There is not a lot of published information on WebSphere MQ best practices. The following is a list of books / manuals and web sites that I have found on MQ best practices:

DeveloperWorks Article: The top 15 WebSphere MQ best practices
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0807_hsieh/0807_hsieh.html?ca=drs-

DeveloperWorks Article: WebSphere MQ for iSeries Best Practices guide
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0605_rumsey/0605_rumsey.html

Web Site: Middleware News MQ Best Practices
http://middlewarenews.blogspot.com/2009/05/mq-best-practices.html

Web Site: WMQ Best practices
http://www.gse-nordic.org/Working%20Groups/GNRC/Conferences/2007/Mainframe%20Infrastructure/ae1

SupportPac MD01: MQSeries – Standards and conventions
https://www.capitalware.com/dl/docs/MQStandards.pdf

SupportPac MD00: MQSeries – Creating design standards for applications
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=171&uid=swg24006437&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&lang=en

Web Site: Sebastia’s “MQ and I” Best Practices
http://usuaris.tinet.cat/sag/mq.htm#mq_best_practices

DeveloperWorks Article: Mission: Messaging: Embracing cultural change in the WebSphere MQ community
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0809_mismes/0809_mismes.html

IBM Redbook: WebSphere MQ V6 fundamentals
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg247128.pdf

Anytime I do contract work as an MQ Admin, I make sure I am allowed to implement an application failover certification test. Golden Rule: The application’s production queues / queue managers do NOT get defined / created until the application has successfully passed the failover test.

I get totally screamed at by the application managers, directors, etc.. but in the end, the application passes my failover test (sometimes the application is not promoted on time but I never get those 2:00AM phone calls either). 🙂

For those who are curious, the failover test has 7 steps. After each and EVERY step the application MUST reconnect (in a reasonable amount of time 1,2,3 minutes) and continue processing messages.

• Test #1: Failover the queue manager from server ‘A’ to ‘B’
• Test #2: Stop the client-channel then failover queue manager from server ‘A’ to ‘B’
• Test #3: Get disable the application queue(s) then failover the queue manager from server ‘A’ to ‘B’. After the queue mangaer restarts on server ‘B’, enable the queues on ‘B’ server.
• Test #4: Stop the queue manager on server ‘A’, wait 15 minutes, start the queue manager on server ‘B’
• Test #5: Stop the client-channel, stop the queue manager on server ‘A’, wait 15 minutes, then start the queue manager on server ‘B’
• Test #6: Stop the queue manager on server ‘A’, wait 45 minutes, start the queue manager on server ‘B’
• Test #7: Stop the client-channel, stop the queue manager on server ‘A’, wait 45 minutes, then start the queue manager on server ‘B’

If an application including JMS applications, can pass my failover certification test then I create their production queues / queue managers. I have implemented this at several clients, application managers hate it but it makes MQ Admin work much, much easier. 🙂

The following Ten Commandments (and Amendments) have been collected from the MQ ListServer. If developers and MQAdmins follow these Commandments and Amendments then they will have far, far fewer headaches (and 2:00 AM phone calls).

Ten Commandments

1. Thou shalt not use a queue as a database.
2. Thou shalt backup your pagesets, filesystems, and logs.
3. Thou shalt routinely apply maintenance to your IBM MQ systems.
4. Thou shalt use MQCLOSE and MQDISC when terminating an application.
5. Thou shalt not use MQGET with WAIT UNLIMITED without specifying MQGMO_FAIL_IF_QUIESCING.
6. Thou shalt secure all client-channel connections to a queue manager.
7. Thou shalt create standard naming conventions.
8. Thou shalt provide systems management tools for administrators and users.
9. Thou shalt not create a IBM MQ network without mapping out all connections and object relations on paper first.
10. Thou shalt not attempt to apply asynchronous methods to all problems simply because IBM MQ is a wonderful product.

Amendments

1. Thou shalt apply security to queue objects.
2. Thou shalt have JMS applications capture and log the LinkedException for all JMSExceptions.
3. Thou shalt have Unit Of Work (UOW) use the minimum amount of resources (short in duration).
4. Thou shalt not use MQOPEN, MQGET or MQPUT without specifying MQ*O_FAIL_IF_QUIESCING (where MQ*O is MQOO or MQGMO or MQPMO).
5. Thou shalt have triggered applications completely drain a queue before exiting.
6. Thou shalt have applications transfer unknown or invalid messages to an application back-out queue and not to the Queue Manager’s Dead Letter Queue.
7. Thou shalt have client applications automatically reconnect to a queue manager after any type of failure.

I get asked on a regular basis about where people can find information on IBM MQ. So, here is a list of internet places that I have bookmarked.

ListServers and Forums:

MQ ListServer is an email list-server where users can ask questions or post comments about MQ:
http://listserv.meduniwien.ac.at/archives/mqser-l.html

MQSeries.net is an Internet resource for MQ professionals from around the world. This resource offers forums such as: MQ Installation, Support, Programming, WebSphere Business Integration (WBI/WMQI/WMB/MQSI), WebSphere Process Server (WID/WPS/WAS+), WebSphere Interchange Server & Adapters.
http://www.mqseries.net

Capitalware Resources:

Sample MQ Code: You can find over 150 samples covering 12 programming languages at:
https://www.capitalware.com/mq_sample_code.html

MQ Documentation: A large collection of MQ documentation on a variety of subjects: Cluster, .NET, JMS, Pub/Sub., Security, SSL, Standards & Conventions, Triggering, Troubleshooting.
https://www.capitalware.com/library_wmq.html

MQ White Papers:
https://www.capitalware.com/white_papers.html#mqseries

Free MQ Tools List:
https://www.capitalware.com/mq_tools.html

Commercial MQ Software List:
https://www.capitalware.com/mq_tools_comm.html

IBM Resources:

IBM MQ Home Page:
https://www.ibm.com/products/mq

IBM MQ Knowledge Center:
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSFKSJ/com.ibm.mq.helphome.doc/product_welcome_wmq.htm

IBM MQ Client Software (SupportPac MQC91)
https://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24044791

IBM’s DeveloperWorks IBM MQ:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/zones/businessintegration/wmq.html

IBM Middleware User Community:
https://community.ibm.com/community/user/middleware/communities/community-home

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.