IBM MQ Client running under Windows Docker

Question

I'm looking for a solution to run IBM MQ Client under a Windows Docker container. I know that Docker Hub only provides Linux implementations of MQ, however, I do not need full MQ Server capability. Instead, I'm hoping there's a means to install the MQ Client and simply connect to a Channel and Queues defined on another (non-Docker) system. To approach this, I've done the following:

1. Spun up a Windows Docker container running under a command prompt (For proof of concept)

2. Copied in and expanded MQ Client 9.0.0.8-IBM-MQC-Win64.zip

3. Silently installed MQ Client (e.g. msiexec /i "c:\temp\Windows\MSI\IBM MQ.msi" /l*v c:\temp\install.log /q TRANSFORMS="1033.mst" AGREETOLICENSE="yes" ADDLOCAL="Client").

   Note: The installation was successful and without error

4. Established required environment variables(MQServer, etc.) and updated paths (classpath, lib, include, etc).

5. Pinged the MQ server system to verify connectivity.

I attempted to put a message on a working, verified queue using, amqsputc.exe MYDOCKER.DS.Q. The immediate return code is MQCONNX ended with reason code 2195. Unfortunately, 2195 is pretty generic and there are no other logs available to review.

I understand the differences between running MQ under a VM versus a container, however since I only need Client access, I was hoping MQ Client was lightweight enough to be usable.

If MQ Client is not a viable direction, is there an MQ solution which might be doable via a Cloud connection? My legacy application is Windows-based and relies on MQ for job messaging.

Answer 1

Instead of installing the Full client install using msiexec, I would recommend that you use the IBM MQ Redistributable client install. This is packaged as a simple zip file for windows which you can extract into any location you choose.

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You can find more information about the Redistributable client on the Knowledge Center page Redistributable IBM MQ clients.

You can download the IBM MQ Redistributable clients using the links below:

• IBM MQ 9.1 Redistributable client.

• IBM MQ 9.2 Redistributable client.

  Note: IBM MQ 8.0 is out of support as of April 30th 2020 and IBM MQ 9.0 is going out of support on September 30th 2021.

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The IBM Knowledge center page Limitations and other considerations for redistributable clients gives these requirements:

Windows C runtime libraries
You might have these libraries on your machine already, but if you do not, you need to download and install the following Microsoft C/C++ runtime libraries:

• Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2008
• Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2012

The download links for the redistributable downloads for each of these libraries can be found at The latest supported Visual C++ downloads.

Answer 2

A possible alternative (and lighter) approach: Write a Go app using the IBM mq-golang package and deploy that in your Windows docker container.

• https://github.com/ibm-messaging/mq-golang