WebSphere MQ for multiplatforms V7.1 readme

Content

Abstract
--------
This document contains the WebSphere MQ readme for product version 7.1.0.0

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DESCRIPTION
-----------
This file describes product limitations and known problems.

In addition to this file, you can find more information on the WebSphere MQ Web
site: http://www.ibm.com/software/integration/wmq/

The SupportPac Web page is at:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=977&uid=swg27007205

For current information about known problems and available fixes, see the Support
page of the WebSphere MQ Web site at:
http://www.ibm.com/software/integration/wmq/support/

Web documentation updates
The latest updates to the Web-based WebSphere MQ documentation are available from
the WebSphere MQ Web site at:
http://www.ibm.com/software/integration/wmq/library/

Announcement letter
The announcement letter for WebSphere MQ Version 7.1 (US English) is available at:
http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS211-395
(for distributed platforms), or
http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS211-394
(WebSphere MQ for z/OS ).

See the announcement letter for the following types of information:
- Detailed product description, including description of new function
- Product-positioning statement
- Ordering details
- Hardware and software requirements

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

UPDATE HISTORY
11 November 2011 - Updates for WebSphere MQ version 7.1.0.0

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++ ++
++ Limitations and known problems ++
++ ++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Migration of queue managers created at a version earlier than v6.0.1
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The data migration performed during strmqm when a queue manager is first started
with WebSphere MQ v7.1 may be prevented if the queue manager was originally
created by a version of WebSphere MQ earlier than 6.0.1.In this situation, the
strmqm command may fail and report the following error message: "AMQ7204:
WebSphere MQ queue manager 'QMNAME' cannot be started by this installation. It
has previously been started by a newer release of WebSphere MQ."

The problem is caused by a flaw in a consistency check performed by strmqm just
before the actual data migration begins.

A fix for the problem has been created and is available as APAR IV09544. If you
attempt to migrate such a queue manager onto WebSphere MQ v7.1, and experience
this problem, contact your IBM service representative for assistance.


Resource leak for connections on AIX
------------------------------------
Some internal resources are not cleaned up correctly for connections to queue
managers on the AIX platform, resulting in potential performance degradations
and ultimately resource exhaustion, particularly when using short-lived
connections.

A fix for the problem has been created and is available as APAR IV10239. If you
experience this problem, contact your IBM service representative for assistance.


TLS 1.2 error with CA-signed certificates
-----------------------------------------
A known issue in GSKit 8.0.14.12 results in an error when using TLS 1.2
CipherSpecs with CA-signed certificates. This problem results in the channel
failing to start with error AMQ9633. MQI client applications will return reason
code MQRC_SSL_INITIALIZATION_ERROR from the MQCONN and MQCONNX calls. Users of
self-signed certificates are not affected.

This issue is most likely to affect users migrating from WebSphere MQ v7.0 who
have picked up GSKit version 8 from FixCentral in order to use any of the
following TLS 1.2 CipherSpecs:
- TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
- TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA256
- TLS_RSA_WITH_NULL_SHA256

However, all of the TLS 1.2 CipherSpecs are affected on Windows, UNIX and
Linux platforms.

Affected users should contact their IBM support center to obtain an interim
fix.


Uninstallation on AIX and HP-UX
-------------------------------
There is logic in the uninstallation process to prevent inadvertent removal of
the WebSphere MQ installation in use for running queue managers. This logic has
been seen to be faulty on AIX and HP-UX, where it is possible to uninstall while
queue managers are still running, using that installation.

Please check carefully that all queue managers running on an installation you
intend to uninstall are shut down prior to the uninstallation process. Please
also check carefully that you are uninstalling the intended installation, as we
are unable on these platforms to prevent you from accidentally uninstalling a
different installation on which you still have running queue managers.


Windows migration to v7.1
-------------------------
If you migrate from an earlier version of WebSphere MQ to v7.1 on the Windows
platform, you may experience one or both of the following issues:

The MQ service and MQ Alert Monitor (task bar icon) may fail to restart
following migration, unless they are terminated prior to migration. These will
record errors visible in the event viewer, with symptoms such as amqxcs2.dll not
found, or Application SID does not match the Connection SID. The migration
process will succeed, and these errors can be ignored, but the MQ service and
Alert Monitor may need manual restart following migration.

After migration, the 'Remove Fix pack' icon(s) may not be removed from the Start
Menu. These icons can be safely removed manually since they apply to the pre-
migration installation at an earlier version.


HP-UX Non-IBM licence text display
----------------------------------
When viewing the Non-IBM licence text in text-only mode on HP_UX, no text is
visible. There are no Non-IBM licences applicable, but this is not made clear
when viewing in this mode.


Conversion from trial to production licence
-------------------------------------------
When converting from a trial to a production licence, the setmqprd command
must be run against a valid production licence file (e.g.
setmqprd C:\installMedia\Licenses\amqpcert.lic). Running against any other file
may result in corruption of the installation's licence and occurrence of the
error message "AMQ7155: License file not found or not valid" when you
subsequently attempt to use MQ commands - including "setmqprd" itself.

