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Message route techniques

Activity recording and trace-route messaging are techniques that allow you to record activity information for a message as it is routed through a queue manager network.


Comparison of activity recording and trace-route messaging

Both activity recording and trace-route messaging can provide activity information to determine the route a message has taken through a queue manager network. Both methods have their own advantages.
Benefit Activity recording Trace-route messaging
Can determine the last known location of a message Yes Yes
Can determine configuration issues with a queue manager network Yes Yes
Can be requested by any message
(is not restricted to use with trace-route messages)
Yes No
Message data is left unmodified Yes No
Message processed normally Yes No
Activity information can be accumulated in the message data No Yes
Optional message delivery to target queue No Yes
If a message is caught in an infinite loop, it can be detected and dealt with No Yes
Activity information can be put in order reliably No Yes
Application provided to display the activity information No Yes


Message route completeness

In some cases it is not possible to identify the full sequence of activities performed on behalf of a message, so only a partial message route can be determined. The completeness of a message route is directly influenced by the queue manager network that the messages are routed through. The completeness of a message route depends on the level of the queue managers in the queue manager network, as follows:


How activity information is stored

IBM MQ stores activity information in activity reports, trace-route messages, or trace-route reply messages. In each case the information is stored in a structure called the Activity PCF group. A trace-route message or trace-route reply message can contain many Activity PCF groups, depending on the number of activities performed on the message. Activity reports contain one Activity PCF group because a separate activity report is generated for every recorded activity.

With trace-route messaging, additional information can be recorded. This additional information is stored in a structure called the TraceRoute PCF group. The TraceRoute PCF group contains a number of PCF structures that are used to store additional activity information, and to specify options that determine how the trace-route message is handled as it is routed through a queue manager network.