Removing a queue manager from MSCS control

You can remove queue managers from MSCS control, and return them to manual administration. You do not need to do this for maintenance operations. You can do that by taking a queue manager offline temporarily, using the MSCS Cluster Administrator. Removing a queue manager from MSCS control is a more permanent change; only do it if you decide that you no longer want MSCS to have any further control of the queue manager.

The procedure is:

1. Take the queue manager resource offline using the MSCS Cluster Administrator. To do this, see Taking a queue manager offline from MSCS.
2. Destroy the resource instance. This does not destroy the queue manager.
3. Optionally, migrate the queue manager files back from shared drives to local drives. To do this, see Returning a queue manager from MSCS storage.
4. Test the queue manager.

Taking a queue manager offline from MSCS

The procedure is:

1. Start the MSCS Cluster Administrator.
2. Open a connection to the cluster.
3. Select Groups, and open the group containing the queue manager to be moved.
4. Select the queue manager resource.
5. Right-click it and select Offline.
6. Wait for completion.

Returning a queue manager from MSCS storage

This procedure configures the queue manager to be back on its computer's local drive, that is, it becomes a normal WebSphere MQ queue manager. To achieve this, you move the log files and data files from the shared disks. For example, the existing queue manager might have paths such as E:\WebSphere MQ\log\<QMname> and E:\WebSphere MQ\qmgrs\<QMname>. Do not try to move the files by hand; use the hamvmqm utility program supplied as part of WebSphere MQ MSCS Support as described below:

1. Shut down the queue manager, and check that there are no errors.
2. Make a full media backup of the queue files and log files and store the backup in a safe place (see Queue manager log files for why this is important).
3. Decide which local drive to use and ensure that it has sufficient capacity to store the queue manager log files and data (queue) files.
4. Make sure that the shared disk on which the files currently reside is online on the cluster node to which to move the queue manager log and data files.
5. Run the utility program to move the queue manager as follows:

   hamvmqm /m qmname /dd "c:\WebSphere MQ" /ld "c:\WebSphere MQ\log"
   

   substituting your queue manager name for qmname, your local disk drive letter for c, and your chosen directory for WebSphere MQ (the directories are created if they do not already exist).

6. Test the queue manager to ensure that it works (as described in Moving a queue manager to MSCS storage).