IBM Message Service Client for .NET

IBM Message Service Client for .NET

Part of an ongoing series of posts on JMS-to-.NET interop

Philip Willoughby of IBM's Hursley Lab writes that IBM
have released IBM Message Service Client for .NET (also known
as XMS for .NET) as a category 2 SupportPac - IA9H is the moniker for the SupportPac tifosi out there.

IA9H joins other notable supportPacs like MA88, the "MQ Classes for Java", and MA7P, the progenitor of the "MQ Classes for .NET", a managed class library which is now supported as part of IBM MQ.

For IBM, MQ SupportPacs come in multiple flavors. The Category 1 SupportPac is a fee-based service. Category 2 SupportPracs are "freeware" - free as in puppies, and no support from IBM. Category 3 SupportPacs are supported as extensions of the MQ product. In some cases, as with MA88 and MA7P, Cat2 supportpacs graduate into the product. I suppose it depends on customer usage and interest?

The XMS.NET thing is a Category 2 SupportPac - free, but no
support included. In general, that does not mean you won't get
help from IBM. I don't speak for IBM, but I expect it means
that support for IA9H is given on a best-effort basis. I'd bet if
you had problems and rang them up on their newsgroups or email,
you'd get a proper, helpful response, direct from the engineers.

The esteemed Mr. Willoughby goes on to say,

As with the beta release you can use XMS for .NET to connect your .NET
applications to any or all of WebSphere MQ, WebSphere BI Brokers or
WebSphere Application Server. XMS for .NET is compatible with IBM's JMS
providers and XMS for C/C++.

This release has some new features and a number of bug fixes as compared
to the beta, so we advise everyone to upgrade.

I'm really glad to see this thing became real.

The IA9H Readme states that it requires Windows 2000, XP, or 2003, as well as .NET v1.1. I did not inquire with Philip Willoughby about .NET 2.0 support, but I will do so presently and keep you all apprised.

-Dino