Activation specification or good old listener ports?

[smilie]

Hi,

Using :
WebSphere Platform 6.1 http://BASE 6.1.0.17 cf170821.07
Host Operating System is AIX, version 5.3
Java version = J2RE 1.5.0 IBM J9 2.3 AIX ppc64-64 j9vmap6423-20080315 (JIT enabled)
----
MQ 6
----

I have a MDB based websphere enterprise application to be deployed on the AIX server.
The application gets its inquiries via Websphere MQ installed in the same server ( hardware).

When deploying the enterprise application I need to configure the MDBs to the MQ queues.
What is the right approach? Listener ports or Activation specifications?
I am running in to a lot of errors while configuring activation spec - it is a pain to get it working with WMQ.
Meanwhile, it was easy to configure it on a desktop with RAD installed.

Also, some where I read :
+when connecting to a MQ resource you will need to connect using listener ports and not the JCA style activations specs.+

+Alternatively you can bridge your MQ server onto your sib bus using a MQ client link. (potential performance hit)+

Any suggestion, highly appreciated.

TIA
R.C

[Randy Schnier]

Activation specs are the Java EE - standard way to connect resources to MDBs, introduced in JCA 1.5 back in the J2EE 1.4 spec (2004 timeframe). Listener ports predate activation specs and are appserver-specific. The general direction of the industry is toward activation specs, and MQ is moving towards supporting them as well.

Not sure if it impacts you or not, but in the EJB 3.0 feature pack for WAS 6.1, EJB 3.0 MDBs may _only_ be configured via activation specs and not listener ports. (EJB 2.1 and earlier MDBs may continue to be configured via listener ports.) For customers wishing to use MQ to drive EJB 3.0 MDBs, the workaround is to use the MQ client link mentioned in the original posting.

- Randy

[Stephen Cocks]

Which to use depends on which JMS Provider you are using. As Randy says,
more modern JMS Provider implementations will follow the JCA specification
and will use an inbound resource adapter with support for Activation
Specifications. Older JMS Provider implementations rely on application
server specific solutions for inbound messaging, which for WebSphere
Application Server means Listener Ports.

To connect WAS 6.1 to WebSphere MQ you have three choices for a JMS Provider
implementation:

1. You are using the supplied (older) WebSphere MQ Messaging Provider to
connect directly to a WebSphere MQ Queue Manager. = Listener Port
2. You are using the JMS Provider packaged with recent versions of WebSphere
MQ. You have installed this into the system yourself as a Resource Adapter.
= ActSpec
3. You are using the supplied Default Messaging Provider to connect to a
Messaging Engine on a Service Integration Bus. You have chosen to route
messages to/from WebSphere MQ through an "MQ Link" between a Messaging
Engine and a Queue Manager. = ActSpec

As Randy also says, if you're using an EJB 3.0 MDB (with the EJB 3.0 Feature
Pack) then you _must_ use a JCA-based JMS Provider which rules out option
#1.

--
Stephen Cocks
WESB/WPS System Administration

"smilie" <sen...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:506647317.1219959983...@ltsgwas010.sby.ibm.com...

[David Currie]

Note that I believe Stephen's second option is not currently supported
by IBM.

Regards,
David

[sen...@gmail.com]

Thank you all! for the excellent responses.
I had been trying all means to get things working like what Stephen
has said in 2nd option.
But I don't think Websphere currently supports it with current RS MQ
adapter.

Thanks!

[afroz...@dsgiplc.com]

Activation spec is good idea if you are using SIB. I will advise you to use Listener port