Your MQe development cycle

Given the wide range of uses for MQe, the product is not installed, configured, and deployed in the same way as other members of the MQ family. There are three phases in the adoption of MQe:

1. Development and prototyping phase
MQe is available for installation and use without charge, subject to the conditions of the MQe development license. MQe applications are developed, using the functions of the Java classes and C API. These applications can be packaged in a variety of ways.
  • In Java, you can set up an MQe queue manager as a daemon with one or more applications launched into the same Java virtual machine (JVM) and sharing a common queue manager.
  • In C, to develop applications using the MQe Development Kit, you need Microsoft embedded Visual Tools 3.0 and an SDK for your chosen platform.
  • In Java, the application embeds the required MQe classes such that the application runs on machines where MQe has not been installed, launching its own queue manager into its own JVM.
  • In Java, the application uses the MQe Java classes and C APIs that exist on the target machine.
Support from IBM is not included with the development license. However, support during application development and beyond is provided with the deployment license (see below).
2. Deployment phase
The deployment phase refers to how you use the developed applications and, therefore, under the terms of the MQe license, capacity units are required to use the product. The Java classes and C API can only be distributed with the application with agreement from IBM, or where the users already have entitlement to use them. Otherwise, in Java, users must customize the necessary classes themselves and, in C, copy the MQe to the device.
3. Management phase
Subsequently, when MQe queue managers are active within a network, tools are needed to inspect and manage them. Support for MQe is provided under the terms of the International Program License Agreement.

Support levels

This adoption life cycle explains the variation in level of support with platforms. For the MQe with capacity units, and Category 3 SupportPacs, IBM distinguishes between:

  • Platforms where installation and application development is supported:
    • Problem reports on install, application development, and use are accepted
  • Platforms where the application deployment is permitted but not directly supported:
    • Problem reports might be required to be reproduced on a supported platform
  • Platforms where application deployment is supported:
    • Problem reports resulting from application deployment are accepted

Parent topic: Planning your implementation