Step 2: Define Your Inventory File
Create an inventory file that lists the servers where you’ll be deploying MQ. For example:
### inventory.ini
[sender]
sender ansible_host=<YOUR_HOSTNAME> ansible_ssh_user:<YOUR_USER>
[receiver]
receiver ansible_host=<YOUR_HOSTNAME> ansible_ssh_user:<YOUR_USER>
Step 3: Copy across SSH keys
To avoid writing passwords to your inventory file, make sure you have copied your local (where you are running ansible) ssh keys to your target hosts.
Step 4: Use the demo playbooks
For this demo, there are 2 playbooks. setup.yml is for installing MQ, using the MQ-Ansible roles, and sdr-rcvr.yml for creating the SENDER and RECEIVER queue managers with their respective configuration. They are both run with the demo.yml playbook.
The MQSC files provided are the following:
#### sender-config.mqsc
* Define transmit queue (make sure name matches target QM)
DEFINE QLOCAL(RECEIVER) USAGE (XMITQ)
* Define sender channel
DEFINE CHANNEL(SDR.TO.RCVR) CHLTYPE(SDR) CONNAME('<RCVR.QMGR.IP>(1414)') XMITQ(RECEIVER)
* Define remote queue
DEFINE QREMOTE(REMOTE.Q) RNAME(RCVR.TARGET.Q) RQMNAME(RECEIVER)
* Start channel
START CHANNEL(SDR.TO.RCVR)
#### receiver-config.mqsc
* Define and start receiver-side listener
DEFINE LISTENER('RCVR.LISTENER.TCP') TRPTYPE(TCP) PORT(1414) CONTROL(QMGR) REPLACE
START LISTENER('RCVR.LISTENER.TCP') IGNSTATE(YES)
* Use a different dead letter queue, for undeliverable messages
DEFINE QLOCAL('DEV.DEAD.LETTER.QUEUE') REPLACE
ALTER QMGR DEADQ('DEV.DEAD.LETTER.QUEUE')
* Define target queue in receiver:
DEFINE QLOCAL('RCVR.TARGET.Q') REPLACE
* Define receiver channel
DEFINE CHANNEL(SDR.TO.RCVR) CHLTYPE(RCVR)
* Turning security off - for demo purposes
ALTER QMGR CHLAUTH(DISABLED)
ALTER QMGR CONNAUTH(' ')
REFRESH SECURITY TYPE(CONNAUTH)
The <RCVR.QMGR.IP> placeholder in sender-config.mqsc will be replaced with the receiver’s IP address with the configuration playbook sdr-rcvr.yml.
Step 5: Run the Playbooks
ansible-playbook demo.yml -i ./inventory.ini -e 'ibmMqLicence=accept'
Step 6: Verify the Configuration
Log into the target machines and check that the queue managers have been created, and that the channel is running. Here we display the current channel statuses of the SENDER queue manager.
runmqsc sender
display chs(*)
Output:
AMQ8417I: Display Channel Status details.
CHANNEL(SDR.TO.RCVR) CHLTYPE(SDR)
CONNAME(XXXXXX(1414)) CURRENT
RQMNAME(RECEIVER) STATUS(RUNNING)
SUBSTATE(MQGET) XMITQ(RECEIVER)
Now you can send messages to your remote queue manager. An example using the amqsput sample application:
On the Sender host
cd /opt/mqm/samp/bin
./amqsput REMOTE.Q SENDER
<send messages>
You can get or browse the messages on the receiver end with your favorite application.
Why Automate with MQ-Ansible Collection?
The MQ-Ansible collection eliminates the manual effort involved in setting up IBM MQ. It ensures that your configurations are consistent, repeatable, and easy to scale. Whether you’re managing a simple Sender-Receiver setup or a complex clustered architecture, automation helps reduce errors and save time.
If you would like see a live demo of this blog, sign up to the February MQ-Ansible community call here.