Websphere MQ 7.1 Automatic Startup - ibm-mq

What is the best way to startup automatically Websphere MQ v7.1 queue managers during system startup? I see that there is a SupportPac for it, just want to make sure this is the right one. We have MQ running over 64-bit Linux. Thanks.

Yes, SupportPac MSL1 is the correct one for Linux.
Some other UNIX flavors can use this SupportPac as-is or with modifications. For Windows, specify the QMgr to be started automatically and the WMQ service will start it.
Update 26 Sep 2017
Responding to comments from byteborg, I checked and it seems IBM have removed SupportPac MSL1 for some reason, even from the list of withdrawn SupportPacs.
As it happens I'm at MQTC this week and lots of IBMers from Hursley Lab are here so I'll ask then to restore it or put it on Github. If they are able to do so, the internal review process to make that happen is extensive so it won't happen soon. If that doesn't work, I'll see about getting permission to host it myself. Stay tuned.
Update 1 Oct 2017
While at MQTC, Mark Taylor, the MQ Architect from IBM Hursley Labs, explained the removal of MSL1. Basically, "it didn't work" according to Mark. Instead, IBM have provided guidance in the form of an MQDev blog post Managing queue manager startup and shutdown on Linux with systemd. The post does pretty much what the headline says, and describes how to use systemd to start/stop MQ. Please refer to that post for details.

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JMS Activation spec on Liberty: "WAS_EndpointInitialState" full profile equivalent property?

We are migrating some apps from WAS full profile to WAS Liberty profile.
Some apps have MDBs and need JMS Activation Specs definitions connected to MQ.
In order to enforce strict FIFO ordering of messages in a cluster, we set the "WAS_EndpointInitialState" property to "INACTIVE" on those Activation Specs to tell WAS full profile to not start the Activation Spec on startup. When the cluster starts, we start (ie "resume") the activation on one server only.
Q: How to achieve this with Liberty (v16.0.x) ?
I don't see an equivalent parameter within the "properties.wmqJms" stanza.
Thanks
Liberty doesn't have an equivalent parameter/capability for activation specs.
You can open a request for enhancement here:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/?PROD_ID=544
In case it helps during the meantime, a crude way of simulating the capability is to start the server with the jmsActivationSpec elements commented out, and make configuration updates to uncomment as you want them activated.
Unfortunately as-is (with v16.0.0.3 and the current beta version), it is not possible to deploy an application with MDBs in production due to a serious lack on functionalities in Liberty profile (JMS Activations).
When using the jmsActivationSpec+ properties.wmqJms stanzas, it is impossible:
to configure the activation to stop after x failed tentatives to consume the message. Liberty tries to consume the message forever without any notification!!
to start the activation in an inactive state on startup., so it is impossible to enforce the FIFO paradigm on a Q when deployed in a cluster (or collective or other form of cluster)
Those are already captured in the following RFE:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/execute?use_case=viewRfe&CR_ID=95885
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/execute?use_case=viewRfe&CR_ID=95794
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/execute?use_case=viewRfe&CR_ID=88543
For us it's a clear no-go to move to WebSphere Liberty profile for those reasons
This is way too late for the OP, but in case someone comes here looking for a current answer.
Liberty / Open Liberty now offer (as of 18.0.0.1) such a function, which you can enable via the autoStart attribute, e.g.:
<jmsActivationSpec autoStart="false" id="myJMSActSpec"/>
See here for a quick example of how you would use the EndpointControl MBean and/or the server resume CLI command to start message delivery into the server.

Java.exe is not stopped after stopping Websphere application service

We have IBM Websphere 7.0 scheduled to run as windows service on Windows 7 / 2008 R2.
When this service is stopped, the java.exe process associated with this is not stopping. Hence it's a manual task to kill the process in Task manager.
Does anyone know how to make the java.exe also stop after the Websphere is stopped?
Thanks
Karthik
Take a thread dump of the Java process and see what it's doing. Perhaps it's waiting for some resource etc:
jps
jstack <pid>
Karthik,
Try switching on WASService Tracing (see pages 55 onwards in the following link)
http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2012/03/the-magic-of-doing-one-thing-a.html
Check the server's logs. Is the server really stopped? Do you see a log line saying that the server is stopped?
If not, then it means that something is preventing your server instance from stopping. I have seen it happening before when JavaEE code used to spawn long-running threads without closing them.
You can configure WebSphere to start with debugging support, and then connect to it via, say, Eclipse. Using Eclipse, you can look at the active threads on the server, including each thread's stack; that might help you track the problem down.
If the server's logs show that the server is stopped... well... that's what PMR's are for, I guess.

is it possible to get an alert when application went down?

I am using WebSphere 6.2 and my requirement is I admin have to get an alert when the application on the server stopped or server down .. How to achieve this ? In higher versions this feature is there ? please help me
Thanks in Advance ,
Raj
I'm assuming you mean WebSphere application server processes (rather than the physical server on which WebSphere is running) and individual applications running on those processes. I'm also assuming you mean when those elements have stopped unexpectedly rather than when somebody has deliberately stopped them.
If so, you're going to have to use external monitoring software to detect most of those conditions. We use a combination of scripts that scan for processes and specific error messages in logs and external site-monitoring software that checks for application responsiveness. Such scripts can be standalone, handwritten scripts, or run under generic monitoring tools from IBM (Tivoli) or 3rd-parties.
Alternatively, I think you should also be able to write something that uses JMX to read specific things about WebSphere state, and there is at least one sophisticated monitoring tool you could purchase, IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager (ITCAM) for Application Diagnostics, which can monitor WebSphere internals.

