In this post we look back on the year that was 2023 and what happened in both IBM MQ, and MQGem Software.
New Versions
Both IBM MQ and MQGem Software products had a number of new releases in 2023.
MQGem Software products
MO71 – our graphical administrative product for IBM MQ – had a minor update in January to provide a customer requested feature enhancing the Trace Message dialog; then another minor update in February to support IBM MQ command level 932. Then in March, version 9.3.1 was a hugely feature rich release with lots of enhancements to graphing and new features making use of graphs, among many other features. In April another minor update was made to make some customer requested enhancements to exporting of objects. Support for MQ V9.3.3 was added in June, and for MQ V9.3.4 in October. The next major release of MO71 came in November with version 9.3.2 which made MO71 a 64-bit program.
MQEdit had two new versions released this year. The first, version 9.3.1, provided a couple of customer requested features, prompting for the KDB password, and different ways to choose the way you use MQ context settings. The second, version 9.3.2 in October made MQEdit a 64-bit program.
MQSCX had a minor update in February to support IBM MQ command level 932 and also to add two new functions random() and seedrand(). In August version 9.3.2 was released with a great number of new features to allow you to manipulate your MQSC DISPLAY command output.
MQEV had a minor update in February to support IBM MQ command level 932, command level 933 was added in June, and command level 934 in October. We released a playlist of short videos about different facets of MQEV in May.
MQMONA is a new product in the MQGem portfolio, released in April. It’s free to use with your existing MO71 and/or MQSCX licences, so take a look and see whether it will bring some relief to any slow environments you connect to.
QLOAD had a minor update in September to improve use of non-QLOAD files as input, and another minor update in December to add information to its summary display.
Q had a minor update in September with a customer requested feature to zero out unwanted group IDs.
Two new intermediate training modules, What’s New in IBM MQ V9.2.0 and V9.3.0 were added to our training catalogue.
IBM MQ new function and Maintenance Deliveries
There were three new IBM MQ releases made available in 2023. Continuous delivery (CD) release V9.3.2 in February, Continuous delivery (CD) release V9.3.3 in June and Continuous delivery (CD) release V9.3.4 in October.
IBM changed its maintenance delivery model at the start of 2023. Maintenance now comes in two flavours, the Fix Pack that you have been used to, and also Cumulative security updates (CSU) which are smaller, and only (generally) for security updates. CSUs will be shipped no more than once a month.
Seven new maintenance deliveries on IBM MQ V9.0 (all CSUs).
| Month | Maintenance |
| January | 9.0.0.14 (CSU) |
| March | 9.0.0.16 (CSU) |
| May | 9.0.0.17 (CSU) |
| June | 9.0.0.18 (CSU) |
| September | 9.0.0.19 (CSU) |
| November | 9.0.0.21 (CSU) |
| December | 9.0.0.22 (CSU) |
While there are no plans from IBM to release any further Fix Packs on this version since it has been EOS since 30th September 2021, it seems it is still getting Cumulative security updates (CSU).
Six new maintenance deliveries on IBM MQ V9.1, Five CSUs and one Fix Pack.
| Month | Maintenance |
| January | 9.1.0.13 (CSU) |
| May | 9.1.0.15 (Fix Pack) |
| June | 9.1.0.16 (CSU) |
| September | 9.1.0.17 (CSU) |
| November | 9.1.0.18 (CSU) |
| December | 9.1.0.19 (CSU) |
Seven new maintenance deliveries on IBM MQ V9.2, Four CSUs and three Fix Packs.
| Month | Maintenance |
| January | 9.2.0.8 (CSU) |
| March | 9.2.0.10 (Fix Pack) |
| May | 9.2.0.11 (CSU) |
| June | 9.2.0.15 (Fix Pack) |
| September | 9.2.0.16 (CSU) |
| November | 9.2.0.20 (Fix Pack) |
| December | 9.2.0.21 (CSU) |
Seven new maintenance deliveries on IBM MQ V9.3, Four CSUs and three Fix Packs.
| Month | Maintenance |
| January | 9.3.0.3 (CSU) |
| March | 9.3.0.4 (CSU) |
| May | 9.3.0.5 (Fix Pack) |
| June | 9.3.0.6 (CSU) |
| September | 9.3.0.10 (Fix Pack) |
| November | 9.3.0.11 (CSU) |
| December | 9.3.0.15 (Fix Pack) |
Four CSUs shipped on Latest Continuous Delivery (CD) releases.
| Month | Maintenance |
| January | 9.3.1.1 (CSU) |
| May | 9.3.2.1 (CSU) |
| September | 9.3.3.1 (CSU) |
| December | 9.3.4.1 (CSU) |
2023 has been a great year for all things MQ, including celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the original version of MQSeries. MQGem wishes all its customers, readers, and friends a Happy and Prosperous 2024. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
MQGem Software 