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| Chrismas thoughts / 2003 re-cap / looking ahead to 2004? |
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| Michael Dag |
 Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2003 6:51 am Post subject: Chrismas thoughts / 2003 re-cap / looking ahead to 2004? |
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Jedi Knight
Joined: 13 Jun 2002
Posts: 2607
Location: The Netherlands (Amsterdam)
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just some thoughts... in random order:
This board:
clearly THE place to be for MQ stuff with over 5000 registered users over 45000 posts... and always a good source for getting and lending a hand.
I still feel a 'stupid' question is the one you DIDN'T ask but:
- Lately I do feel a number of questions could have been 'answered' by simply using the 'search' button. Is this facility not obvious enough?
- Cross or double posts... IMHO should be avoided / banned, obviously this requires active moderation. As an active participant I am willing to share some of this 'burden', any other takers?
- Post in the 'right' forum... questions like 'Help?' clearly do not belong in the news and updates section... is the structure of this board unclear to novices? Do we need a 'splash' page for new users?
- This is a 'peer' board, with participation of IBMers, but not a formal support route...
MQ 'users'
Don't know how to 'word' this one, but in relation to the number of requests for 'Help me?' and the number of posters on this board I do get a feeling that not only the MQ 'skill' of newcomers is getting lower, but also their determination / willingness to find the answer they are looking for... maybe I am 'old' school, but I dig and dig and dig again and then ask a question... my 2 cents...
MQ future
Clearly looking bright, usage is growing... BUT what IS next?
Sure there is confidentiallity from the IBM side, but what about rumours?
whishlists? etc... IMHO the topic is very quiet...
http://www.mqseries.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12270
Additions / comments are welcome as usual 
I hope you all enjoyed a good christmas/year end break!
Michael |
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| PeterPotkay |
| Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2003 8:44 am Post subject: |
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Poobah
Joined: 15 May 2001
Posts: 7722
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| Quote: |
MQ 'users'
Don't know how to 'word' this one, but in relation to the number of requests for 'Help me?' and the number of posters on this board I do get a feeling that not only the MQ 'skill' of newcomers is getting lower, but also their determination / willingness to find the answer they are looking for... maybe I am 'old' school, but I dig and dig and dig again and then ask a question... my 2 cents...
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Outsourcing.
Its ironic. In one breath people complain about our jobs leaving, and then turn around and spend their valuable time and expertise answerig questions for the very people who are taking those jobs.
I'll admit I post my fair share of questions, but I also take the time to answer the ones I know as payback. It seems that 90% of the posters on this site just post questions (a couple here and there; just enough to get their job done ("See, I can be your MQ admin for $10/hr!")), and the same 10% are workhorses solving everyone's problems. Take away the top 20 or 30 posters from this site and it would completely fall apart. Yes, that is what this site is for - getting questions answered. But it's getting worse and worse I feel. And we wonder why rates are being driven down.
I think we need a .NET forum. When multiple posts trail for several pages, they are in effect turning into their own mini forums.
Someone once posted the idea of a forum for mainframe MQ. I think I even was against it saying that IBM's goal was to make all versions of MQ more similar with each version. I think there is enough differences that a MF specific forum would be worthwhile.
IBM, PLEASE fix the security holes related to SVRCONN channels and JAVA clients. And MQExplorer, or whatever is replacing it, should have strong security built in as well.
_________________
Peter Potkay
Keep Calm and MQ On
Last edited by PeterPotkay on Mon Dec 29, 2003 6:33 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| oz1ccg |
| Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2003 12:38 pm Post subject: |
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Yatiri
Joined: 10 Feb 2002
Posts: 628
Location: Denmark
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First to the last:
| Quote: |
| IBM, PLEASE fix the security holes related to SVRCONN channels and JAVA clients. And MQExplorer, or whatever is replacing it, should have strong security built in as well. |
To this I'll just say, it started this way, but on customers(us) requests IBM removed the undefined MCAUSER('NoBody') on the SVRCONN connections so it would be easier to work with WebSphere MQ.... 
Is there a security hole ??
Yes and no, if it's just out of the box no (we've got SSL and we can use it if we want to). I did develop a security solution to deal with these challanges (before v.5.3). I would recoment any MQ-admin to read and understand the Security Guide. But who have read it ?? 10%
max.  (I don't want to argue on this number, it might be lower)!
About haveing moderators..... I'm not shure. WE're living in a free world, or is it just an illusion ??
If it's a free world why can't the word be free without a policeforce, CIA etc. Typicly I'll just read the topics of my interest, and just commenting/answering where I have something to give, not just to discuss for the discussion....
