IBM MQ Connector

Version 24.2.9039

IBM MQ Connector

The IBM MQ connector provides access to IBM MQ queues through the REST API.

Overview

IBM MQ connectors are configured with a specific queue to which messages are pushed or from which messages are retrieved. Files that arrive in the Input tab of the connector are pushed as a message to the queue, and messages pulled from the queue are written as files to the Output tab. Each connector instance can only be configured with a single queue.

Prerequisites

To establish a connection with IBM MQ, at a minimum users must have:

An IBM MQ server and a clear network path to that server from Arc
A queue manager with at least one active queue

Note: CData does not provide setup assistance or support for the creation or configuration of the IBM MQ server. For questions about the setup of an IBM MQ server, consult the Introduction to IBM MQ documentation.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Configuration

Settings related to the core configuration of the connector.

Connector Id The static, unique identifier for the connector.
Connector Type Displays the connector name and a description of what it does.
Connector Description An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.
Remote Host The hostname or IP address of the system hosting the MQ service.
Remote Port The port on the remote host where the MQ service is listening.
Queue Manager The name of the local queue manager for the desired queue.
Queue The name of the queue to push messages to or pull messages from.

TLS Settings

Settings related to transport security.

Use TLS when connecting with IBM MQ servers Whether to use TLS encryption as transport security when connecting and communicating with IBM MQ servers. When disabled, all communication is in plain text.
Server Public Certificate When TLS is enabled, set this field to the TLS/SSL certificate that the IBM MQ presents to verify its identity. Set this to Any Certificate to implicitly trust the IBM MQ server.

Client Authentication

Settings related to authenticating against the remote service.

Username The username credential for authenticating against the remote server.
Password The password for the specified username.

Other Settings

Settings not included in the previous categories.

Local File Scheme A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use macros in your filenames dynamically to include information such as identifiers and timestamps. For more information, see Macros.

Message

Save to Sent Folder Check this to copy files processed by the connector to the Sent folder for the connector.
Sent Folder Scheme Instructs the connector to group messages in the Sent folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all messages for the week in that folder. The blank setting tells the connector to save all messages directly in the Sent folder. For connectors that process many messages, using subfolders helps keep messsages organized and improves performance.

Logging

Log Level The verbosity of logs generated by the connector. When you request support, set this to Debug.
Log Subfolder Scheme Instructs the connector to group files in the Logs folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. The blank setting tells the connector to save all logs directly in the Logs folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders helps keep logs organized and improves performance.
Log Messages Check this to have the log entry for a processed file include a copy of the file itself. If you disable this, you might not be able to download a copy of the file from the Input or Output tabs.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

Other Settings Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, setting1=value1;setting2=value2). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Automation Tab

Automation Settings

Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.

Send Whether files arriving at the connector are automatically sent.
Retry Interval The number of minutes before a failed send is retried.
Max Attempts The maximum number of times the connector processes the file. Success is measured based on a successful server acknowledgement. If you set this to 0, the connector retries the file indefinitely.
Receive Whether the connector should automatically query the data source.
Receive Interval The interval between automatic query attempts.
Minutes Past the Hour The minutes offset for an hourly schedule. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Hourly. For example, if this value is set to 5, the automation service downloads at 1:05, 2:05, 3:05, etc.
Time The time of day that the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
Day The day on which the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Weekly or Monthly.
Minutes The number of minutes to wait before attempting the download. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Minute.
Cron Expression A five-position string representing a cron expression that determines when the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Advanced.

Performance

Settings related to the allocation of resources to the connector.

Max Workers The maximum number of worker threads consumed from the threadpool to process files on this connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Settings > Automation page.
Max Files The maximum number of files sent by each thread assigned to the connector. If set, this overrides the default setting on the Settings > Automation page.

Alerts Tab

Settings related to configuring alerts and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

Connector Email Settings

Before you can execute SLAs, you need to set up email alerts for notifications. Clicking Configure Alerts opens a new browser window to the Settings page where you can set up system-wide alerts. See Alerts for more information.

Service Level Agreement (SLA) Settings

SLAs enable you to configure the volume you expect connectors in your flow to send or receive, and to set the time frame in which you expect that volume to be met. CData Arc sends emails to warn the user when an SLA is not met, and marks the SLA as At Risk, which means that if the SLA is not met soon, it will be marked as Violated. This gives the user an opportunity to step in and determine the reasons the SLA is not being met, and to take appropriate actions. If the SLA is still not met at the end of the at-risk time period, the SLA is marked as violated, and the user is notified again.

