About this Course

In this four-day course, you learn some of the advanced skills that system programmers and administrators of IBM WebSphere MQ V7.5 on distributed platforms require.

This course expands the basic skill sets that are developed in courses Technical Introduction to IBM WebSphere MQ (WM101), (VM101), and (ZM101) and IBM WebSphere MQ V7.1 System Administration (WM204)/(VM204) for Windows, (WM206)/(VM206) for Linux.

This course focuses on advanced features and facilities of WebSphere MQ, such as clustering and security. More specifically, you learn about the administration of workload balancing by using clustering and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to secure channels. Additional topics include channel exit programming, statistic and accounting facilities, advanced client features, and publish/subscribe administration.

The lab exercises are designed to build advanced administration skills, which include implementing channel exits, securing WebSphere MQ channels, and clustering to manage workloads.

The lab environment for this course uses the Windows XP platform.

Audience Profile

This advanced course is designed for technical professionals who require advanced administrator skills for WebSphere MQ on distributed platforms, or who provide support to others who administer WebSphere MQ. This course is based on WebSphere MQ version 7.5 but is also appropriate for those who support prior versions of WebSphere MQ.

At Course Completion

Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

• Use the advanced features of WebSphere MQ to configure and administer queue managers on distributed platforms
• Activate channel exits
• Use message channel exits to enhance security or perform specialized translations of message data
• Use Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layers (SSL) to secure TCP/IP channels
• Set up security definitions and the WebSphere MQ objects to which they refer
• Use clusters of queue managers for advanced workload management
• Implement WebSphere MQ high availability
• Use advanced client connection functions such as conversation sharing, read-ahead, and asynchronous put
• Use statistics and accounting facilities that are provided with WebSphere MQ to optimize the use of system resources
• Administer distributed publish/subscribe networks that include publish/subscribe clustering and hierarchical networks
• Administer Java Message Service (JMS) in WebSphere MQ
• Use WebSphere MQ to manage file transfers

Prerequisites

You should have the skills necessary to complete basic WebSphere MQ administration tasks in a distributed environment. These skills can be obtained through practical experience or by successfully completing one of the IBM WebSphere MQ V7.1 System Administration courses :

• IBM WebSphere MQ V7.1 System Administration (using Windows for labs) (WM204) (VM204) for Windows, or
• IBM WebSphere MQ V7.1 System Administration (using Linux for labs) (WM206) (VM206) for Linux.

Course Outline

1. Course introduction
2. WebSphere MQ Explorer review
3. Exercise: Using WebSphere MQ Explorer
4. Using channel exits and dead letter queues, and converting data
5. Exercise: Using channel exit programs
6. Exercise: Dead letter queue handling
7. Securing WebSphere MQ channels with SSL
8. Exercise: Securing WebSphere MQ channels
9. Securing access to WebSphere MQ
10. Cluster workload balancing
11. Exercise: Using clustering to manage workloads
12. WebSphere MQ high availability
13. Advanced client concepts
14. Exercise: Configuring advanced clients
15. Monitoring and configuring WebSphere MQ for performance
16. Exercise: Working with statistics
17. Distributed publish/subscribe
18. Exercise: Configuring distributed publish/subscribe
19. JMS administration
20. Exercise: Administering JMS
21. Introduction to managed file transfers
22. Course summary