Tim Zielke will be Speaking at MQTC v2.0.1.6

Tim Zielke of Aon will doing a session at MQ Technical Conference v2.0.1.6 (MQTC) called “MQ Data Conversion and MH06”.

For more information about MQTC, please go to:
http://www.mqtechconference.com

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Education, IBM MQ, MQ Technical Conference Comments Off on Tim Zielke will be Speaking at MQTC v2.0.1.6

Apple vs FBI Encryption Court Case

I have not commented publicly on the Apple vs FBI encryption court case that is going on in the USA because Capitalware sells encryption software to companies to protect customer data, so you can guess that I’m on Apple’s side.

This is not a simple issue like some people want to make it out to be. I understand both sides of the argument but in the end, you cannot open Pandora’s box because once it is open, it cannot ever be closed again.

If you think this is a simple issue or do not understand both sides of the argument then please watch the latest episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. He devotes most of the episode to Apple vs FBI encryption court case and he explains it such that everyone can understand the issue. The episode is on YouTube at:

Near the end of the episode (starting at 15:38), they created the funniest AND most truthful Apple commercial I have ever seen. I’ve seen it 3 times now and I’m still laughing. You can watch just the commercial on YouTube at:

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Education, iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch, MQ Authenticate User Security Exit, MQ Channel Encryption, MQ Enterprise Security Suite, MQ Message Encryption, Operating Systems, Security, Video 1 Comment

IBM Hursley Session Suggestions for MQTC v2.0.1.6

Today I received an email from Matt Whitehead of IBM with a list of session suggestions for MQ Technical Conference v2.0.1.6 (MQTC).

    Distributed

  • What’s New in IBM Messaging
  • An Introduction to and Comparison of the Different MQ APIs
  • MQ Security 1 – Overview & recap of the various security features
  • MQ Security 2 – Deep dive for channel auth, directory integration, AMS…
  • Monitoring and Tracking MQ and Applications
  • Self-Service MQ
  • Introducing the IBM MQ Appliance
  • MQ Appliance Deep Dive (HA, DR etc.)
  • Running and supporting MQ Light Applications
  • Where’s my message?
  • Hybrid Messaging with IBM Bluemix
  • Using IBM Messaging in the Cloud (likely to cover non-IBM-cloud options)
  • Integrating MQ with Directory Services
  • What can you achieve with MQ clusters?
  • An Introduction to MQ Publish/Subscribe
  • Using Publish/Subscribe in an MQ Network
  • Programming with PCF Messages
    z/OS

  • z/OS Connect
  • MQ z/OS Performance & Internals
  • MQ z/OS New Features & Hardware Exploitations
  • Using and Analysing SMF data

Does anyone have any strong opinions about the above list of sessions or do you see anything missing that the speakers from IBM Hursley should be doing?

For more information, please go to: http://www.mqtechconference.com

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Education, IBM MQ, MQ Technical Conference Comments Off on IBM Hursley Session Suggestions for MQTC v2.0.1.6

MQTC v2.0.1.6 Gold Sponsor: MQGem Software

Capitalware would like to announce that MQGem Software is a Gold Sponsor of MQ Technical Conference v2.0.1.6 (MQTC).

For those who do not know, MQGem Software is a company that Paul Clarke created several years ago. Last year, Morag Hughson joined MQGem Software. So, why am I mentioning this? Because both Paul Clarke and Morag Hughson will be speakers at MQTC v2.0.1.6. 🙂

For more information, please go to: http://www.mqtechconference.com

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Education, IBM MQ, MQ Technical Conference Comments Off on MQTC v2.0.1.6 Gold Sponsor: MQGem Software

Another Phishing Scam

The other day, my brother’s Hotmail (Outlook.com) email account got hacked.

First, I received an email from his account with the subject of ‘Favor’ and it said:

I need you to do me a favor. Please reply when you get this.

Not realizing that it was a hacker, I replied: “Got it”.

Then I got the following email from the hacker:

I am currently out of town and need to send some money to my cousin in Manila, Philippines through western union or money gram but cant send out from here presently. Don’t know if you can help me with the transfer, will look for how to get the money back to you as soon as possible.

What I need across is $2500. Find details below.

