Monitoring IBM ACE Standalone Integration server using IBM Instana

✍️ Authored by: Vyshnavi Mohanan

🧩 Introduction

IBM App Connect Enterprise (ACE) is a robust integration platform that connects systems, transform data, and streamline real-time integrations.

In this hands-on tutorial, you'll learn how to:

• Set up ACE 12.0.12.13 as a standalone integration server

• Configure IBM MQ for messaging

• Monitor everything seamlessly using IBM Instana

Whether you're testing on a dev environment or looking to explore ACE + Instana capabilities, this guide has you covered.

🛠️ Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

• A Linux-based VM (This example uses Ubuntu with IP: 9.30.207.66)

• IBM ACE Developer edition .tar.gz file

• Internet access on the VM

• Sudo/root privileges

• Optionally, an IBM Instana account for observability

📝 Note: This blog is written based on a Linux environment, specifically Ubuntu. While most steps are applicable to other Linux distributions, some commands or paths may vary slightly, depending on your OS version and configuration.

🔗 Step 1: Connect to Your Linux VM

Open a terminal and SSH into your Linux VM:

ssh root@<your-vm-ip>

Example:

ssh root@9.30.207.66

📦 Step 2: Extract IBM ACE Installation Package

Navigate to the directory where you downloaded the IBM ACE Developer Edition .tar.gz file, and extract it using the tar command:

tar -xvzf <ACE-tarball-filename>.tar.gz

Example:

tar -xvzf 12.0.12.13-ACE-LINUX64-DEVELOPER.tar.gz

Change the directory to ACE server/bin and source the profile script to set up the environment for ACE CLI tools:

cd ace-12.0.12.13/server/bin/
. ./mqsiprofile

You should see output similar to the following, confirming that the environment has been configured:

MQSI 12.0.12.13
/root/ace-12.0.12.13/server

📝 Note: Your extracted directory name may vary depending on the ACE version you downloaded.

📋 Step 3: Check for Existing Integration Nodes

To check for any existing nodes:

mqsilist

👥 Step 4: Set Up User and Group for MQ Access

sudo addgroup mqclient
sudo adduser app
sudo adduser app mqclient
groups app

This setup ensures your app user can access MQ resources.

📄 Step 5: Install IBM MQ Developer Edition

Download and make the MQ installer script executable. You can refer to IBM’s official MQ on Ubuntu guide or use the sample script from GitHub.

chmod 755 mq-ubuntu-install.sh
sudo ./mq-ubuntu-install.sh

Once installed, verify:

dspmq

You should see output like:

QMNAME(<YourQueueManagerName>) STATUS(Running)

Example output:

QMNAME(QM1) STATUS(Running)

📡 Step 6: Configure MQ Queue Manager for Development Use

Once the IBM MQ Developer Edition is installed and a queue manager (e.g., QM1) is created and running, you can configure it for development use.

Enter MQSC command mode:

runmqsc <YourQueueManagerName>

Example:

runmqsc QM1

Run the following commands to inspect and modify MQ settings:

DISPLAY LSSTATUS(*) ALL
DISPLAY QMGR CHLAUTH
DISPLAY AUTHINFO('DEV.AUTHINFO') ALL
DISPLAY QMGR CONNAUTH
ALTER QMGR CHLAUTH(DISABLED)
DISPLAY QMGR CHLAUTH
END

🔒 Note: Disabling CHLAUTH is intended for development purposes only. In production, configure appropriate channel authentication and security controls.

🧱 Step 7: Set Up a Standalone Integration Server

Now create a work directory for the ACE standalone integration server. You can create this directory anywhere on your system where the user running ACE has write permissions.

mkdir <path-to-your-work-directory>
mqsicreateworkdir <path-to-your-work-directory>
cd <path-to-your-work-directory>

Example:

mkdir /root/standaloneServer12
mqsicreateworkdir /root/standaloneServer12
cd /root/standaloneServer12

After the directory is created, you should see subfolders like:

• config

• run

• adminLog

These folders are used by the integration server for runtime operations and configuration.

⚙️ Step 8: Configure server.conf.yaml for Event Emission

To enable ACE to emit Operational and Business Events (which Instana can monitor), you need to edit the server.conf.yaml file located in your work directory’s config folder:

vi <path-to-work-directory>/server.conf.yaml

Example:

vi /root/standaloneServer12/server.conf.yaml

Add or modify the following YAML content to enable MQ-based event publication:

Events:
  OperationalEvents: 
    MQ:
      #policy: ''              
      enabled: true           
      #format: ''               
      #publishRetryInterval: 0  
    MQTT:
      #policy: ''               
      #enabled: true           
      #publishRetryInterval: 0  
  BusinessEvents: 
    MQ:
      #policy: ''                
      #enabled: true            
      #format: ''               
      #outputFormat: 'xml'       
      #publishRetryInterval: 0   
    MQTT:
      #policy: ''                
      # enabled: true            
      #outputFormat: 'xml'       
      #publishRetryInterval: 0

✅ These settings enable Operational Events over MQ, which are sufficient for Instana to begin collecting performance metrics from the integration server.
🔒 Other transports (like MQTT) and event types (like BusinessEvents) are currently commented out and can be enabled later if required.

▶️ Step 9: Start the Integration Server

Start the standalone ACE server, specifying its name, the path to the work directory, and the name of the MQ queue manager to use:

IntegrationServer --name <server-name> \
  --work-dir <path-to-work-directory> \
  --mq-queue-manager-name <queue-manager-name>

Example:

IntegrationServer --name standaloneServer12 \
  --work-dir /root/standaloneServer12 \
  --mq-queue-manager-name QM1

You should see the following log output:

BIP1990I: Integration server 'standaloneServer12' starting initialization...
BIP9905I: Initializing resource managers.

📂 Step 10: Deploy a Sample BAR File

To validate your setup, deploy a sample BAR file:

1. Locate a sample BAR file from your ACE installation (or create your own).

2. Copy it into the run directory of your work directory.

cp <path-to-sample-bar>/sample.bar <path-to-work-directory>/run/

Example:

cp ~/ace-12.0.12.13/server/sample/admin/IntegrationAPI/sampleBAR/sample.bar /root/standaloneServer12/run

3. Restart the server (if already running):

IntegrationServer --name standaloneServer12 \
  --work-dir /root/standaloneServer12 \
  --mq-queue-manager-name QM1

📊 Step 11: Monitor Your ACE Server with IBM Instana

IBM Instana provides deep observability for distributed applications, including ACE and MQ.

🔍 Install Instana Agent

Follow this official IBM Instana documentation to install the agent for your platform (Linux, Kubernetes, Docker, etc.).

🧠 Enable ACE & MQ Monitoring

Instana automatically discovers supported services like ACE and MQ when:

• The agent is installed on the same VM/container

• Necessary ports and permissions are available

• You enable the corresponding sensors (e.g., Java process monitoring, MQ monitoring)

You can monitor:

• Message flow execution times

• CPU/memory usage of ACE processes

• MQ queue depths and throughput

• Response time trends and anomalies

To create customized dashboards and alerts, use Instana’s Smart Alerts and Application Perspectives.

✅ Summary

By following this guide, you can:

• Install IBM ACE 12 Developer Edition as a standalone integration server

• Set up and configure IBM MQ with a working queue manager

• Deploy a sample BAR file

• Integrate monitoring using IBM Instana

📚 References & Further Reading

• IBM ACE Documentation

• IBM MQ on Ubuntu Tutorial

• IBM MQ Dev GitHub Samples

• IBM Instana Agent Installation Guide