IBM Hursley Session Suggestions for MQTC v2.0.1.6

March 17, 2016 Roger Lacroix

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.

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MQTC v2.0.1.6 Gold Sponsor: MQGem Software

March 17, 2016 Roger Lacroix

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.

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Another Phishing Scam

March 16, 2016 Roger Lacroix

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

March 16, 2016 Roger Lacroix

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

March 8, 2016 Roger Lacroix

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

March 8, 2016 Roger Lacroix

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

March 8, 2016 Roger Lacroix

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

March 7, 2016 Roger Lacroix

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.

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New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Released

March 1, 2016 Roger Lacroix

Raspberry Pi Foundation has just released a new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-3-on-sale/

    Specifications:

  • A 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU
  • Integrated 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.1
  • 1GB RAM
  • 4 USB ports
  • 40 GPIO pins
  • Full HDMI port
  • Ethernet port
  • Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite videov
  • Camera interface (CSI)
  • Display interface (DSI)
  • Micro SD card slot
  • Dual Core VideoCore IV 3D graphics

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Education, Linux, Open Source, Operating Systems, Programming, Raspberry Pi Comments Off on New Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Released

Another New Feature being added to MQAUSX (and z/MQAUSX)

February 25, 2016 Roger Lacroix

A customer requested a new feature be added to MQ Authenticate User Security Exit (MQAUSX).

A customer asked if there was anyway to tell when a client disconnects from a queue manager. After a brief discussion with the customer, they said they had an application that accesses sensitive/confidential information and they wanted to know how long each user was connected to the queue manager.

This is a pretty straightforward feature to add to MQAUSX. MQAUSX knows when the client application connected, so it was very easy to get the time at termination, calculate the difference and output a line to the log file.

Not to affect current users, a new keyword called LogDiscMessage was added to MQAUSX. To use the new feature, the user needs to enable it.

i.e.

LogDiscMessage = Y

Here is a sample of the MQAUSX logfile with LogDiscMessage enabled:

2016/02/25 14:07:04.288 MQAUSX I:  Connection accepted for MCA_UID='roger' UserID='roger' UserSpecifiedServer='abc01' QMgr='MQWT1' ChlName='TEST.EXIT' ConName='10.10.10.10' Server='' RemoteUserID='roger'

2016/02/25 14:29:56.437 MQAUSX I:  Disconnection for MCA_UID='roger' UserID='roger' UserSpecifiedServer='abc01' QMgr='MQWT1' ChlName='TEST.EXIT' ConName='10.10.10.10' Server='' RemoteUserID=''. Connected for 22 minutes and 52 seconds.

As you can see by the “Disconnection” line in the logfile, the user was connected to the queue manager for 22 minutes and 52 seconds.

If you would like to try out the new feature then send an email to
support@capitalware.com and we will send you the latest release of MQAUSX or z/MQAUSX.

On a different note, there was a recent discussion of RVERSION and RPRODUCT values on the MQ ListServer. MQAUSX and z/MQAUSX already have this ability to dump the information to the logfile when in Verbose logging mode. Here is a sample:

2016/02/24 16:07:48.873 MQAUSX I:  RemoteProduct = 'MQCC' : RemoteVersion = '08000004'

2016/02/24 16:35:03.293 MQAUSX I:  RemoteProduct = 'MQJB' : RemoteVersion = '07000113'

And when a company implements both MQAUSX server-side and client-side components, the following is also outputted to the logfile when LogMode is Verbose:

2016/02/24 16:07:48.873 MQAUSX I:  MQAUSX Client Version='3.1.0' Native on Windows

2016/02/24 16:35:03.293 MQAUSX I:  MQAUSX Client Version='3.0.0.0' Java on Linux

As you can see, the MQAUSX logfile contains lots of information about the connecting client application.

Regards,
Roger Lacroix
Capitalware Inc.

Capitalware, IBM i (OS/400), IBM MQ, Linux, MQ Authenticate User Security Exit, Security, Unix, Windows, z/OS Comments Off on Another New Feature being added to MQAUSX (and z/MQAUSX)