Receiver Name: Stanley Lacroix
Address: 210 Quezon City; Metro Manila; Philippines
Phone Number is: +639164348330

Let me know if you can handle this and I promise to give it back to you by Next week when I get back.

Let me know the details of the transfers when done.

First, thing that came out of my mouth was WTF!!!.

I replied with:

I’m guessing your account has been hacked.

If the hacker is reading then piss-off & get a life.

You gotta have fun in life. 🙂

I promptly called my brother to make sure that he immediately changed his password and run virus scans on his PC. Luckily, a different friend of his had already called him saying it was a scam.

I’m posting the above emails so that other people who do an internet search and stumble upon my postings, will realize that THEY ARE BEING SCAMMED.

Regards,
Roger Lacroix

Scam / Fraud, Security 1 Comment

WebSphere MQ Fix Pack 7.5.0.6 Released

IBM has just released FixPack 7.5.0.6 for WebSphere MQ
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21975660

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Fix Packs for MQ, IBM MQ, Linux, Unix, Windows Comments Off on WebSphere MQ Fix Pack 7.5.0.6 Released

Using MQ Batch Toolkit to Clear Many Queues

Here is another simple script that uses MQ Batch Toolkit (MQBT) to clear hundreds of queues at the same time.

Let’s say you have an MQ sandbox or development queue manager that has hundreds of queues that need to be cleared nightly. If all of the queue names have the same high-level qualifier, then the following Windows batch file (i.e. ClearQ.bat) will quickly take care of the job.

Here is the Windows batch file called ClearQ.bat:

@echo off
setlocal

if [%1]==[] echo Queue Manager Profile was not specified && goto Usage
if [%2]==[] echo Queue Name was not specified && goto Usage

cd /D C:\Capitalware\MQBT\
mqbt.exe QLIST -p %1 -k %2 -t L -f qdepth.txt -D
FOR /F "tokens=1,2" %%A in (qdepth.txt) DO (

   if %%B GTR 0 (
      mqbt.exe ClearQ -p %1 -q %%A
   )
)
del qdepth.txt
goto :DONE

:Usage
echo Usage: %0 QMgr_Profile_Name Queue_Name
goto :DONE

:DONE
endlocal

Breakdown of the script:

    The script expects 2 parameters:

  • The MQBT queue manager profile name
  • The mask or wildcard for queue names

i.e.

ClearQ.bat MQWT1 ABC.*

Line # 8 issues the QDepth function to retrieve the depth of the queue and writes it to a file called ‘qdepth.txt’.

Line # 9 loops over the file ‘qdepth.txt’ and tokenizes the values of each line.

Line # 11 checks if current queue depth is greater than the zero, if true then issue MQBT ClearQ function is executed

Note: MQBT ClearQ function has some smarts built into it. If the queue’s IPPROCs and OPPROCs (open input & output queue handles) are both zero and the Command Server is running, then MQBT will issue a PCF CLEARQ command. Otherwise, MQBT will destructively get all messages from the queue. Therefore, MQBT will make sure all messages are removed from the queue one way or another.

Hopefully, this blog posting will give people ideas on how to extend the use of MQBT.

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Capitalware, IBM i (OS/400), IBM MQ, IBM MQ Appliance, Java, Linux, macOS (Mac OS X), MQ Batch Toolkit, Unix, Windows Comments Off on Using MQ Batch Toolkit to Clear Many Queues

Mozilla Firefox 45.0 Released

Mozilla Firefox has just released Mozilla Firefox v45.0.
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Mozilla Firefox is a free and open source web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. To display web pages, Firefox uses the Gecko layout engine, which implements most current web standards in addition to several features that are intended to anticipate likely additions to the standards

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Linux, macOS (Mac OS X), Open Source, Windows Comments Off on Mozilla Firefox 45.0 Released

Microsoft joins the Eclipse Foundation

Microsoft continues its new found love of open source:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/visualstudio/2016/03/08/microsoft-joins-the-eclipse-foundation/

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Linux, macOS (Mac OS X), Open Source, Programming, Windows Comments Off on Microsoft joins the Eclipse Foundation

Microsoft is porting SQL Server to Linux

I just read the following article and it is definitely interesting:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-is-porting-sql-server-to-linux/

I guess Microsoft has decided that they can make money from Linux, so it is time to embrace Linux.

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Database, Linux Comments Off on Microsoft is porting SQL Server to Linux