Channels

IBM® WebSphere® MQ uses two different types of channels:

• A message channel, which is a unidirectional communications link between two

queue managers. IBM WebSphere MQ uses message channels to transfer messages
between the queue managers. To send messages in both directions, you must define a
channel for each direction.

• An MQI channel, which is bidirectional and connects an application (MQI client) to

a queue manager on a server machine.

• IBM MQ uses MQI channels to transfer MQI calls and responses between MQI clients
and queue managers.

Message channels
Message channel definitions can be one of the following types:

Message Description
channel
definition
type

Sender A sender channel is a message channel that the queue manager uses to send
messages to other queue managers. To send messages using a sender
channel, you must also create, on the other queue manager, a receiver
channel with the same name as the sender channel. You can also use sender
channels with requester channels if you are implementing a "callback"
mechanism.

Server A server channel is a message channel that the queue manager uses to send
messages to other queue managers. To send messages using a server
channel, you must also create, on the other queue manager, a receiver
channel with the same name as the server channel. You can also use server
channels with requester channels. In that case, the requester channel
definition at the other end of the channel requests the server channel
definition to start. The server sends messages to the requester. The server
can also initiate the communication as long as the server knows the
connection name of the partner channel.
Message Description
channel
definition
type

Receiver A receiver channel is a message channel that the queue manager uses to
receive messages from other queue managers. To receive messages using a
receiver channel, you must also create, on the other queue manager, a
sender or a server channel with the same name as this receiver channel.

Requester A requester channel is a message channel that the queue manager uses to
send messages to other queue managers. To send messages using a
requester channel, you must also create, on the other queue manager, a
sender channel if you are implementing a callback mechanism, or a server
channel.

Cluster-sender A cluster-sender (CLUSSDR) channel definition defines the sending end of

a channel on which a cluster queue manager can send cluster information
to one of the full repositories. The cluster-sender channel is used to notify
the repository of any changes to the queue manager's status, for
example the addition or removal of a queue. It is also used to transmit
messages. The full repository queue managers themselves have cluster-
sender channels that point to each other. They use them to communicate
cluster status changes to each other. It is of little importance which full
repository a queue manager's CLUSSDR channel definition points to. After
the initial contact has been made, further cluster queue manager objects are
defined automatically as required so that the queue manager can send
cluster information to every full repository, and messages to every queue
manager. For more information, see Queue manager clusters.

Cluster- A cluster-receiver (CLUSRCVR) channel definition defines the receiving

receiver end of a channel on which a cluster queue manager can receive messages
from other queue managers in the cluster. A cluster-receiver channel can
also carry information about the cluster-information destined for the
repository. By defining the cluster-receiver channel, the queue manager
indicates to the other cluster queue managers that it is available to receive
messages. You need at least one cluster-receiver channel for each cluster
queue manager. For more information, see Queue manager clusters.
 For each channel you must define both ends so that you have a channel definition for
each end of the channel. The two ends of the channel must be compatible types.
You can have the following combinations of channel definitions:

• Sender–Receiver
• Server–Receiver
• Requester–Server
• Requester–Sender (callback)
• Cluster-sender–Cluster-receiver

Message channel agents

Each channel definition that you create belongs to a particular queue manager. A
queue manager can have several channels of the same or different types. At each end
of the channel is a program, the message channel agent (MCA). At one end of the
channel, the caller MCA takes messages from the transmission queue and sends them
through the channel. At the other end of the channel, the responder MCA receives the
messages and delivers them to the remote queue manager.

A caller MCA can be associated with a sender, server, or requester channel. A

responder MCA can be associated with any type of message channel.
IBM WebSphere MQ supports the following combinations of channel types at the two
ends of a connection:

Caller Direction of Responder

message flow

Channel Listener Listener Channel

type required? required? type

Sender No Caller to Yes Receiver

Responder

Server No Caller to Yes Receiver

Responder

Server No Caller to Yes Requester

Responder
Caller Direction of Responder
message flow

Channel Listener Listener Channel

type required? required? type

Requester No Responder to Yes Server

Caller

Requester Yes Responder to Yes Sender

Caller

MQI channels
MQI channels can be one of the following types:

MQI Description
channel
type

Server A server connection channel is a bidirectional MQI channel that is used to

connection connect a IBM WebSphere MQ client to a IBM WebSphere MQ server. The
server connection channel is the server end of the channel.

Client A client connection channel is a bidirectional MQI channel that is used to

connection connect a IBM MQ client to a IBM MQ server. IBM MQ Explorer also uses
client connections to connect to remote queue managers. The client connection
channel is the client end of the channel. When you create a client-connection
channel, a file is created on the computer that hosts the queue manager. You
must then, copy the client-connection file to the IBM WebSphere MQ Client
computer.