To define an SLA, click Add Expected Volume Criteria.

If your connector has separate send and receive actions, use the radio buttons to specify which direction the SLA pertains to.
Set Expect at least to the minimum number of transactions (the volume) you expect to be processed, then use the Every fields to specify the time frame.
By default, the SLA is in effect every day. To change that, uncheck Everyday then check the boxes for the days of the week you want.
Use And set status to ‘At Risk’ to indicate when the SLA should be marked as at risk.
By default, notifications are not sent until an SLA is in violation. To change that, check Send an ‘At Risk’ notification.

The following example shows an SLA configured for a connector that expects to receive 1000 files every day Monday-Friday. An at-risk notification is sent 1 hour before the end of the time period if the 1000 files have not been received.

Establishing a Connection

The following settings are required to establish a connection:

Remote Host
Remote Port
Queue Manager
Queue

If client authentication is required, you must also set the following:

Username
Password

Use the Test Connection button to verify the connection to the server.

Sending Messages

Files that arrive in the Input tab for the connector are pushed to the configured queue as a message. Files can arrive in this folder either by being placed there directly, or from another connector earlier in the flow.

You need to set up multiple IBM MQ connectors to push messages to multiple queues. You can use a connector like the Branch connector to route files to the appropriate IBM MQ connector.

Receiving Messages

You can configure the IBM MQ connector to automatically poll the remote queue for messages to download. Use the Receive Automation and Receive Interval settings on the Automation tab. When enabled, the connector waits for the specified interval before attempting to retrieve messages from the queue and pushing them to the Output folder.

If the IBM MQ connector is connected to other connectors in a flow, downloaded messages are automatically passed to the next connector. Otherwise, the messages remain in the Output folder.

Macros

Using macros in file naming strategies can enhance organizational efficiency and contextual understanding of data. By incorporating macros into filenames, you can dynamically include relevant information such as identifiers, timestamps, and header information, providing valuable context to each file. This helps ensure that filenames reflect details important to your organization.

CData Arc supports these macros, which all use the following syntax: %Macro%.

Macro	Description
ConnectorID	Evaluates to the ConnectorID of the connector.
Ext	Evaluates to the file extension of the file currently being processed by the connector.
Filename	Evaluates to the filename (extension included) of the file currently being processed by the connector.
FilenameNoExt	Evaluates to the filename (without the extension) of the file currently being processed by the connector.
MessageId	Evaluates to the MessageId of the message being output by the connector.
RegexFilename:pattern	Applies a RegEx pattern to the filename of the file currently being processed by the connector.
Header:headername	Evaluates to the value of a targeted header (`headername`) on the current message being processed by the connector.
LongDate	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in long-handed format (for example, Wednesday, January 24, 2024).
ShortDate	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in a yyyy-MM-dd format (for example, 2024-01-24).
DateFormat:format	Evaluates to the current datetime of the system in the specified format (`format`). See Sample Date Formats for the available datetime formats
Vault:vaultitem	Evaluates to the value of the specified vault item.

Examples

Some macros, such as %Ext% and %ShortDate%, do not require an argument, but others do. All macros that take an argument use the following syntax: %Macro:argument%

Here are some examples of the macros that take an argument:

%Header:headername%: Where headername is the name of a header on a message.
%Header:mycustomheader% resolves to the value of the mycustomheader header set on the input message.
%Header:ponum% resolves to the value of the ponum header set on the input message.
%RegexFilename:pattern%: Where pattern is a regex pattern. For example, %RegexFilename:^([\w][A-Za-z]+)% matches and resolves to the first word in the filename and is case insensitive (test_file.xml resolves to test).
%Vault:vaultitem%: Where vaultitem is the name of an item in the vault. For example, %Vault:companyname% resolves to the value of the companyname item stored in the vault.
%DateFormat:format%: Where format is an accepted date format (see Sample Date Formats for details). For example, %DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff% resolves to the date and timestamp on the file.

You can also create more sophisticated macros, as shown in the following examples:

Combining multiple macros in one filename: %DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff%%EXT%
Including text outside of the macro: MyFile_%DateFormat:yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm-ss-fff%
Including text within the macro: %DateFormat:'DateProcessed-'yyyy-MM-dd_'TimeProcessed-'HH-mm-ss%