News From Your IBM MQ Cloud Integration Team at Information Design Inc. 

By: Nick Felicione
Information Design, Inc

What’s new in 2023?

We are pleased to announce that IBM is making changes in the way they deploy IBM MQ updates.
The changes to IBM MQ’s maintenance delivery model are as follows:

  • IBM MQ is adopting a new approach to deliver Expedited Security Maintenance in addition to traditional fix pack maintenance delivery. https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6826713
  • To continue the delivery of Proactive Product Security updates across supported IBM MQ releases from the 1Q 2023, there will be two (2) types of IBM MQ maintenance delivery:Fix packs will continue to be produced exclusively for Long-Term Support (LTS) releases during their normal support lifecycle in keeping with previous practices.Cumulative Security Updates (CSUs) will be produced for LTS releases (including those in extended support) and for the latest IBM MQ Continuous Delivery (CD) releases as required to deliver relevant security patches.  The schedule for CSU maintenance deliveries will be governed by the availability of security updates for each release. Currently, IBM does not intend to alter the current cadence for fix pack deliveries, which is typically 2 or 3 fix packs a year for each LTS release.
  • IBM MQ continues to use a “V.R.M.F” version identifier format.  On distributed platforms, LTS releases will continue to be designated by a zero (0) in the “M” digit of the V.R.M.F version identifier (for example, 9.3.0.x ). CD releases have a non-zero value in the “M” digit of the V.R.M.F version identifier (for example, 9.3.1.x).

What is the difference between CSUs and fix packs?

  • Fix packs continue to contain maintenance bundles for LTS releases and are the vehicle for shipping most IBM “APAR” code fixes for these releases during their support lifecycle.
  • CSU deliveries typically contain small numbers of security updates, although IBM may on occasion ship additional APARs in these deliveries if a technical need should arise (for example, if intrinsically linked to a security update).

In both cases, the updates are applied by using the same platform-native install technologies that have been used previously to deliver fix pack maintenance on the LTS releases so that existing processes or automation can be used to deploy both types of maintenance.

How can I tell if a maintenance delivery is a CSU or a fix pack?
For maintenance rel