Administration Tools

This section describes the tools you use to configure and manageMessage Queue broker services. The tools fall into two categories:

• Built-in Administration Tools

• JMX-Based Administration

Built-in Administration Tools

Message Queue's built-in administration tools include both command line and GUI tools:

• Command Line Utilities

• Administration Console

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 /bin directory shown in Appendix A, Platform-Specific Locations of Message Queue Data.

See Chapter 15, 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).

Figure 1–1 Local and Remote Administration Utilities

See Chapter 2, 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.

JMX-Based Administration

To serve customers who need a standard programmatic means to monitor and access the broker, Message Queue also supports the Java Management Extensions (JMX) architecture, which allows a Java application to manage broker resources programmatically.

• Resources include everything that you can manipulate using the Command utility (imqcmd) and the Message Queue Admin Console: the broker, connection services, connections, destinations, durable subscribers, transactions, and so on.

• Management includes the ability to dynamically configure and monitor resources, and the ability to obtain notifications about state changes and error conditions.

JMX is the Java standard for building management applications. Message Queue is based on the JMX 1.2 specification, which is part of JDK 1.5.

For information on the broker's JMX infrastructure and how to configure the broker to support JMX client applications,, see Appendix D, JMX Support.

To manage a Message Queue broker using the JMX architecture, see Sun Java System Message Queue 4.3 Developer’s Guide for JMX Clients.