What is Command level in MQ Series?

In Websphere MQ series , command level for a queue manager is 701. What does it actually specify ?
WebSphere products use a "[version].[release].[modification].[Fix Pack]" naming convention. For example 7.0.1.6 is the current release specified down to the Fix Pack level.
Fix packs are limited to bug fixes and very limited non-disruptive functionality enhancements.
Modifications can include functionality enhancements but no API changes. For example the Multi-Instance Queue Manager was introduced in 7.0.1.
Releases may introduce significant new function and limited API changes but are highly forward and backward compatible withing the same version.
Versions encapsulate a core set of functionality. Changes at this level may sacrifice some backward compatibility in trade for significant new functionality. For example, WMQ Pub/Sub was moved from Message Broker to base MQ in the V7 release.
Since administrative functionality does not change in Fix Packs but may change at the Modification level, compatibility with administrative tools is based on the queue manager's Command Level.
There is an old but still useful TechNote which described this when the numbering conventions were adopted for WMQ.
It displays the major version number of WMQ - e.g. 530,600,700,701. Despite being 'only' a .0.1 increment, WMQ 7.0.1 gets a new major version number due to a number of internal changes (e.g. multi-instance QMs), although WMQ 6.0.1.x and 6.0.2.x were both CMDLEVEL 600
Command level, although similar to the V.R.M.F, it not exactly the same thing. The Command level is used to allow configuration applications to know what commands (and attributes within those commands) will be understood by the command server.
The first thing any configuration application should do is discover the PLATFORM and CMDLEVEL of the queue manager. Then that application can determine which commands/attributes it would be acceptable to send to that queue manager.
It is possible that CMDLEVEL could be increased in the service stream. Then the V.R.M.F. would not necessarily match the CMDLEVEL. This would happen if some new external attributes were added in the service stream, so queue managers without that patch would not understand them, but queue managers with the patch would. How does an application determine what to send? Well, the CMDLEVEL would determine that and so would have to be upped by the patch.

How to identify users which are connected to a windows server via remote desktop

At my workplace, we have lab machines that we use to do our testing.
The standard procedure to reserve a machine for testing was to walk around the office to make sure that no one was using the machine.
This is highly inefficient and time consuming.
At first, I set up a web page where people could reserve the lab machine but nobody was keeping the page updated so that turned up to be useless.
I finally found a solution using Microsoft log parser and wanted to share it to the stack overflow community.
It is a batch file that runs on the machine so the user can identify the last users that use the machine and easily IM them to ask if the machine is free.
Is there a better solution to do this?
Use the built-in command qwinsta (Query Win Station) to figure out what sessions (including console) are active or inactive (disconnected) and then act on the given information (creds to krusty.ar btw for linking this already).
If you feel people are abusing the machine in question, refer to rwinsta to nuke their sessions into oblivion...
You will need to install the Microsoft Log Parser
Then create the following 2 files
TSLoginsDetails.sql
SELECT
timegenerated,
EXTRACT_TOKEN(Strings,1,'|') AS Domain,
EXTRACT_TOKEN(Strings,0,'|') AS User,
EXTRACT_TOKEN(Strings,3,'|') AS SessionName,
EXTRACT_TOKEN(Strings,4,'|') AS ClientName,
EXTRACT_TOKEN(Strings,5,'|') AS ClientAddress,
EventID
FROM Security
WHERE EventID=682
ORDER BY timegenerated DESC
TSLogins.bat
echo off
cls
c:
cd "c:\Program Files\Log Parser 2.2\"
logparser.exe file:TSLoginsDetails.sql -o:DATAGRID
Now by placing this batch file on the desktop, the user can see who were the last people to login and contact them by IM to verify if they are done.
How about posting the information from the log file to the website that tells who is currently using the machine as well.
Check and notify when they log in.
Updated the "who is using the machine" page you made prior.
Run a AT job that checks every couple of hours who is on it.
Totally out of the box:
You can install the Software Testing Automation Framework (STAF) on your servers and desktops to manage your tests. It's written in Java, so you can use it on Windows and Unix/Linux desktops and servers.
Using STAF, you can create a resource pool of test servers on which you conduct tests, then write STAX jobs (STAX is a STAF execution framework) to conduct the tests. The job can grab the first available server from the resource pool, run the test, monitor the test status, log results, notify the submitter, then release the server back into the pool when done. If you have multiple people submitting jobs for tests, STAF will manage the queue of requests and satisfy them as they came in. Users can either monitor the job from their desktop, or you can set up email alerts to notify them when the test is complete.
I'm not sure if I understand you, but there are a set of command line tools to deal with terminal server sessions, and there's also a Windows API to do the same if you need to do this from a program.
Since it sounds like you're a microsoft shop, you can set up the machines as resources in outlook/exchange and reserve them that way.

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