5 Best IBM MQ Monitoring Tools in 2023
MQ, or message queuing; is used to exchange messages using queues. IBM MQ allows two or more applications running on different platforms to talk in real-time. Its success is evident as 75% of the Fortune 500 companies have deployed it to their infrastructure.
However, figuring out when to move messages in MQ, identifying potential problems in communication, and examining message errors is so daunting to perform manually. This is where IBM MQ monitoring tools excel. These type of company tasks are automated by business monitoring tools, making them more efficient and seamless.
Despite providing you with a list of the best IBM MQ monitoring tools, this article also guides you in choosing the right MQ monitoring tool for your environment.
Best MQ Monitoring Tools
| Software | Best for | Top Features | |
| 1. | Applications Manager | Deep visibility into MQ monitoring. | Identifies root cause of bottlenecks. Configurable alarms. Monitors channel stats. Generates instant performance graphs and reports. |
| 2. | IBM MQ explorer | Monitoring IBM MQ metrics | proven messaging for hybrid and multi-cloud. high-performance and security-rich. Insulate your business from risks. Leverages power of AI and data. |
| 3. | Zabbix | Proactively monitoring MQ infrastructure | Highly scalable. Open-source. Available both as a standalone application and as an integration to Eclipse IDE. Supports multiple protocols. |
| 4. | Dynatrace | MQ monitoring based on Gartner report. | AI-powered analytics. Quick identification of anomalies in message-queue systems. Supports both cloud and on-premise infrastructure. Quick identification of anomalies. |
| 5. | DataDog | Cloud based MQ monitoring. | Numerous integration options. Event logs maintenance. IBM MQ checks included in the DataDog agent package. |
1. Applications Manager – Best IBM MQ monitoring tool overall
Supported OS: Uses monitoring API. Hence, independent of OS platform.
Developer: ManageEngine
License: Paid, Free (trial period)
ManageEngine applications manager is an agent to monitor critical metrics of IBM MQ instances, such as channels, queues, and queue servers. The tool monitors individual queues as well as multiple queue managers on multiple hosts.
Besides improving the efficiency of event querying and filtering, Applications Manager also provides you with detailed reports on each type of event that occurs.
Additionally, the tool’s middleware monitoring capability allows us to analyze message queue stats like the depth of queues, space left in the queue for coming messages, and the age of the oldest message in the queue. Additionally, you can also track the messages causing problems and resolve them.
Application managers’ frequent health checks of your infrastructure resolve disruptions before they become issues.
Pros:
- Generate logs for events that occurred.
- Root cause analysis.
- Configurable alarms.
- Monitors channel stats.
- Manages MQ configuration.
Cons:
- Designed for more than just message queue monitoring.
2. IBM MQ explorer – Best to monitor IBM MQ metrics
Supported OS: Windows, Linux, macOS.
Developer: IBM
License: Free (paid for few advanced features)
Make every message count with IBM MQ explorer. It has made challenging message queue monitoring simple and efficient across hybrid or multi-cloud environments.
With IBM MQ explorer, you can view and edit messages remotely from anywhere by connecting to queue managers (servers where queues are hosted). The tool is capable of handling both on-premise and cloud-based MQ objects.
The latest version of this IBM MQ tool is 9.1, with the feature of topic host routing that uses mediators to share data with subscribers. You can either download this explorer as a standalone application or integrate it into Eclipse IDE to monitor your MQ servers. Also, check the best IBM Db2 monitoring tools.
Apart from monitoring IBM MQ objects, the tool can perform administrative tasks, like creating queues and managing channels. IBM explorer is already loaded with commonly used functionalities; however, you can add customized features as plug-ins to the software.
With a licensed IBM MQ, you will get an IBM MQ explorer at no additional cost.
Pros:
- Flexible deployment options.
- Advanced capabilities like message query and filter.
- Secure enterprise wide connectivity.
- Perfect for cloud-native.
- Supports message-queuing in diverse connected systems.
- Automated and intelligent workload balancing.
Cons:
- Not highly customizable compared to other tools.
3. Zabbix – All-in-one MQ monitoring tool
Supported OS: Windows, Linux, Unix
Developer: Zabbix LLC
License: Free under GPL license
Zabbix is another powerful monitoring tool that can be integrated into various message queueing software such as IBM MQ, Rabbit MQ, and Active MQ. This customizable agent can monitor components of a message-queue system, including queues, queue managers, channels, and listeners.
Zabbix is an all-in-one tool not just limited to message queue monitoring but also provides various other services for monitoring networks and servers.
Message queue systems work with data in every transaction, this data helps to analyze the trends in message queues and find an efficient way to optimize message flows.
Apart from this, message data analysis also identifies potential issues and resolves them before they occur. So, to fetch the necessary data for analysis, the tool uses various monitoring protocols, including JMX, HTTPS, and SNMP.
Zabbix is an open-source monitoring tool and is available on GitHub for free. However, you might need to spend extra to license IBM MQ.
Pros:
- Analyzes extensive data to come up with actionable insights.
- Numerous data visualization options to effortlessly understand patterns.
- Customizable and user-friendly dashboard.
- Zabbix is highly scalable and monitors multiple devices simultaneously.
- Supports multiple protocols.
- Instant alerts whenever an issue is detected in the message queueing process.
Cons:
- Limited documentation.
4. Dynatrace – Leading MQ tool based on Gartner report
Supported OS: Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android.
Developer: Dynatrace LLC
License: Free (trial version)
Dynatrace is an application performance management tool that can monitor message-queue systems. You can get a complete report on the full observability of the IBM MQ, and the best part is you don’t need to write any code manually, as the tool does it for you.
By leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, the tool forecasts future trends and identifies bottlenecks in the message-queue transfers using live and historical data.
Dynatrace isn’t just limited to IBM MQ; the tool is open to many other MQ software like ActiveMQ, Apache Kafka, ActiveMQ Artemis, etc.,
With Dynatrace, you can monitor various components of MQ systems such as message length, time taken for transfers, queue servers, queueing algorithms, channels.
As per the Gartner APM monitoring report, Dynatrace has been declared the leader for 2022 in application performance management and observability.
After 15 days of the trial period, you should take the subscription to continue utilizing Dynatrace.
Pros:
- End-to-end trace connections.
- Quick identification of anomalies in message-queue systems.
- Works on both cloud and on-premise environments.
- Cloud observability and advanced AIOps.
- AI-powered analytics.
Cons:
- Expensive for individuals and small-scale businesses.
5. Datadog – Excellent tool for cloud-based MQ monitoring
Supported OS: Cloud based Application. So, independent of OS.
Developer: Datadog Inc.
License: Paid
Datadog’s IBM MQ is a cloud-based software that offers message queue monitoring services. It supports all versions of the IBM MQ along with its recent release 9.1. You can integrate this monitoring tool into IBM MQ with customizable permissions and authentication accesses to ensure security.
The tool alerts you of any essential metrics, records, or issues in the message queue infrastructure.
After all, Datadog provides an easy-to-understand dashboard with options for tracking, analyzing, and visualizing message queue metrics, enabling you to seamlessly understand the IBM MQ performance.
Pros:
- Configurable dashboards.
- Event logs maintenance.
- Supports multiple operating systems.
- Numerous integration options.
- Instant alerts.
Cons:
- Not an open-source tool.
What do MQ Monitoring tools do?
Monitoring IBM MQ instances enables us to detect potential issues in message queue systems and determine possible solutions. However, monitoring them manually demands hard work and funding. This is where IBM MQ monitoring tools come into play.
MQ monitoring tools are designed to automate the monitoring of various message queue components, including the flow of messages, queue depth, queue managers, channels, and servers with automation. These tools in production are cost-effective and time-saving.
How do I monitor IBM MQ?
IBM MQ is a middleware messaging system used in communication and data transfers among applications.
With IBM MQ monitoring tools, you don’t need to manually monitor the performance of IBM message-queue software anymore. All you need to do is choose the right IBM MQ monitoring tool for your businesses from the above comprehensive list and install it in your environment. Configure the tool according to your objectives and let it do the rest for you. If you are running on UPS, make sure to check the best UPS monitoring tools.
How do I monitor MQ queue depth?
Queue depth refers to the count of messages currently residing in the queue, and it’s a key metric for message queue software performance checks.
All of the mentioned IBM MQ monitoring tools in this article support queue depth monitoring. So just instruct or configure the tool to monitor queue depth if it isn’t already being monitored by default.
Final Thoughts:
IBM MQ is widely adopted by worldwide companies, with 90 of the top 100 global banks and 85% of Fortune 100 companies utilizing this message-queue software from IBM. It’s hard to manage each metric in the message queue by hand, but thankfully IBM MQ monitoring tools have automated this process. You might also want to check the best SAP monitoring apps.
In this article, we have mentioned both open-source and paid tools, highlighting the pros and cons of each. Hence, this post should help you find the best IBM MQ monitoring tool that suits your needs.
