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IBM MQ, IBM MQ for z/OS and IBM MQ Appliance firmware 9.3.5 Continuous Delivery releases are available

By Ian Harwood posted Thu February 29, 2024 09:55 AM

  

IBM MQ 9.3.5 is the next MQ continuous delivery release following MQ 9.3.4 in October 2023. This update delivers enhancements across the portfolio for the MQ Appliance, MQ Console, Web Server component, open tracing and JSON Web Token support.

Here are your MQ and MQ Appliance options at this point:


Where can I get IBM MQ 9.3.5 from?

For further information about what each Program entitles you to install check out the MQ license information page.  

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What’s new in the MQ 9.3.5 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

The Announcement letter can be found here. Please take note of the statement of general direction for intended support lifecycle and installation changes.

What's new/changed - IBM MQ and IBM MQ for z/OS, including deprecations and removals
What's new/changed - IBM MQ Appliance firmware    

  • IBM MQ for multi-platforms
    • MQ Console application and network observability
      Two new overview tabs have been added. The Application Overview tab gives a view of applications connected to the queue manager. The MQ Network Overview tab gives a view of queue manager connectivity from the queue manager being viewed. See the Quick tour of the IBM MQ console.
      Timestamps associated with queue managers are now displayed in the time zone of the queue manager rather than the console.
    • Stand-alone IBM MQ Web Server
      A request that comes up fairly often is to be able to separate the install of the MQ Web Server component from MQ Server. This can now be done on Linux systems and offers much greater flexibility for choosing where in your network this component is installed.  IBM MQ Web Server download and documentation.
    • Open Telemetry tracing
      IBM MQ now provides an API exit that allows you to observer how applications within a data flow are behaving. The exit can be configured to integrate with an Open Telemetry or IBM Instana Observability backend. To get started download the exit and follow the documentation. The exit may be configured with any supported version of IBM MQ.
    • Next iteration of JSON Web Token support
      In MQ 9.3.4 we enabled IBM MQ client applications written in C to use an authentication token. With MQ 9.3.5 the capability has been extended to Java applications using the IBM MQ classes for JMS/Jakarta Messaging. Documentation for configuring token based authentication.
    • XL C/C++ compiler updates for AIX
      The XL C/C++ 16 and XL C/C++ 17 compilers have some differences that require C++ applications and dependent libraries on AIX to be fully compiled with one compiler or the other. MQ 9.3.5 delivers XL C/C++ 17 built client libraries alongside the existing XL C/C++ 16 libraries. The MQ C++ client libraries built with XL C/C++ 16 are now deprecated and may be removed in a future release.
  • IBM MQ for z/OS
    • MQ Console
      In addition to the enhancements described for MQ for multi-platforms, support for Storage Classes has also been added for z/OS.
    • Stand-alone IBM MQ Web Server
      The stand-alone web server on Linux can be configured to connect to a queue manager on z/OS.
    • zHyperWrite changes
      The MQ behaviour has been changed so that log writes using zHyperWrite are attempted regardless of how the log data sets are configured.
  • IBM MQ Appliance
    • Secure backup and restore
      A new secure backup and restore facility simplifies the process of backing up MQ Appliance configuration plus messaging users and groups. See Jamie Squibb's blog post for an introduction to this new capability.
    • MQ Console
      In addition to the enhancements described for MQ for multi-platforms, support for Storage Classes has also been added for z/OS.
    • Stand-alone IBM MQ Web Server
      The stand-alone web server on Linux can be configured to connect to a queue manager on the MQ Appliance.

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Can I get a copy of IBM MQ for development purposes?

The IBM Developer site for MQ is regularly updated with a mix of learning paths, tutorials, essential getting started information, and patterns for application development.

There is also the opportunity to obtain recognition for MQ skills you have gained by completing the IBM MQ Developer Essentials badge or the IBM MQ on AWS Cloud Developer Essentials badge.

The full list of  Developer download options are below.

 IBM%2BMQ%2BDeveloper%2BEssentials.png
IBM MQ on AWS Cloud Developer Essentials badge

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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 9.3 Continuous Delivery (CD) and Long Term Support (LTS) updates for each component. Be sure to know which you require.

    Main product install image and fix pack download documentation:


    Maintenance quick links:


    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 requirements


    MQ 9.3 operating system support

    MQ 9.3.2 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 3.1 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 9.3.4 Continuous Delivery Release
    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.3.3 Continuous Delivery Release
    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.3.2 Continuous Delivery Release
    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.3.1 Continuous Delivery Release
    IBM MQ and IBM MQ Appliance 9.3 Long Term Support 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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