Automatic Broker Startup on Windows

To start a broker automatically at Windows system startup, you must define the broker as a Windows service. The broker will then start at system startup time and run in the background until system shutdown. Consequently, you will not need to use the Message Queue Broker utility (imqbrokerd) unless you want to start an additional broker.

A system can have no more than one broker running as a Windows service. The Windows Task Manager lists such a broker as two executable processes:

• The native Windows service wrapper, imqbrokersvc.exe

• The Java runtime that is running the broker

You can install a broker as a service when you install Message Queue on a Windows system. After installation, you can use the Service Administrator utility (imqsvcadmin) to perform the following operations:

• Add a broker as a Windows service

• Determine the startup options for the broker service

• Disable a broker from running as a Windows service

To pass startup options to the broker, use the -args option to the imqsvcadmin command. This works the same way as the imqbrokerd command’s -D option, as described under Starting Brokers. Use the Command utility (imqcmd) to control broker operations as usual.

See Service Administrator Utility for complete information on the syntax, subcommands, and options of the imqsvcadmin command.

Reconfiguring the Broker Service

The procedure for reconfiguring a broker installed as a Windows service is as follows:

To Reconfigure a Broker Running as a Windows Service

1. Stop the service:

   1. From the Settings submenu of the Windows Start menu, choose Control Panel.

   2. Open the Administrative Tools control panel.

   3. Run the Services tool by selecting its icon and choosing Open from the File menu or the pop-up context menu, or simply by double-clicking the icon.

   4. Under Services (Local), select the Message Queue Broker service and choose Properties from the Action menu.

      Alternatively, you can right-click on Message Queue Broker and choose Properties from the pop-up context menu, or simply double-click on Message Queue Broker. In either case, the Message Queue Broker Properties dialog box will appear.

   5. Under the General tab in the Properties dialog, click Stop to stop the broker service.

2. Remove the service.

   On the command line, enter the command

      imqsvcadmin remove
   

3. Reinstall the service, specifying different broker startup options with the -args option or different Java version arguments with the -vmargs option.

   For example, to change the service’s host name and port number to broker1 and 7878, you could use the command

      imqsvcadmin install  -args "-name broker1  -port 7878"
   

Using an Alternative Java Runtime

You can use either the imqsvcadmin command’s -javahome or -jrehome option to specify the location of an alternative Java runtime. (You can also specify these options in the Start Parameters field under the General tab in the service’s Properties dialog window.)

The Start Parameters field treats the backslash character (\) as an escape character, so you must type it twice when using it as a path delimiter: for example,

   -javahome c:\\j2sdk1.4.0

Displaying Broker Service Startup Options

To determine the startup options for the broker service, use the imqsvcadmin query command, as shown in Example 3–1.

Example 3–1 Displaying Broker Service Startup Options

imqsvcadmin query

Service Message Queue Broker is installed.
Display Name: Message Queue Broker
Start Type: Automatic
Binary location: C:\Sun\MessageQueue\bin\imqbrokersvc.exe
JavaHome: c:\j2sdk1.4.0
Broker Args: -name broker1 -port 7878

Disabling a Broker From Running as a Windows Service

To disable a broker from running as a Windows service, use the command

   imqcmd shutdown bkr

to shut down the broker, followed by

   imqsvcadmin remove

to remove the service.

Alternatively, you can use the Windows Services tool, reached via the Administrative Tools control panel, to stop and remove the broker service.

Restart your computer after disabling the broker service.

Troubleshooting Service Startup Problems

If you get an error when you try to start a broker as a Windows service, you can view error events that were logged:

To See Logged Service Error Events

1. Open the Windows Administrative Tools control panel.

2. Start the Event Viewer tool.

3. Select the Application event log.

4. Choose Refresh from the Action menu to display any error events.