For my own position and level, I'm a newbie on WMQI-B, and might ask "silly" thing in that forum. Maybe the seach engine could be enhanced so it can find the right topics, and not the 4000 uninteresting topics, with the same words.... And if I can't make the search engine give me the right answers.... I would not like to be thrown out, due to a strong moderator. What about the newbies that like to certify, there have all the time I've been participating been questions on certify, should we create a forum for certify ?? Yes and NO if we did how many would anser the questions, that sometimes causes a lot of discustion on a "simple" questions and some "simple" answers... but why answer A and not B.
I don't think I would go into a certify forum, I normally just go into my favorites like this one... Therefore no to this forum.
Why having a MF forum, well there are some of us that are dealing with both Z/OS and the distributed environment, I think it's no big deal to have it all in the same forum, threr are only a few MF-only things here. And if we should have MF, we should double the forums, because Workflow, Integrator, Java and PUB/SUB is ported to MF also, and it's another world there....... Not just a "single" service to start, but an complex environment......
I find it's great that we can have the unofficial IBM support here, so we can have a quick answer from some of the people that knows about the things..... THANKS. 
About anking the same question in more forums
Here could we just be polite and just say look on the answer in the other forum. I think what should be our way is to be polite and not be bad or arrogant to the WebSphere's that don't know it all ...... 
My wish
To have the freedom of a free speak. That we're able to share some great moments and learn a lot of each other. It's not required to give anything, it's completely free. Personally I've learned a lot by answering some questions, and maybe have an discustion on the topic.
Let's have more fun like the fun of the last 45.000 messages.
Happy Newyear.
Just my $0.02
_________________
Regards, Jørgen
Home of BlockIP2, the last free MQ Security exit ver. 3.00
Cert. on WMQ, WBIMB, SWIFT. |
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| JasonE |
| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 3:57 am Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 1220
Location: Hursley
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| Quote: |
| I think we need a .NET forum. When multiple posts trail for several pages, they are in effect turning into their own mini forums. |
The .net interface is brand new, and as such always would suffer from teething problems and hence a number of questions recently. There isnt an AMI, C or C++ forum so I would personally prefer to leave them in the api forum, but thats just my preference. I suspect there will be a flood of questions for the next month or so, then it will quieten a little. The other point is some of the questions are not .net specific but MQ API questions.
| Quote: |
| PLEASE fix the security holes related to SVRCONN channels and JAVA clients. And MQExplorer, or whatever is replacing it, should have strong security built in as well. |
I'm not speaking for IBM, but the only issue with this is (a) Java cannot query the signed on userid in an applet (as I understand it), so there has to be a way of providing a userid in Java, and (b) anyone relying on client security based purely on the signed on userid often doesnt recognize that anyone could define their own userid and access using it. Clients are insecure and need to be recognized as such. SSL improves things here, and I personally would like to see the explorer be able to use it.
My one final comment would be to many people here - I have been amazed at the quality and quantity of some of the answers given to others here, and do believe it is a great resource to be able to ask questions. |
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| PeterPotkay |
| Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2003 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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Poobah
Joined: 15 May 2001
Posts: 7722
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I understand all the implications of how someone can code any id they want in the Environment class in java, or create an id to log on with on their own machine. SSL is the solution to thwart these types of hacks.
I suppose the one thing I don't understand (and what I am really asking to be fixed) is why does MQ assign the id of the process that started the channel ("mqm") when an ID is not presented by the client (namely, JAVA clients)?
Wouldn't it make more sense to assign a bogus ID rather than an all powerful one when an ID is not presented?
And like Jason said, SSL built into the MQExplorer client would be great.
Another thing I thought of as a nice to have would be the ability to stop and sart the Cluster Repository Manager independently of the Queue Manager. This would allow us to clear away SYSTEM.CLUSTER.REPOSITORY.QUEUES without having to bounce the QM. Yes, there are still cases in clustering with MQ where the only solution is to blow away the repository queue and start from scratch with the cluster. It is geting better now that we are at 5.3 CSD05, but I would like the ability to control that Repository Manager.
_________________
Peter Potkay
Keep Calm and MQ On |
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| Michael Dag |
| Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2003 1:03 am Post subject: |
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Jedi Knight
Joined: 13 Jun 2002
Posts: 2607
Location: The Netherlands (Amsterdam)
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| Quote: |
About haveing moderators..... I'm not shure. WE're living in a free world, or is it just an illusion ??
If it's a free world why can't the word be free without a policeforce, CIA etc. Typicly I'll just read the topics of my interest, and just commenting/answering where I have something to give, not just to discuss for the discussion.... |
Jørgen, any newsgroup / bulletin board has some form of moderation,
moderators make sure some rules are applied to avoid total chaos and to keep forums on topic and of value to the participants.
