Preparing to migrate

Before migrating to a later version of IBM MQ, we must first stop the queue manager and back up the queue manager data.

If we migrate from a previous version of IBM MQ without first backing up the system, we cannot revert to the previous version, should you decide not to continue with the migration. Backing up the system before you install the new version enables you to back out the upgrade if necessary. If you do back out an upgrade, however, we cannot recover any work, such as changes to messages and objects, carried out by the later version of IBM MQ.

Before taking the backup, stop the queue manager that we are going to back up, which for this scenario is sampleQM. If you try to take a backup of a running queue manager, the backup might not be consistent because of any updates that were in progress when the files were copied.

Procedure

1. Open IBM MQ Explorer. Click Start > All Applications > IBM MQ > IBM MQ Explorer.
2. Stop queue manager sampleQM.
   1. In the Navigator View, right-click the queue manager sampleQM.
   2. Click Stop. The End Queue Manager window opens.
   3. Select Controlled, then click OK. Selecting the Controlled option stops your queue manager in a controlled, orderly way. The Immediate option, which forces the queue manager to stop, is typically used only if a controlled stop fails to complete successfully.

   The queue manager stops. In the IBM MQ, the icon next to queue manager sampleQM is changed to include a red arrow that points downward.

3. Close IBM MQ Explorer.
4. Back up the queue manager data. Take copies of all of the following data, making sure that we include all backup directories. Some of the directories might be empty, but we need them all if we need to restore the backup at a later date, so save them too.
   • The queue manager data located in C:\ProgramData\IBM\MQ\Qmgrs.
   • The log file directories for the queue managers located in C:\ProgramData\IBM\MQ\log, including the log control file amqhlctl.lfh.
   • The configuration files located in the C:\ProgramData\IBM\MQ\Config.
   • IBM MQ Version 9.1 .ini file and the registry entries. The queue manager information is stored in the .ini file and can be used to revert to a previous version of the product.

5. Stop IBM MQ.
   1. Stop the IBM MQ Service. Right-click the IBM MQ icon in the system tray, then click Stop IBM MQ. A dialog box with the following message is displayed:

      Shutting down IBM MQ will terminate all running queue managers and
      IBM MQ processes. Are you sure we want to continue? (AMQ4102)
      

   2. Click Yes, then wait for IBM MQ to stop.
   3. When IBM MQ has stopped, right-click the IBM MQ icon in the system tray, then click Exit.

Results

We have stopped the queue manager that we are going to migrate to the later release of IBM MQ and have taken a backup of the queue manager data.

What to do next

You are now ready to uninstall IBM MQ as described in Uninstalling the earlier version.

Related information

• Backing up queue manager data