1 Administrative Tasks and Tools

Setup Operations

Administrative setup operations in a production environment typically include some or all of the following:

Administrator security

• Setting the password for the default administrative user (admin) (Changing a User's Password)

• Controlling individual or group access to the administrative connection service (Authorization Rules for Connection Services) and the dead message queue (Authorization Rules for Physical Destinations)

• Regulating administrative group access to a file-based or Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) user repository (User Groups and Status, Using an LDAP User Repository)

General security

• Managing the contents of a file-based user repository (Using the User Manager Utility) or configuring the broker to use an existing LDAP user repository (Using an LDAP User Repository)

• Controlling the operations that individual users or groups are authorized to perform (User Authorization)

• Setting up encryption services using the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) (Message Encryption)

Administered objects

• Setting up and configuring an LDAP object store ( LDAP Server Object Stores)

• Creating connection factories and destinations ( Adding Administered Objects)

Broker clusters

• Creating a cluster configuration file (The Cluster Configuration File)

• Designating a master broker (Managing a Conventional Cluster's Configuration Change Record)

Persistence

• Configuring a broker to use a persistent store (Configuring Persistence Services).

Memory management

• Setting a destination's configuration properties to optimize its memory usage (Updating Physical Destination Properties, Physical Destination Property Reference)

Maintenance Operations

Because application performance, reliability, and security are at a premium in production environments, message service resources must be tightly monitored and controlled through ongoing administrative maintenance operations, including the following:

Broker administration and tuning

• Using broker metrics to tune and reconfigure a broker ( Analyzing and Tuning a Message Service)

• Managing broker memory resources (Managing Broker System-Wide Memory)

• Creating and managing broker clusters to balance message load (Configuring and Managing Broker Clusters)

• Recovering failed brokers (Starting Brokers).

Administered objects

• Adjusting connection factory attributes to ensure the correct behavior of client applications (Connection Factory Attributes)

• Monitoring and managing physical destinations ( Configuring and Managing Physical Destinations)

• Controlling user access to destinations ( Authorization Rules for Physical Destinations)

Client management

• Monitoring and managing durable subscriptions (see Managing Durable Subscriptions).

• Monitoring and managing transactions (see Managing Transactions).

Command Line Utilities

All Message Queue utilities are accessible via a command line interface. Utility commands share common formats, syntax conventions, and options. These utilities allow you to perform various administrative tasks, as noted below, and therefore can require different administrative permissions:

• The Broker utility (imqbrokerd) starts up brokers and specifies their configuration properties, including connecting them together into a cluster. Permissions: User account that initially started the broker.

• The Command utility (imqcmd) controls brokers and their resources and manages physical destinations. Permissions: Message Queue admin user account.

• The Object Manager utility (imqobjmgr) manages provider-independent administered objects in an object store accessible via the Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI). Permissions: Object store (flat-file or LDAP server) access account.

• The Database Manager utility (imqdbmgr) creates and manages databases for persistent storage that conform to the Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) standard. Permissions: JDBC database manager account.

• The User Manager utility (imqusermgr) populates a file-based user repository for user authentication and authorization. Permissions: user account that initially started the broker.

• The Service Administrator utility ( imqsvcadmin) installs and manages a broker as a Windows service. Permissions: Administrator.

• The Key Tool utility (imqkeytool) generates self-signed certificates for Secure Socket Layer (SSL) authentication. Permissions: root user (Solaris and Linux platforms) or Administrator (Windows platform).

The executable files for the above command line utilities are in the IMQ_HOME/bin directory.

See Command Line Reference for detailed information on the use of these utilities.

Administration Console

The Message Queue Administration Console combines some of the capabilities of the Command and Object Manager utilities. You can use it to perform the following tasks:

• Connect to and control a broker remotely

• Create and manage physical destinations

• Create and manage administered objects in a JNDI object store

However, you cannot use the Administration Console to perform such tasks as starting up a broker, creating broker clusters, managing a JDBC database or a user repository, installing a broker as a Windows service, or generating SSL certificates. For these, you need the other command line utilities (Broker, Database Manager, User Manager, Service Administrator, and Key Tool), which cannot operate remotely and must be run on the same host as the broker they manage (see Figure 1-1).

See Quick-Start Tutorial for a brief, hands-on introduction to the Administration Console. More detailed information on its use is available through its own help facility.