After 30 years IBM MQ is still rock solid and relevant
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
IBM MQ is a core integration mechanism for our apps. This allows our apps running on Linux on Power & X86, z/Linux, AIX, z/OS, Windows and iSeries to connect seamlessly. Guaranteed, and one time only, delivery of messages is critical to our operations. IBM MQ is incredibly robust and high performing which is especially important on high volume days. While the security features can be complex at first to implement, they definitely allow for a secure environment. Using an MQ to Kafka connector running in OpenShift has enabled us to publish to IBM Event Streams (Kafka) topics from apps connected to IBM MQ. Streaming of messages has been particularly useful in many ways. It's really up to your imagination on how to exploit this technology. One use case allowed us to stream messages to an upgraded app for live testing before switching from the old app to the new app.
Pros
- IBM MQ guarantees the delivery of messages.
- IBM MQ clustering allows for resiliency and scalability while minimizing admin overhead.
- It may be a simple thing but the adding of CAPEXPIRY has been a life saver for us.
- Being able to stream messages has made problem solving considerably easier, capturing test data possible, and to make duplicate copies of messages possible for various uses.
- Streaming of messages has allowed us to validate new changes in production before going live.
- The ability to connect apps running on all platforms is a strength of IBM MQ.
- IBM MQ channel authentication records has allowed us to add considerable security to our environments.
- Creating highly available queue managers using native HA in OpenShift solves a number of challenges that exists on VM.
Cons
- Some of the more advanced security features could be simplified.
- The renewing and managing of SSL certificates of 100's of queue managers and client apps is painful. Tooling to assist with, or centralizing, certificates on, say, an HSM would be beneficial.
- More auditing of changes and security events to log files, rather than events, for integration with SIEM tools is becoming especially important.
Return on Investment
- The reliability of IBM MQ. When you set it up properly you never need to think about it again. No after midnight calls.
- Never losing messages even when an app is down or a queue manager restarted. Not all apps have this requirement but for the ones that do, it is nice to know that the messages will always be there.
Usability
Other Software Used
IBM WebSphere Hybrid Edition, Red Hat OpenShift, IBM z/OS, GitLab
