IBM MQ 9.3.1 is the first MQ Continuous delivery release following the MQ 9.3 Long Term Support back in June.
Here are your MQ and MQ Appliance options at this point:
Where can I get IBM MQ 9.3.1 from?
MQ 9.3.1 is currently available on on distributed platforms and the IBM MQ on IBM Cloud managed service platforms.
For any clarification needed about what each Program entitles you to install check out the MQ license information page.
- Distributed platforms: Download instructions for AIX, Linux and Windows
- z/OS
- shopZ for z/OS - will be available on 4th Nov 2022
- MQ 9.3.1 PTFs for the CD FMIDs are available now and can be used to upgrade from MQ 9.3.0 - PH49563 (MQ base), PH49564 (MQ Advanced for z/OS VUE).
Note that on z/OS there are CD and LTS orderable features in shopZ. They are functionally identical at 9.3.0 but you must ensure you install the one that matches the upgrade path you wish to follow - LTS or CD.
- z/OS offerings are:
- 5655-MQ9 – IBM MQ for z/OS
- 5655-VU9 – IBM MQ for z/OS Value Unit Edition
- 5655-AV9 – IBM MQ Advanced for z/OS
This is a bundle of MQ Advanced Message Security and MQ Managed File Transfer capability (no MQ entitlement included)
- 5655-AV1 – IBM MQ Advanced for z/OS Value Unit Edition
This is a bundle of MQ Advanced Message Security, MQ Managed File Transfer and MQ for z/OS Value Unit Edition capability
- MQ Appliance:
- IBM MQ OpenShift Operator: Deployment instructions and release history.
- IBM MQ on IBM Cloud: IBM MQ on IBM Cloud managed service, which has different T-shirt size plans and options for placing the queue manager in an IBM Cloud or AWS data center.
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What’s new in the MQ 9.3.1 release?
In addition to the below, there is also a MQ focused Podcast available from www.DoYouMQ.com, Spotify or Apple Podcasts featuring MQ experts, customers and business partners sharing their knowledge and insights about MQ capabilities. If you have suggestions for topics let us know!
MQ updates
What's new/changed - IBM MQ and IBM MQ for z/OS Deprecations and removals - IBM MQ and IBM MQ for z/OS
What's new/changed - IBM MQ Appliance firmware
Both announcement letters cover both what is new in MQ 9.3 and provides a summary of all the new capability in the Long Term Support stream that has been delivered since MQ 9.2. This is a useful reference for users updating from MQ 9.2 LTS, which I won't attempt to replicate in this blog.
- MQ web console observability
The web console has been enhanced to give increased insight into the MQ network with new views to show relationships between applications, queue managers, queues and channels.
- MQ CAPEXPRY becomes a first class queue and topic attribute
CAPEXPRY has been in MQ for a number of years a s a custom attribute. With MQ 9.3.1 it becomes a first class attribute of queues and topics and has also been extended to clustered queues and topics. CAPEXPRY enables the MQ queue or topic to set a maximum expiry time that will override a longer expiry time set by an application in the MQ message and can be used with MQ streaming Queues as an example to limit the time a copy of a message is retained on a streaming queue.
- MQ for z/OS SMF enhancements
In MQ for z/OS 9.3 new SMF115 subtype (216) was added to make basic queue data available. In 9.3.1 this has further enhanced to provided more information about queues. These queue stats may be used to perform analytics to understand patterns of application behaviours and performance, and potentially identify anomalies in the system.
- MQ for z/OS 64-bit channel buffers
MQ client channel buffers are now in 64-bit storage enabling a greater number of channels and applications to be concurrently connected to a z/OS queue manager.
- MQ on z/OS streaming queue support for shared queues
Streaming queues provides a simple mechanism within MQ to take a copy of a message for performing additional actions beyond what the original receiving application was designed to do. This may be analytics, logging, auditing or streaming to other systems, such as Kafka
Streaming queue support for MQ for z/OS local and model queues was added in 9.3. The MQ 9.3.1 release extends this to shared queues.
- MQ OpenShift Operator
The MQ Operator 2.1 update adds MQ 9.3.1. It also includes some new status conditions and an option to prevent new defaults being applied to existing queue manager specifications. See the What's New information on the Operator release history page.
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Can I get a copy of IBM MQ for development purposes?
The LearnMQ site is regularly updated with a mix of tutorials and essential getting started information, and offers you the opportunity to earn an IBM MQ Developer Essentials badge.
The full list of Developer download options are below.
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Downloadable resources
A number of MQ components are made available on IBM Fix Central and elsewhere for ease of download. Below are the links to the available components. Where applicable, they will show the latest 9.2 Continuous Delivery (CD) and Long Term Support (LTS) updates for each component. Be sure to know which you require!
Main product:
Fix packs:
Checksums and Signatures:
Clients:
Components:
Containers:
Development:
Tip: Try opening the links in a private browsing tab if they don’t correctly resolve.
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MQ System Requirements and documentation
The system requirements are documented at the links below. IBM MQ Continuous Delivery releases are being made available on z/OS, Microsoft Windows, Linux on x86-64, Linux on IBM z Systems, Linux on Little Endian Power (RHEL, SLES and Ubuntu) and AIX.
Further information can be found in the IBM MQ Documentation and
IBM MQ system requirementsMQ 9.3 operating system support
|
MQ 9.3.1 |
MQ 9.3 LTS |
Removed compared to MQ 9.2 LTS |
| AIX |
|
7.2 TL5, 7.3 |
7.1 TL5, 7.2 TL3 |
| IBM i |
N/A |
7.3, 7.4, 7.5 |
None |
| Linux |
RHEL 9 added
Ubuntu 22.04 added
|
RHEL 7.9+, 8.4+
SLES 12 SP5, 15 SP2
Ubuntu 20.04
|
RHEL 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3
SLES 12 SP4, 15 SP1
Ubuntu 18.04 |
| Windows |
|
Windows Server 2019, 2022
Windows 10 20H2 or later
Windows 11 |
Windows Server 2016
Windows 10 pre-20H2 |
| z/OS |
|
z/OS 2.4, 2.5 |
z/OS 2.3 |
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What function has released in previous updates?
IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.3 Long Term Support Release
IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.2.5 Continuous Delivery Release
IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.2 Long Term Support Release
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Remind me how the Continuous Delivery support model works…
It's worth reminding you what the Continuous Delivery support model means for MQ.
- MQ 9.3 LTS is supported for a minimum of 5 years from its availability in June 2022, and will receive fix only updates through fixpacks versioned 9.3.0.1, 9.3.0.2 and so on.
- MQ CD updates will be delivered with the 3rd digit change – 9.3.1, 9.3.2 and so on. Defect support for a CD release is available for 12 months from the availability of the release or while it remains one of the two most recent CD releases, whichever is longer, so you need to keep moving forward with the MQ CD releases.
- MQ CD updates will be delivered with new function enabled by default.
- The IBM MQ FAQ for Long Term Support and Continuous Delivery Releases will hopefully answer most of your questions.
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