Hello All,

Should I keep a single pair of channel between distributed MQ to Z/OS or creating multiple sender and receiver pair that connects to MQ Z/OS

I want to separate based on functionality the channels between the distributed MQ to mainframe MQ, having separate channel each will have different xmitq , troubleshoot becomes easier for us. Please recommend.

thank you

K Priyanka

It is common to see a single channel pair between two queue managers, with all applications using the same channel. This is generally because the system is initially configured with the simplest configuration that works and changes aren't made unless there's a reason to do so.

There are several benefits to defining multiple channels:

• Isolation of application workload. Using different channels for individual applications helps to keep a separation of responsibilities and resources allowing each application to benefit from:
  - Application-specific configuration of channel options to meet the application's specific requirements - batch size, npmspeed, message retry behaviour, etc.
  - Separation of channel control - the ability to stop and start a channel for an individual application without impacting other applications.
  - Performance isolation - spikes in throughput from one application won't impact the transmission speed of messages for other applications.
  - Failure isolation - depending on the configuration, channels can run slowly or stop completely if messages cannot be put to a target queue. With separate channels, a full queue would only impact the specific application.
  - Simplification of troubleshooting - as you noted, it is easier to diagnose problems if the resources involved are associated with just one application.
• Overall channel capacity limits. Even within a single application there may be benefits to having multiple channels defined. An individual channel is limited by the throughput of one network socket and that throughput depends on the bandwidth and latency of the network between the queue managers. If the message traffic from a single application exceeds what can be achieved with one channel then it may be necessary to spread that application's work over a set of channels.