In order to recover it is recommended that you restore the trial licence:

On Windows, rename the file amqtcert.lic.bak in <MQ_INSTALLATION>/bin to
amqtcert.lic.
On Linux and Unix, rename amqtcert.lic.bak in <MQ_INSTALLATION>/lib to
amqtcert.lic

You can then issue setmqprd against the correct production licence file.


WebSphere MQ Telemetry Service log file permissions on UNIX/Linux
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The permissions for log files created by the WebSphere MQ Telemetry Service
(mqxr.log, mqxr.stdout, mqxr.stderr) are not consistent with other WebSphere
MQ log files and may require an authorised user to modify the permissions to
enable other users to read their contents, for example when diagnosing
problems.


WebSphere MQ Telemetry Service diagnostics location on Windows
--------------------------------------------------------------
If a non-default top-level folder for data files is specified when installing
WebSphere MQ on Windows, an error in the WebSphere MQ Telemetry Service logic
can sometimes cause 'errors' and 'trace' folders to be created in c:\\opt\mqm
rather than in the specified location. Diagnostics for any subsequent problems
may be written to this incorrect location.

This problem is under investigation for a potential fix. If you experience
problems in this area please contact your IBM service representative.


MQ Explorer FFST during startup
-------------------------------
If launching MQ Explorer from the command line you may see a message to say
"FFST called when already creating FFST". This is benign and it can be safely
ignored.

This problem is under investigation for a potential fix. If you are concerned
by these FFST reports or experience problems that you believe may be related to
them, please contact your IBM service representative.


MQ Explorer scheme migration
----------------------------
There is a defect when migrating from a previous version of MQ Explorer. If, in
the previous version, you edited the Standard Scheme (the columns shown in the
tables for Queue Managers, Queues, Listeners, etc.) without changing the name
of the scheme, then after migration MQ Explorer will list two schemes with the
same name. They are different but only one can be selected.

To get around this issue you can either rename your Standard Schemes before you
migrate, or you can rename one of the schemes after migration to a different name
so both can work.


MQ Explorer schemes import for v6 pub/sub
-----------------------------------------
Publish/Subscribe scheme attributes (aka column names) in MQ Explorer get lost
after an import of schemes. This can result in seeing numbers instead of
attribute names as column headings when viewing objects such as Topics and Topic
Status on remote v6 queue managers.

This issue can be mitigated by either deleting the current WMQ_Schemes.xml file
in the workspace or by connecting to a v6 queue manager that uses the pub/sub
schemes and viewing the applicable objects prior to the import.


MQ Explorer v7.0.1.6 co-existence
---------------------------------
When v7.1 and v7.0.1.6 installations co-exist, the MQ Explorer for each
installation is intended to filter out queue managers from other installations.
MQ Explorer v7.0.1.6 does not filter out v7.1 queue managers, and these may be
seen to show incorrect status. They should be ignored, and queue managers should
only be managed from within the MQ Explorer for the installation these queue
managers are using.

We are expecting to address this issue in Fix Pack 7.0.1.7.


XMS .NET application hang when closing a long waiting consumer
--------------------------------------------------------------
For Windows applications using IBM Message Service Client for .NET (aka
XMS .NET), in unmanaged client mode, a hang delaying closure of the application
can be observed if consumer.close() is called subsequent to a client
reconnection.

Unmanaged client mode is configured via the connection factory connection mode
property set to XMSC.WMQ_CM_CLIENT_UNMANAGED. If this is used in combination
with automatic client reconnection, and a reconnection occurs, then calls to
consumer.receive() or consumer.receive(wait), where wait is an extended timeout
period, will hang during closedown due to a clash with the processing in
consumer.close().

Affected users should contact their IBM support center to obtain an interim
fix.


Inaccuracies in Information Center
----------------------------------
The Information Center, as installed within the installation image, contains
description of some fields in event messages that do not exist. These fields are
ConnName and ChannelName on all event types and ObjectType on Not Authorized
(type 2).

We intend to rectify these inaccuracies in an online refresh of the Information
Center.


Running the Information Center from a CD
-------------------------------------------------
The Information Center can not be run directly from the CD. Please follow
these instructions to copy the files onto your local hard drive.

1. Create an empty folder on your local hard drive.
2. Copy all the files and their directory structure from the CD to your new folder.
3. On Linux only, open a terminal and navigate to the new folder.
4. On Linux only, run "chmod -R u+wx *".
5. Navigate to the ibm_help folder.
6. On Windows, run the command help_cd_start.bat. On Linux, run the command ./help_cd_start.sh.

After a short time a browser window opens with the Information Center.

FIPS and Suite B Standards
--------------------------
The SSL/TLS FIPS standard enforced by each WebSphere MQ fixpack on the Linux,
UNIX and Windows platforms is as follows:

7.1.0.0 - FIPS 140-2: July 15, 2011 version

The SSL/TLS FIPS standard enforced by WebSphere MQ on the z/OS platform
depends upon the System SSL version in use. Consult your System SSL documentation
for more information.

The Suite B standard enforced by each WebSphere MQ fixpack on the
Linux, UNIX and Windows platforms is as follows:

7.1.0.0 - RFC 5430