Configure SSL or TLS encryption for MFT

Use SSL or TLS with IBM MQ and Managed File Transfer to prevent unauthorized connections between agents and queue managers, and to encrypt message traffic between agents and queue managers.


Before starting

SSL encryption encrypts messages only on the channels between queue managers, and between queue managers and agents.


For general information about using SSL with IBM MQ, see Work with SSL/TLS. In IBM MQ terms, Managed File Transfer is a standard Java client application.

Follow these steps to use SSL with Managed File Transfer:


Procedure

  1. Create a truststore file and optionally a keystore file (these files can be the same file). If we do not need client-authentication (that is, SSLCAUTH=OPTIONAL on channels) we do not need to provide a keystore. You require a truststore only to authenticate the queue manager's certificate against.

    The key algorithm of the truststore file and keystore file must be RSA to work with IBM MQ.

  2. Set up the IBM MQ queue manager to use SSL. For information about setting up a queue manager to use SSL using IBM MQ Explorer for example, see Configure SSL on queue managers.
  3. Save the truststore file and keystore file (if you have one) in a suitable location. A suggested location is the config_directory/coordination_qmgr/agents/agent_name directory.
  4. Set the SSL properties as required for each SSL-enabled queue manager in the appropriate Managed File Transfer properties file. Each set of properties refers to a separate queue manager (agent, coordination, and command), although one queue manager might perform two or more of these roles.

    One of the CipherSpec or CipherSuite properties is required, otherwise the client tries to connect without SSL. Both the CipherSpec or CipherSuite properties are provided because of the terminology differences between IBM MQ and Java. Managed File Transfer accepts either property and does the necessary conversion, so we do not need to set both properties. If you do specify both the CipherSpec or CipherSuite properties, CipherSpec takes precedence.

    The PeerName property is optional. We can set the property to the Distinguished Name of the queue manager that we want to connect to. Managed File Transfer rejects connections to an incorrect SSL server with a Distinguished Name that does not match.

    Set the SslTrustStore and SslKeyStore properties to file names that point to the truststore and keystore files. If we are setting up these properties for an agent that is already running, stop and restart the agent to reconnect in SSL mode.

    Properties files contain plain-text passwords so consider setting appropriate file system permissions.

    See SSL properties for MFT.

  5. If an agent queue manager uses SSL, we cannot provide the necessary details when you create the agent. Use the following steps to create the agent:
    1. Create the agent by using the fteCreateAgent command. You receive a warning about being unable to publish the existence of the agent to the coordination queue manager.
    2. Edit the agent.properties file that was created by the previous step to add the SSL information. When the agent is successfully started, the publish is attempted again.

  6. If agents or instances of the IBM MQ Explorer are running while the SSL properties in the agent.properties file or coordination.properties file are changed, we must restart the agent or IBM MQ Explorer.

Parent topic: Securing Managed File Transfer


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