Troubleshooting the IBM MQ Console and REST API

Diagnose problems with the IBM MQ Console and REST API by looking at the available logs. When asked by IBM staff, you might also need to configure trace.

• The status of the mqweb server. If the mqweb server is stopped, we cannot use the IBM MQ Console or REST API. We can check the status of the server by using the following command:

  dspmqweb status

  Attention:

  Before issuing either the setmqweb or dspmqweb commands on z/OS, we must set the WLP_USER_DIR environment variable, so that the variable points to your mqweb server configuration.

  To do this, issue the following command:

  export WLP_USER_DIR=WLP_user_directory

  where WLP_user_directory is the name of the directory that is passed to crtmqweb. For example:

  export WLP_USER_DIR=/var/mqm/web/installation1

  For more information, see Create the mqweb server.

  If the mqweb server is stopped, start the server with the following command:

  strmqweb

  On z/OS, check that the mqweb server started task is running. If necessary, start the procedure that you created in Create a procedure for the mqweb server.

• Examine the mqweb server log files, console.log, and messages.log. These log files can be found in the following location:
  • MQ_DATA_PATH/web/installations/installationName/servers/mqweb/logs
  • The directory that was specified when the crtmqweb script ran to create the mqweb server definition. By default, this directory is /var/mqm/web/installation1/servers/mqweb/logs. Note that these files are in UTF-8. To view the files we can use one of the following methods:
    • Use the oedit command from a Unix System Services command line.
    • Enter ISPF option 3.17, and use the va (view ASCII) line command.

• On z/OS, check STDERR and STDOUT in the mqweb server started task output. There should be no messages in STDERR, unless an error has occurred.
• If we are unable to access the IBM MQ Console or REST API from a host other than the system where the mqweb server is running, check that remote connections have been enabled with the httpHost property. Issue the following command to display the mqweb server configuration:

  dspmqweb properties -a

  If the value of the httpHost property is localhost, the IBM MQ Console and REST API are available only from the same host as the mqweb server. Enable remote connections to the mqweb server by entering the following command:

  setmqweb properties -k httpHost -v hostname

  Where hostname specifies the IP address, domain name server (DNS) host name with domain name suffix, or the DNS host name of the server where IBM MQ is installed. Use an asterisk, *, in double quotation marks, to specify all available network interfaces, as shown in the following example:

  setmqweb properties -k httpHost -v "*"

• If no queue managers are displayed in the local queue manager widget in the IBM MQ Console, check that we have queue managers on the same host as the mqweb server that can be managed by the IBM MQ Console.
  • Only queue managers in the same installation as the mqweb server are listed in the IBM MQ Console.
  • On z/OS, only queue managers that have been started at the same version as the mqweb server since the last IPL are listed in the IBM MQ Console.

• If we are still experiencing problems, the mqweb server started task might not be configured correctly, or there might be a problem with the IBM MQ Unix System Services Web Components installation files.

  We might see the following message in the IBM MQ Console:

  Lost communication with the server Could not establish communication with the server.

  In the procedure used to start the mqweb server:
  1. Check the STEPLIB libraries are at the correct level, and are APF authorized.
  2. Check that INSTDIR, USERDIR, PATH and LIBPATH point to the correct path.

  In Unix System Services, enter the following command:

  ls -Eltr PathPrefix/web/bin/dspmq

  where PathPrefix is the IBM MQ Unix System Services Components installation path.

  This should display an output similar to the following:

  -rwxr-xr-t a-s- ... /mqm/V9R1M0/web/bin/dspmq

  Check the t and a flags are set. If necessary, use the commands:
  • chmod +t PathPrefix/web/bin/dspmq to set the sticky bit (t)
  • extattr +a PathPrefix/web/bin/dspmq to set the APF-authorized attribute (a)

For more information about gathering trace for the IBM MQ Console and REST API, see Tracing the Dashboard Web Console.