Websphere MQ 7.0 + jars compatible with 5.3 and 6.0 MQSeries servers ?

Question

I tried connecting jms client with 5.3 / 6.0 MQseries client jars to 7.0+ server, but it threw follwoing exception

com.ibm.mq.MQException: MQJE001: Completion Code 2, Reason 2423 at com.ibm.mq.MQQueueManager.sequentialConstruct(MQQueueManager.java:904) at com.ibm.mq.MQQueueManager.(MQQueueManager.java:865) at com.ibm.mq.MQSPIQueueManager.(MQSPIQueueManager.java:83) at com.ibm.mq.jms.MQConnection.createQM(MQConnection.java:2009) at com.ibm.mq.jms.MQConnection.createQMNonXA(MQConnection.java:1496) at com.ibm.mq.jms.MQQueueAgentThread.setup(MQQueueAgentThread.java:306) at com.ibm.mq.jms.MQQueueAgentThread.run(MQQueueAgentThread.java:1672) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:570)

I do understand from http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0704_xu/0704_xu.html that it's not possible to use previous version client libs. But my question is are these latest client libs backward compatible with 5.3 / 6.0 servers ?

Answer 1

V6.0 Yes. V5.3, not so much. The problem here is the 5.3 libs and servers. They were never tested nor intended to be compatible with v7 components because v5.3 was end-of-life well before v7 was released.

The v6 clients are compatible with the v7 server and vice-versa and you would be able to open a PMR if you found issues. The manual for v7 clients states that they are compatible with supported levels of WMQ server, which includes only v6 and v7 (see: http://bit.ly/crHnoi for details).

Word to the wise, do your development on v7 because v6 is end-of-life as of September 2011. This will save you from having to upgrade again in a year. The v5.3 QMgrs should be updated to v7 as soon as time allows. Among other issues are that there are security vulns that were discovered after v5.3 went EOL so no patches were ever produced to address them at v5.3. If security is an issue for your app, you need to be at 6.0.2.9 or 7.0.1.1.

You can download the fix packs and clients here if you need them:

Recommended Fixes for WebSphere MQ http://bit.ly/cUK5i6
SupportPac MQC7 WebSphere MQ V7 Clients: http://bit.ly/SupportPacMQC7
WMQ v7.0.1 trial download: http://bit.ly/WMQv7Trial