Conditions for using migrated resources with previous versions of the Message Brokers Toolkit

WebSphere Event Broker Version 6.0 can coexist with previous versions and other products. This topic explains the conditions that apply when you use migrated resources with previous versions of the Message Brokers Toolkit.

Except for user-defined extensions, you do not need to perform any tasks to migrate your Version 5.0 development and deployment resources, such as message flow files and broker archive files. You can start using your Version 5.0 resources with WebSphere Message Broker Version 6.0 immediately.

When you migrate from Version 2.1, you must also migrate your message flows, and user-defined extensions using the mqsimigratemsgflows command.

However, after you start using your resources in the Version 6.0 Message Brokers Toolkit, there are restrictions on using these same resources again with the Version 5.0 or Version 5.1 Message Brokers Toolkit. These are described in the following sections.

Development resources
When you use the Version 6.0 Message Brokers Toolkit to save development resources (such as message flow files) that were originally created in the Version 5.0 or Version 5.1 Message Brokers Toolkit, the resources are saved in Version 6.0 format.
After you have saved resources in the Version 6.0 format, you can no longer use them in the Version 5.0 or Version 5.1 Message Brokers Toolkit. This means that you cannot share development resources between the Version 6.0 Message Brokers Toolkit and previous versions of the Message Brokers Toolkit.
Files in the Version 5.0, Version 5.1, and Version 6.0 formats can coexist in the Version 6.0 workspace. Resources remain in the Version 5.0 or Version 5.1 format until you save them using the Version 6.0 Message Brokers Toolkit.
Deployment resources
You can deploy broker archive (bar) files created in the Version 5.0 or Version 5.1 Message Brokers Toolkit using the Version 6.0 Message Brokers Toolkit.
You can deploy bar files that are created in the Version 6.0 Message Brokers Toolkit using the Version 5.0 or Version 5.1 Message Brokers Toolkit, provided that the development resources referenced in the bar file do not make use of any new features that are available only in WebSphere Event Broker Version 6.0.
You can create a Version 6.0 bar file that contains Version 5.0 or Version 5.1 compiled message flows.

The Version 6.0 Message Brokers Toolkit can coexist with either the Version 5.0 or Version 5.1 Message Brokers Toolkit on the same computer. However, because you cannot share development resources between the Version 6.0 Message Brokers Toolkit and previous versions of the Message Brokers Toolkit, it is recommended that the Version 6.0 Message Brokers Toolkit uses a different workspace to either the Version 5.0 or Version 5.1 Message Brokers Toolkit.

The Version 5.0 and Version 5.1 Message Brokers Toolkit cannot coexist on the same computer.

Related concepts
Coexistence with previous versions and other products