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| charlopa24 |
 Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 6:40 am Post subject: Creating a network/relationship graph |
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Newbie
Joined: 21 Apr 2022
Posts: 7
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One of the issues we have at our shop is our knowledge of how all of our thousands of objects connect to each other. So I started to research ways to alleviate that problem.
I spent a lot of time figuring out a way to display my data and came across pyvis. Every week we run a makedef to display all of our objects for backup purposes. I used that as an input file and created a vast network of edges and nodes to show their relationships. While it works great at displaying the data in a meaningful way, it doesn't have support for filtering or clickable nodes. I need these two features for the following reasons:
Filtering - There is the possibility of having hundreds of nodes. It's hard to find a needle in the haystack.
Clickable nodes - I would really like to store data inside of the nodes that could be dynamic and show real-ish time data. To show things like queue depth and other channel status information.
Is there a better product out there other than pyvis? I'm not attached to pyvis for any reason other than it was as close as I could get for the actual visualization part. I looked at matplotlib but I have too much data for that to work. My other issue is that while my python skills are pretty decent, my other languages are lacking. So using something else would be challenging but not impossible.
I would like to post an image, but I require two post's before I can do that. Also first time posting in a forum like this so if there's an easier way to do that feel free to roast me.
Thanks |
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| hughson |
| Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 11:27 am Post subject: |
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Padawan
Joined: 09 May 2013
Posts: 1959
Location: Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
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<vendor_plug>
You might be interested in how MO71 shows you your data.
It has a network display which shows all your queue managers and the channels between them. An example of this view is shown below in the RHS pane.
The LHS pane shows the resolution of queues across the network. This picture specifically shows cluster queues because it is from a blog post on that subject. However, MO71 resolves all sorts of objects, as shown in this post.
Each of the queue manager icons in the network view is clickable to issue all sorts of commands against the queue manager, both MQ commands and user commands.
</verndor_plug>
Cheers,
Morag
_________________
Morag Hughson @MoragHughson
IBM MQ Technical Education Specialist
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| charlopa24 |
| Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 11:38 am Post subject: |
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Newbie
Joined: 21 Apr 2022
Posts: 7
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That actually looks exactly what i'm looking for! What I'm looking for is to input data from mainframe QMGRs. Does this have the support to do that?
Thanks |
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| hughson |
| Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 11:41 am Post subject: |
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Padawan
Joined: 09 May 2013
Posts: 1959
Location: Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
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| charlopa24 wrote: |
| That actually looks exactly what i'm looking for! What I'm looking for is to input data from mainframe QMGRs. Does this have the support to do that? |
Yes, MO71 has excellent support for z/OS Queue Managers. If you'd like to try it out with a free no-obligation trial, go to https://www.mqgem.com/mo71.html and contact us from there (look in Download heading).
Cheers,
Morag
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Morag Hughson @MoragHughson
IBM MQ Technical Education Specialist
Get your IBM MQ training here!
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| hughson |
| Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 8:06 pm Post subject: |
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Padawan
Joined: 09 May 2013
Posts: 1959
Location: Bay of Plenty, New Zealand
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Just to add, MO71 also has an Application viewer which shows which applications are making use of which queues.
I didn't have a screenshot of it earlier, so I just put one together using my z/OS queue manager.
Here's a screenshot, and there is a little more about it in this blog post.
Cheers,
Morag
_________________
Morag Hughson @MoragHughson
IBM MQ Technical Education Specialist
Get your IBM MQ training here!
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| charlopa24 |
| Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2022 6:04 am Post subject: |
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Newbie
Joined: 21 Apr 2022
Posts: 7
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Hi Morag, thanks for the recommendation of this tool. I'm looking for a way to connect a mainframe QMGR, but i'm trying to figure out how to do that. In MQ explorer we do it via svrconn but it doesn't seem like that's an option here. Also in the manual I found that there's a way to import mq explorer data, but we don't see the option to do that. Are those two things not available in the free version?
Thanks,
Ryan |
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| fjb_saper |
| Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2022 9:23 am Post subject: |
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Grand High Poobah
Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 20756
Location: LI,NY
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| charlopa24 wrote: |
Hi Morag, thanks for the recommendation of this tool. I'm looking for a way to connect a mainframe QMGR, but i'm trying to figure out how to do that. In MQ explorer we do it via svrconn but it doesn't seem like that's an option here. Also in the manual I found that there's a way to import mq explorer data, but we don't see the option to do that. Are those two things not available in the free version?
Thanks,
Ryan |
You should be able to use a SVRCONN channel. Just make sure you choose the client connection, (IIRC that's a checkbox on the connection pannel and then 2 more pannels accessed by pushbutton)... 
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| PaulClarke |
| Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2022 10:46 am Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 1002
Location: New Zealand
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It should be fairly intuitive if you look at the location dialog. As was mentioned before the trick is to click the 'Client' button. It also takes you though it in the 'Getting Started' chapter in the manual - look at section"3.2.1 Connecting via a Client".
If you advance and want to make SSL/TLS connections then this blog https://mqgem.wordpress.com/2021/07/09/mo71-tls-configuration/ gives further guidance.
Regards,
Paul.
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Paul Clarke
MQGem Software
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| bruce2359 |
| Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2022 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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Poobah
Joined: 05 Jan 2008
Posts: 9469
Location: US: west coast, almost. Otherwise, enroute.
