You can use the Message Queue Command utility (imqcmd) to manage the dead message queue as you manage other queues, with some differences. For example, because the dead message queue is system-created, you cannot create, pause, or destroy it. Also, as shown in Table 6–3, default values for the dead message queue sometimes differ from those of normal queues.
You configure the dead message queue as you configure other queues, but certain physical destination properties do not apply or have different default values. Table 6–3 lists queue properties that the dead message queue handles in a unique way.
Table 6–3 Dead Message Queue Treatment of Standard Physical Destination Properties
A broker can place an entire message on the dead message queue, or it can discard the message body contents, retaining just the header and property data. By default, the dead message queue stores entire messages.
If you want to reduce the size of the dead message queue and if you do not plan to restore dead messages, consider setting the imq.destination.DMQ.truncateBody broker property to true:
imqcmd update bkr -o imq.destination.DMQ.truncateBody=true
This will discard the message body and retain only the headers and property data.