Installing IBM MQ classes for .NET
IBM® MQ classes for .NET, including samples, are installed with IBM MQ on Windows and Linux®
Prerequisites and installation
IBM MQ 9.4.0 provides an IBM MQ .NET client library built against .NET 6 as the target framework. From IBM MQ 9.4.0, Microsoft .NET 6.0 is the minimum required version for running applications using IBM MQ libraries that are built using .NET 6 as the target framework. The IBM MQ .NET client library built using .NET 6 as the target framework is available under MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH/bin on Windows and under MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH/lib64 on Linux.
From
IBM MQ 9.4.0, IBM MQ supports .NET 8 applications using IBM MQ classes for .NET. If you are using a
.NET 6 application, you can run this application
without any recompilation being required by making a small edit in the
runtimeconfig file to set the targetframeworkversion
to
"net8.0"
.
From IBM MQ 9.4.0, in IBM MQ classes for .NET, the methods WriteObject(), ReadObject(), CreateObjectMessage(), and the classes ObjectMessage and XmsObjectMessageImpl used for serialization and deserialization of data are deprecated.
The IBM MQ .NET client library built using .NET Standard 2.0, which was deprecated at IBM MQ 9.3.1, has been removed from the product at IBM MQ 9.4.0.
The latest version of IBM MQ classes for .NET is installed by default as part of the standard IBM MQ installation in the Java and .NET Messaging and Web Services feature.
- See Requirements for IBM MQ classes for .NET for the prerequisite software to run IBM MQ classes for .NET.
- See Installing IBM MQ server on Windows or Installing an IBM MQ client on Windows systems for installation instructions.
- See Requirements for IBM MQ classes for .NET for the prerequisite software to run IBM MQ classes for .NET.
- For rpm installation instructions, see Installing an IBM MQ client on Linux systems.
- For Linux Ubuntu, using Debian packages, see Installing an IBM MQ client on Linux systems.
The IBM MQ classes for .NET Standard library, amqmdnetstd.dll, is available for downloading from the NuGet repository. For more information, see Downloading IBM MQ classes for .NET from the NuGet repository.
amqmdnetstd.dll library
- On Windows: MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH\bin. The sample applications are installed in MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH/samp/dotnet/samples/cs/core/base.
- On Linux: MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH\lib64. The .NET samples are in MQ_INSTALLATION_PATH/samp/dotnet/samples/cs/core/base.
The amqmdnet.dll library for .NET Framework is still supplied, but this library is stabilized; that is, no new features will be introduced into it. For any of the latest features you must migrate to the amqmdnetstd.dll library. However, you can continue to use the amqmdnet.dll library on IBM MQ 9.1 or later Long Term Support or Continuous Delivery releases.
- If you are using a IBM MQ classes for .NET Framework application that is
built using the netstandard2.0 libraries such as
amqmdnetstd.dll, you need to rebuild your application with the Microsoft.NET Framework
4.7.2 libraries such as amqmdnet.dll, in order for your application to run
successfully. If you do not rebuild your application, you might get an System.IO.Unexceptionable
message:
Exception caught: System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'amqmdnetstd, Version=9.3.5.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=23d6cb914eeaac0e' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040) File name: 'amqmdnetstd, Version=9.3.5.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=23d6cb914eeaac0e' at SimplePut.SimplePut.PutMessages() at SimplePut.SimplePut.Main(String[] args) in C:\SampleCode\Program.cs:line 132
- If you are using a .NET 6 application that is built
using netstandard2.0 libraries, then you just need to replace those libraries
with the same .NET 6 libraries in the
bin folder of the application runtime directory. No rebuild is
required.Note: The replacement .NET 6 library should always be of the same or higher level than the replaced netstandard2.0 library.
dspmqver command
You can use the dspmqver command to display version and build information for the .NET Core component.
Feature comparison between IBM MQ classes for .NET Framework and IBM MQ classes for .NET
The following table lists the features for IBM MQ classes for .NET Framework compared with the features for IBM MQ classes for .NET
Feature | IBM MQ classes for .NET Framework | IBM MQ classes for .NET |
---|---|---|
Class Names (APIs) | All classes remain the same in each network. | All classes remain the same in each network. |
Operating System | Windows |
Windows
Dockerized containers Linux macOS |
app.config file (Configuration file to enable Trace in redistributable client) | app.config file is used to enable trace for the redistributable package
and stand-alone IBM MQ
.NET client. See Tracing an IBM MQ classes for .NET Framework client using an application configuration file for more information on the variables you use for trace, including MQTRACEPATH and MQTRACELEVEL. |
app.config is not supported. Use environment variables. |
Trace | For a full client installation of IBM MQ, you can
use the strmqtrc command to enable trace for IBM MQ classes for .NET Framework. For redistributable clients, the app.config file is also used to enable trace. For more information, see Tracing IBM MQ .NET applications. From IBM MQ 9.4.0, you can enable and disable trace by using the mqclient.ini file and setting the appropriate properties of the Trace stanza. You can also enable and disable tracing dynamically with the mqclient.ini file. For more information, see Tracing IBM MQ .NET applications with mqclient.ini. |
The environment variable MQDOTNET_TRACE_ON is used to enable trace for redistributable clients. Values equal to and less than 0 do not enable trace. A value of 1 enables default level tracing. A value greater than 1, enables detailed tracing. Setting this environment variable to any other value like string does not enable trace. See Tracing IBM MQ .NET applications using environment variables. The MQDOTNET_TRACE_ON environment variable checks whether the IBM MQ trace directory is available or not. If the trace directory is available, the trace file is generated in the trace directory. However, if IBM MQ is not installed, the trace file is copied to the current working directory. Other environment variables including MQERRORPATH, MQLOGLEVEL, MQSERVER, and so on, that are used for IBM MQ classes for .NET Framework, can be used and work in the same way. From IBM MQ 9.4.0, you can enable and disable trace by using the mqclient.ini file and setting the appropriate properties of the Trace stanza. You can also enable and disable tracing dynamically with the mqclient.ini file. For more information, see Tracing IBM MQ .NET applications with mqclient.ini. |
Transport Modes | Managed, Unmanaged, and Bindings | Managed |
TLS | The Windows keystore is used for storing the certificates. |
On Windows, the keystore must be used for storing the certificates. Permitted values are *USER or *SYSTEM. Based on the input, the IBM MQ .NET client looks at the Windows key store of the current user, or System wide. On Linux, it is recommended to use the X509Store class to install certificates and .NET Core installs certificates to the following location: ".dotnet/corefx/cryptography/x509stores". |
CCDT | Supported | Supported, and the settings of the CCDT path are the same as for .NET Framework classes. |
Client auto reconnect | Supported | Supported |
Distributed transactions | Supported | Not supported |
Installation of dynamic linked libraries (dll's) into the global assembly cache (GAC) | Dll's are installed into the GAC as part of the IBM MQ installation. | Dll's are not installed into the GAC as part of the IBM MQ installation. |
Domain level authentication is not supported for IBM MQ classes for .NET (.NET Standard and .NET 6 libraries). The logged-in user ID is used for authentication.
Developing IBM MQ .NET Core applications on macOS
IBM MQ .NET Core applications can be developed on macOS.
The IBM MQ .NET libraries are not packaged with the macOS toolkit so you must copy them from a Windows or Linux IBM MQ client on to macOS. You can then use these libraries to develop IBM MQ .NET Core applications on macOS.
Once developed, these applications can be run supported on either Windows or Linux environments.