Use a backup queue manager

An existing queue manager can have a dedicated backup queue manager for disaster recovery purposes.


A backup queue manager is an inactive copy of the existing queue manager. If the existing queue manager becomes unrecoverable due to severe hardware failure, the backup queue manager can be brought online to replace the unrecoverable queue manager.

The existing queue manager log files must regularly be copied to the backup queue manager to ensure that the backup queue manager remains an effective method for disaster recovery. The existing queue manager does not need to be stopped for log files to be copied, however we should only copy a log file if the queue manager has finished writing to it. Because the existing queue manager log is continually updated, there is always a slight discrepancy between the existing queue manager log and the log data copied to the backup queue manager log. Regular updates to the backup queue manager minimizes the discrepancy between the two logs.

If a backup queue manager is required to be brought online it must be activated, and then started. The requirement to activate a backup queue manager before it is started is a preventive measure to protect against a backup queue manager being started accidentally. After a backup queue manager is activated it can no longer be updated.

Important: Once the old backup queue manager has become the new active queue manager, for whatever reason, there is no longer a backup queue manager. This is effectively a form of asynchronous replication, and so the new active queue manager is expected to be logically some time behind the old active queue manager. As such, the old active queue manager no longer acts as a backup to the new active queue manager.

Parent topic: Backing up and restoring IBM MQ queue manager data


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