The benefits of a network that implements WebSphere MQ.
Introduction
The paper will explain and compare the difference between a network with an MQ
implementation and a network without, in an attempt to determine if routing capabilities
alone are a secure method for message delivery.
Message delivery failures can negatively impact a business’s future and growth. I will
discuss scenarios in which an MQ implementation will be viable.
What is MQ?
In today’s world, ruled by technology, a large number of different technologies are often
found within a business infrastructure. Most of today’s businesses rely heavily on the
services provided by technology; a business can ensure that it uses the same platforms,
hardware and software. But as a business grows or needs to communicate with services
outside its network there is no way to ensure that the services it needs to connect to is the
same as its own.
WebSphere MQ (Message Queuing) Middleware was created as a solution to this problem;
it provides a layer between different platforms and allows the software to communicate
with each others (Taylor, 2012). MQ simplifies intercommunications and frees
administration from having to find a way for the different software to communicate.
WebSphere MQ converts data for two different reasons, the first for channel
communications and the second to convert the message that is being sent. When one MQ
manager connects to another they negotiate CCSID (Coded Character Set Identifier) and
the protocol that will be used for encoding. The message being sent might not
automatically be converted, this depends on configuration. The user might not want them
converted or only part of a message.
As the name suggests messages are also queued, applications write messages to queues
(Tran, 2002), this allows a job to wait while another job is being processed if demand
exceeds availability. When the receiving machine is available to process the awaiting
message a trigger is sent to inform the Queue Manager and the message is then released.
This provides a convenient buffer between the business and the client.
This also serves as an advantage in the event of a network failure, a message or UOW
(Unit of Work) is not removed from the queue unless it has been successfully delivered.
When messages are sent that need to be processed as one it is referred to as a Unit of Work
(UOW). This is often the case when a transaction takes place; databases will be updated as
