified containers. You will need to build your own images and charts if you want to do any of the following:

Use the REST APIs for administration or messaging
Use any of the following MQ components:
- Managed File Transfer Agents and its resources. However you can use the certified containers to provide one or more Coordination, Command, or Agent queue managers.
- AMQP
- IBM MQ Bridge to Salesforce
- IBM MQ Bridge to blockchain (not supported in containers)
Use the web server when you're deploying using Helm charts (except for IBM Cloud Pak for Integration)
Customize options used with crtmqm, strmqm and endmqm, such as configuring recovery logs

Building your own images and charts

This is the most flexible container solution, but it requires you to have strong skills in configuring containers, and to own the resultant container. If you aren't planning to use Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, then you will need to build your own images and deployment code.

Samples for building your own images are available. See Building your own IBM MQ container. The Helm charts provided as part of the certified containers are published on GitHub, and can be used as samples for when you are building your own images: