Category Archives: Windows

Setting up remote administration with MQ Explorer on MQSeries 5.3

This is what needs to be done on the SERVER that is going to be administrated:

  • Create a new channel with CHLTYPE(SVRCONN), TRPTYPE(TCP) and MCAUSER(‘mqm’) (eg. define channel(SERVER.CONNECTION) CHLTYPE(SVRCONN) TRPTYPE(TCP) MCAUSER(‘mqm’) in runmqsc)
  • Create a new model called SYSTEM.MQEXPLORER.REPLY.MODEL (eg. define qmodel(SYSTEM.MQEXPLORER.REPLY.MODEL) in runmqsc)
  • Now start the command server: strmqcsv <QManager>

Now we are going to setup the CLIENT MQ Explorer

  1. Right click “Queue Managers” and choose “Show/Hide Queue Managers”
    Show/Hide Queue Managers
  2. Click “Add”
    Add button
  3. Queue Manager name is the name of the QManager of the server you want to administrate
    Queue Manager NamePress “Next”
  4. Now enter the Host name/IP address, Port and the Server connection channel you defined on the server
    Connection detailsNow press “Finished”
  5. If everything is correct MQ Explorer will now connect to the QManager

If the connection fails be sure to check firewall settings so that you are allowed to connect to the server on the desired port (port 1414 in this example)

Setting up a SSH tunnel using Putty

Every now and then I get stuck on a windows machine and since one bad never comes alone I also have to deal with a firewall configured by an former NSA employee 🙂 In these situations I just love Putty and its ability to create tunnels. Here is a small example of how:

I am on my local machine (127.0.0.1) and I need to use port 1414 on computer 10.10.10.2. My local machine is not allowed to connect to 10.10.10.2 directly (due to firewall rules) but it is allowed to connect to 10.10.10.1. 10.10.10.1 is allowed to connect to 10.10.10.2. Here is a simple schematic of the situation:

My local machine:1414 -> 10.10.10.1 -> 10.10.10.2:1414

Here is one way to set it up in Putty

  1. First we input the address and port to 10.10.10.1 (the “middle” machine)
    Putty session configuration
  2. Then we setup the tunnel (SSH->Tunnels) and press “Add”
    Putty tunnels configuration
    The Source port is the port on my local machine. The Destination is the remote computer we want to connect to (10.10.10.2)
  3. Now we press “Open” and enter our credentials. Done!

Shutdown or restart Windows over RDP

When working over remote desktop (RDP) on Windows systems there is no start menu item “Turn off computer…”. so how do I restart the remote computer? There are a few different ways to do this.

Option 1: use the command line:
1. Start->Run
2. Type ‘cmd’ in the run box
3. When the command line window opens write ‘shutdown -r’
4. The computer will now start the shutdown process

If you leave out the ‘-r’ the computer will shutdown. I have been using this way all the time until I found option number two.

Option 2: Using the “hidden menu” in Windows
1. Start->(Settings->)Windows Security

I have wondered from time to time what this one did but I never checked it 🙂 ‘Windows Security’ will give you a menu just like the one on Windows Server 2003 when using Ctrl-Alt-Del. Very nice.
(if you are using the “big” start menu you will find ‘Windows Security’ on the right side instead of under ‘Settings’)