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| charlopa24 wrote: |
| ...but it doesn't seem like that's an option here. |
Please be a bit more precise. What's the 'it'? Why doesn't it seem to like a SVRCONN channel. Do you see an error message?
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ב''ה
Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi. As we Worship, So we Believe, So we Live. |
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| PaulClarke |
| Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2022 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 1002
Location: New Zealand
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| charlopa24 wrote: |
Hi Morag, ...... Also in the manual I found that there's a way to import mq explorer data, but we don't see the option to do that. Are those two things not available in the free version?
Thanks,
Ryan |
I've just noticed the last bit of your sentence. It depends what you mean by "the free version". MO71 has been around a long time. For many years it was released as a free SupportPac. It was then enhanced by MQGem Software and released as a paid for product. The list of enhancements made has been extensive. If you take a look at the back of the current MO71 manual at "Changed made in previous versions" then you'll get some idea. Anyway, the concept of importing from an MQ Explorer configuration did not exist in the SupportPac. However, it is available in the MO71 product when using the 'free' product trial licence. Just select "File - Import Locations - From MQ Explorer file..." from the main window.
Regards,
Paul.
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Paul Clarke
MQGem Software
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| charlopa24 |
| Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 6:47 am Post subject: |
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Newbie
Joined: 21 Apr 2022
Posts: 7
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| bruce2359 wrote: |
Please be a bit more precise. What's the 'it'? Why doesn't it seem to like a SVRCONN channel. Do you see an error message? |
When attempting to connect via svrconn, I get the following Error:
"09:44:35 Can not find IBM MQ client (mqic32.dll) on this machine. errno(126)"
I'm not sure why it's looking on my machine when the conname is looking for a remote qmgr on the mainframe.
Here's my actions:
File > Add location > enter location and qmgr name > check client > click configure > enter channel name and connname (with port like qmgrconn(1234)) > click ok
Then I get a red X over the location name. If I double click on the location, I see "Queue Manager Waiting..." up at the top and none of the info is filled.
Thanks,
Charlopa24 |
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| PaulClarke |
| Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:14 am Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 1002
Location: New Zealand
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mqic32.dll is part of the IBM MQ Client installation. In fact it is the most important bit which gives access to the MQI verbs. What this message is tellling you is either that you have not installed the IBM MQ Client (32 bit) or that you have installed it but have not set up the paths so that MO71 can find it.
Perhaps needless to say at this point but MO71 uses the IBM MQ Client product to make a client connection to a remote server. The good news is that the IBM MQ Client is free, easily available and fairly quick to install.
Regards,
Paul.
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Paul Clarke
MQGem Software
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| zpat |
| Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2022 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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Jedi Council
Joined: 19 May 2001
Posts: 5866
Location: UK
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Once you have your MQ client working, you can also import any CCDTs into MO71 to save having to enter the connection details by hand.
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Well, I don't think there is any question about it. It can only be attributable to human error. This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error. |
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| charlopa24 |
| Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 7:09 am Post subject: |
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Newbie
Joined: 21 Apr 2022
Posts: 7
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| PaulClarke wrote: |
mqic32.dll is part of the IBM MQ Client installation. In fact it is the most important bit which gives access to the MQI verbs. What this message is tellling you is either that you have not installed the IBM MQ Client (32 bit) or that you have installed it but have not set up the paths so that MO71 can find it.
Perhaps needless to say at this point but MO71 uses the IBM MQ Client product to make a client connection to a remote server. The good news is that the IBM MQ Client is free, easily available and fairly quick to install.
Regards,
Paul. |
Thanks Paul, I got it working now. I installed the client and was able to connect. However, I now have two questions:
1) How do I enable the network graphing view. Is that only enabled if I have a trial license?
2) I was only able to connect via direct IP, dns names wouldn't work. For example, I first attempted to enter qmgrdns(1234) in the conname. But that would continuously fail until i entered 10.11.123.123(1234). Is there a way to support dns names?
Thanks,
charlopa24 |
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| PaulClarke |
| Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2022 11:51 am Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 17 Nov 2005
Posts: 1002
Location: New Zealand
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| charlopa24 wrote: |
Thanks Paul, I got it working now. I installed the client and was able to connect. However, I now have two questions:
1) How do I enable the network graphing view. Is that only enabled if I have a trial license?
2) I was only able to connect via direct IP, dns names wouldn't work. For example, I first attempted to enter qmgrdns(1234) in the conname. But that would continuously fail until i entered 10.11.123.123(1234). Is there a way to support dns names?
Thanks,
charlopa24 |
The vast majority of the application is disabled without a valid licence. You can connect and display the Queue Manager attributes but that's about it. If you want a trial licence then by all means send an email with your details to support@mqgem.com
As for the DNS support this, I suspect, is more about your machine configuration than MO71. MO71 just passes whatever string you give it to Windows so if it is not accepted then either you have entered it wrong or the format you have used is not supported. Your example of qmgrdns(1234) seems a little strange. However, if 'ping qmgrdns works then I would expenct it to work in MO71. Sometimes Windows wants you to qualify with the domain, eg mydomain.qmgrdns. It all depends on your setup.
Cheers,
Paul.
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MQGem Software
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