IBM MQ Tracing

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You can trace IBM MQ messages by using an IBM MQ user exit. By using an IBM MQ user exit, you can gain valuable insights into the flow of messages and identify potential issues.

The IBM MQ Tracing user exit supports IBM MQ deployed on-premises and IBM MQ running in containers on a Red Hat OpenShift cluster.

Configuring IBM MQ Tracing

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To trace IBM MQ effectively, complete the following steps:

  1. Enable IBM MQ Tracing: To start tracing IBM MQ, activate the tracing user exit in your queue manager configuration.
  2. Configure IBM MQ Tracing: IBM MQ Tracing is configured by default. However, you can modify the IBM MQ Tracing configuration.
  3. Upgrade IBM MQ Tracing: When new versions are released, apply updates to the tracing user exit. When tracing is no longer needed, disable it to conserve system resources.

For environment-specific instructions, see:

Reporting tracing data

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After the IBM MQ tracing is configured, tracing data is reported as follows:

  • For IBM MQ that is deployed on premises, tracing data is reported to the Instana host agent on the same host.
  • For IBM MQ running in containers on a Red Hat OpenShift cluster, tracing data is reported to the Instana host agent that is deployed on the same node as the queue manager pod.

You can also configure IBM MQ Tracing for reporting tracing data to a remote host agent. See Configuration parameters.

Correlating tracing data

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Tracing data that is collected by IBM MQ Tracing user exit and other tracers can be correlated if trace context headers (trace correlation information) are set in IBM MQ messages.

IBM MQ Tracing supports the following trace context headers:

  • Instana trace context headers (X_INSTANA_T, X_INSTANA_S, and X_INSTANA_L)
  • W3C trace context headers (traceparent and tracestate)

When IBM MQ Tracing user exit requires propagating trace correlation information, it propagates Instana tracing headers and W3C trace context headers in IBM MQ messages.