WebSphere MQ naming conventions

All WebSphere Message Broker resources have dependencies on WebSphere MQ services and objects. You must therefore also consider what conventions to adopt for WebSphere MQ object names. If you already have a WebSphere MQ naming convention, use a compatible extension of this convention for WebSphere Message Broker resources.

When you create a broker or a Configuration Manager, you must specify a queue manager name. This queue manager is created for you if it does not already exist. Because the broker and Configuration Manager each use a unique set of WebSphere MQ queues, they can share one queue manager, if appropriate. However, every broker must have a dedicated queue manager.

If you set up a User Name Server in your broker domain, this also uses a unique set of WebSphere MQ queues. The User Name Server can therefore also share a queue manager with a broker, or the Configuration Manager, or both.

Ensure that every queue manager name is unique within your network of interconnected queue managers, whether or not every queue manager is in your WebSphere Message Broker network. This ensures that each queue manager can unambiguously identify the target queue manager to which any given message must be sent, and that WebSphere Message Broker applications can also interact with basic WebSphere MQ applications.

WebSphere MQ supports a number of objects defined to queue managers. These objects (queues, channels, and processes) also have naming conventions and restrictions.

In summary, the restrictions are:
  • All names must be a maximum of 48 characters in length (channels have a maximum of 20 characters).
  • The name of each object must be unique within its type (for example, queue or channel).
  • Names for all objects starting with the characters SYSTEM. are reserved for use by IBM.

There are a few restrictions for naming resources: see Naming conventions for WebSphere Message Broker for z/OS.

Related concepts
Broker domains
Related tasks
Creating a broker
Related reference
Naming conventions for WebSphere Message Broker for z/OS