Message monitoring

Message monitoring is the process of identifying the route a message has taken through a queue manager network. By identifying the types of activities, and the sequence of activities performed on behalf of a message, the message route can be determined.

As a message passes through a queue manager network, various processes perform activities on behalf of the message. Use one of the following techniques to determine a message route:

• The IBM MQ display route application (dspmqrte)
• Activity recording
• Trace-route messaging

These techniques all generate special messages that contain information about the activities performed on the message as it passed through a queue manager network. Use the information returned in these special messages to achieve the following objectives:

• Record message activity.
• Determine the last known location of a message.
• Detect routing problems in your queue manager network.
• Assist in determining the causes of routing problems in your queue manager network.
• Confirm that your queue manager network is running correctly.
• Familiarize yourself with the running of our queue manager network.
• Trace published messages.

• Activities and operations
  Activities are discrete actions that an application performs on behalf of a message. Activities consist of operations, which are single pieces of work that an application performs.
• 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.
• Activity recording
  Activity recording is a technique for determining the routes that messages take through a queue manager network. To determine the route that a message has taken, the activities performed on behalf of the message are recorded.
• Trace-route messaging
  Trace-route messaging is a technique that uses trace-route messages to record activity information for a message. Trace-route messaging involves sending a trace-route message into a queue manager network.
• IBM MQ display route application
  Use the IBM MQ display route application ( dspmqrte ) to work with trace-route messages and activity information related to a trace-route message, using a command-line interface. The IBM MQ display route application is not available for IBM MQ for z/OS queue managers.
• Activity report reference
  Use this page to obtain an overview of the activity report message format. The activity report message data contains the parameters that describe the activity.
• Trace-route message reference
  Use this page to obtain an overview of the trace-route message format. The trace-route message data includes parameters that describe the activities that the trace-route message has caused
• Trace-route reply message reference
  Use this page to obtain an overview of the trace-route reply message format. The trace-route reply message data is a duplicate of the trace-route message data from the trace-route message for which it was generated

Parent topic: Monitor the IBM MQ network

Related information

• Types of message