IBM: MQ PowerPack Release Notes, version 104

Version 104 of the IBM: MQ PowerPack has been updated for Python 3.6 compatibility.

  • Minimum Required SL1 Version: 12.1.0

Before You Install

Ensure that you are running version 12.1.0 or later of SL1 before installing "IBM: MQ" PowerPack version 104.

For details on upgrading SL1, see the relevant SL1 Platform Release Notes.

Installation Process

To install version 104 of the IBM: MQ PowerPack, perform the following steps:

By default, installing a new version of a PowerPack will overwrite all content in that PowerPack that has already been installed on the target system. You can use the Enable Selective PowerPack Field Protection setting in the Behavior Settings page (System > Settings > Behavior) to prevent the new version of the PowerPack from overwriting local changes for some commonly customized fields.

If you are currently using the Dynamic Applications in this PowerPack to monitor devices, collection errors might occur for one or two polling cycles during the installation of a new version. To prevent collection errors during an upgrade, you can optionally disable collection for monitored devices before performing the following steps and re-enable collection after the upgrade.

To install this PowerPack:

  1. Familiarize yourself with the Known Issues for this release.
  2. See the Before You Install or Upgrade section. If you have not done so already, upgrade your system to the 12.1.0 or later release.
  3. Download the "IBM: MQ" version 104PowerPack from the Support Site to a local computer.
  4. Go to the PowerPack Manager page (System > Manage > PowerPacks). Click the Actions menu and choose Import PowerPack. When prompted, import "IBM: MQ" version 104.
  5. Click the Install button. For details on installing PowerPacks, see the chapter on Installing a PowerPack in the PowerPacks manual.

See the manual Monitoring IBM MQ for instructions on using the new PowerPack.

Features

This release includes the following features:

  • Dynamic Applications to discover, model, and monitor performance metrics and collect configuration data for IBM MQ devices
  • Event policies that are triggered when IBM MQ devices meet certain status criteria
  • Example credentials that you can use to connect to IBM MQ devices
  • Device classes for each of the IBM MQ components that the PowerPack can monitor
  • Two device dashboards that display information about Queues and Queue Managers
  • A universal credential and guided discovery

Enhancements and Issues Addressed

The following enhancements and addressed issues are included this release of the "IBM: MQ" PowerPack:

  • This PowerPack is now Python 3.6 compliant.
  • Addressed an issue in the "IBM: Queue Performance" Dynamic Application displayed incorrect labels. Moved all labels to Group 0, removed the Stats label, and updated the alerts tied to those labels. (Cases: 00392676; 00404130)
  • Improved the "IBM: MQ Queue Performance" Dynamic Application by implementing a new parser.
  • Addressed an issue in which not all MQ QMGRs were being discovered by the "IBM: MQ Discovery" Dynamic Application. (Case: 00357992)
  • Updated the "IBM: Queque Performance" Dynamic Application to improve the performance execution for PowerShell request.
  • Added the “IBM MQ: Queue message depth back to normal” and "IBM MQ: Transmission Queue back to normal" alerts and events to the "IBM: MQ Queue Performance" Dynamic Application.
  • Updated the Universal Credential to allow the Password field to accept empty values and updated the PEM Key field to allow multiple lines of input.

Known Issues

The following known issues affect version 104 of the IBM: MQ PowerPack:

  • Concurrent SSH collection is not supported with this PowerPack and should not be enabled. Concurrent SSH collection was removed from SL1 versions 11.1.6.1 and later.
  • For Windows users, in the "IBM: MQ Cluster Channel Configuration" Dynamic Application, when a channel is configured with a cluster and that cluster is deleted, the status for that cluster cannot be returned.
  • For Windows users, in the "IBM: MQ Cluster Channel Configuration" Dynamic Application, the "CLUSSDRA" and "CLUSSDRB" are shown as "CLUSSDR".
  • For Windows users, the "IBM: MQ Discovery" Dynamic Application currently does not return "Connections", "Parent Queue Manager", or "Start Date" metrics. On some MQ installations, SL1 may be unable to collect the "Standby Host" property.
  • For Windows users, the "IBM: MQ Queue Manager Configuration" Dynamic Application currently does not return "Connections", "Parent Queue Manager", or "Start Date" metrics.