What is a channel?
A channel is a logical communication link between an WebSphere MQ client and an WebSphere MQ server, or between two WebSphere MQ servers. A channel has two definitions: one at each end of the connection. The same channel name must be used at each end of the connection, and the channel type used must be compatible.
There are two categories of channel in WebSphere MQ, with different channel types within these categories:
Message Channels
A message channel is a one-way link. It connects two queue managers via message channel agents (MCAs). Its purpose is to transfer messages from one queue manager to another. Message channels are not required by the client server environment.
MQI Channels
An MQI channel connects a WebSphere MQ client to a queue manager on a server machine, and is established when you issue an MQCONN or MQCONNX call. It is a two-way link and is used for the transfer of MQI calls and responses only, including MQPUT calls that contain message data. There are different ways of creating and using the channel definitions (see Defining MQI channels).
An MQI channel can be used to connect a client to a single queue manager, or to a queue manager that is part of a queue-sharing group (see Connecting a client to a queue-sharing group).
There are two channel types for MQI channel definitions. They define the bi-directional MQI channel.
- Client-connection channel
- This type is for the WebSphere MQ client.
- Server-connection channel
- This type is for the server running the queue manager, with which the WebSphere MQ application, running in an WebSphere MQ client environment, will communicate.
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