Maybe I should not have used the word 'banned', any 'police/CIA' type of activity is not what I was thinking of...
| Quote: |
About anking the same question in more forums
Here could we just be polite and just say look on the answer in the other forum. I think what should be our way is to be polite and not be bad or arrogant to the WebSphere's that don't know it all ...... |
I think people on this board are very polite and patience, the occassional RTFM remark goes around. I don't sense any badness or arrogance here nor am I suggesting we should become that way.
| Quote: |
My wish
To have the freedom of a free speak. That we're able to share some great moments and learn a lot of each other. It's not required to give anything, it's completely free. Personally I've learned a lot by answering some questions, and maybe have an discustion on the topic. |
Your wish is already fulfilled! 
Michael |
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| scott9 |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2003 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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Acolyte
Joined: 11 Jul 2002
Posts: 62
Location: Sacramento,CA
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Well, I guess I'll be the first 'newbie' to join this thread. I've participated in several discussion groups and I have to say that this is one of the best. I've appreciated the help I received from the members in this site. Definitely, top notch, quality support. I've also found the search feature quite helpful. People helping people is a good thing and that's exactly what this group does.
I agree that reading the manual is prequisite to posting questions here or any other group. Sometimes the manuals can be difficult to understand or leave you hanging (no offense IBM - - there's lots to cover). There's no substitution for experience, which is why we 'newbies' lean on you more experienced gurus. It would be dissapointing if that changed. |
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| bduncan |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2004 11:08 am Post subject: |
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Padawan
Joined: 11 Apr 2001
Posts: 1554
Location: Silicon Valley
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Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful responses (in this post, as well as all the posts in the past year!).
I apologize for not being very active lately, I have been out of town quite a bit.
But to respond to some of your concerns:
| Quote: |
| moderators make sure some rules are applied to avoid total chaos and to keep forums on topic and of value to the participants. |
I agree, and while we have gotten away with having very few moderators on this site, perhaps some of the other more experienced users would like to take on this responsibility for individual forums. If you are interested, just fire me an email or private message.
| Quote: |
I think people on this board are very polite and patience, the occassional RTFM remark goes around. I don't sense any badness or arrogance here nor am I suggesting we should become that way.
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Just compare this site with yahoo forums or newsgroups... Many other resources are practically unusable because of all the spam, flaming, etc., that goes on. So I think we're doing pretty good in that department...
| Quote: |
| Its ironic. In one breath people complain about our jobs leaving, and then turn around and spend their valuable time and expertise answerig questions for the very people who are taking those jobs. |
I've tried to stay away from this politically sensitive topic because I know that this board is frequented by many people on both sides of the issue. Obviously we don't want to become the MQSeries "guild", actively keeping our knowledge secret and only helping those we deem fit. But at the same time, it's hard to keep helping someone who you know probably isn't qualified for their job position - but I think that applies whether that person is in America or India. Living in the area that has possibly been hardest hit by outsourcing, it's easy to get bitter about it, but one thing I've noticed about Silicon Valley is that people are continually innovating and creating new industries as others are moved overseas. First it was semiconductors, then aerospace, and now software. But at the same time biotech and bioinformatics are receiving more and more VC money, so the future looks bright. But I'm not going to base who I help on what country they happen to live in. But I will base who I help on how well their question is written, whether I've already answered it elsewhere, etc., because there are obviously more questions being asked than I have time in the day to answer, so I have to pick my battles. 
_________________
Brandon Duncan
IBM Certified MQSeries Specialist
MQSeries.net forum moderator |
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| mqonnet |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2004 11:05 am Post subject: |
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Grand Master
Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 1114
Location: Boston, Ma, Usa.
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To add to what all has already been mentioned here.
I would like to Congratulate Brandon on his excellent job of hosting/maintaining this site and at the same time assisting many with his invaluable knowledge. Maintaining a website and running it is in itself a daunting task and to top that i believe brandon does this from his home, meaning which he is employed elsewhere and this is not the source of his bread and butter. That itself commands a great applause.
At the end of the day, he may not have enough time to think about his website. But i am pretty much sure that this site has surely benefited many users and i wouldn't be surprised if this site helped many to hold onto their jobs.:). And that feeling itself must make him and everyone proud of this.
So, once again i would Congratulate Brandon on a commendable job and Wish him all the very best in the years to come.
Wishing all the other co-members of this forum Good luck and a Happy New year 2004!!!
Cheers
Kumar |
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