Enabling TLS between a client and a queue manager

Step 1: Run unencrypted JMS application

If your queue manager is version 9.2.1 revision 2 or higher, you will not be able to run JMS without TLS, move on to section 5.

You will have already run the JMS application if you have completed the prerequisites

The JMS application must be run to confirm that is runs, though the messages are not encrypted. Use the following commands depending on your operating system:

• Windows
  • Recompile javac -cp .\com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar;.\javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar com\ibm\mq\samples\jms\JmsPutGet.java
  • Run java -cp .\com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar;.\javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar;. com.ibm.mq.samples.jms.JmsPutGet
• Linux
  • Recompile javac -cp ./com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar:./javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar com/ibm/mq/samples/jms/JmsPutGet.java
  • Run java -cp ./com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar:./javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar:. com.ibm.mq.samples.jms.JmsPutGet

This will be the expected output:

  Your lucky number today is 283
  SUCCESS

Step 2: Connecting to the queue manager via runmqsc

TLS communication must be enabled on the queue manager. You will use the command runmqsc in order to connect to the remote MQ SaaS queue manager. runmqsc uses an environment variable to determine the details of the queue manager to connect to.

1. Export the MQ variable with export MQSERVER="CLOUD.ADMIN.SVRCONN/TCP/<HOSTNAME>(<PORT>)" where:
   • <HOSTNAME> - this is 'hostname' in the file connection_info.txt
   • <PORT> - this is 'listenerPort' in the file connection_info.txt
2. Enter the following command into the console window:
   • runmqsc -c -u <ADMIN_MQ_USER> -w60 <QUEUE_MANAGER_NAME> where:
     • <ADMIN_MQ_USER> - this is 'mqUsername' in the file platformApiKey.json
     • <QUEUE_MANAGER_NAME> - this is 'queueManagerName' in the file connection_info.txt
     • -c informs runmqsc it should connect to a remote queue manager using the MQSERVER variable
   • runmqsc will prompt you for a password - this is the api key in the PlatformApiKey.json file you downloaded as part of the guided tour.

The runmqsc command should show that authentication was successful. The terminal will output a blank line and wait for user input.

Step 3: Configuring the queue manager for TLS

Having connected to the queue manager, one way TLS communication can be configured.

1. Check the current status of the queue manager by running DISPLAY CHANNEL(CLOUD.APP.SVRCONN) which will display the current settings of the channel you are about to change.
2. Update the channel to enable standard TLS by running ALTER CHL('CLOUD.APP.SVRCONN') CHLTYPE(SVRCONN) SSLCIPH(ECDHE_RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA256) SSLCAUTH(OPTIONAL)
   • setting SSLCIPH to ECDHE_RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA256 and SSLCAUTH to OPTIONAL will disable the use of mutual authentication, and a combination of OPTIONAL with the setting of Cipher Spec will enable standard TLS.
3. Running DISPLAY CHANNEL(CLOUD.APP.SVRCONN) will confirm that the changes have taken effect.
4. Exit runmqsc with end

Step 4: Rerun the JMS application

Now run JMS application again. This time it should fail because the queue manager is enforcing TLS, but the client application is not yet configured to use TLS.

• On Windows:
  • Run java -cp .\com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar;.\javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar;. com.ibm.mq.samples.jms.JmsPutGet
• On Linux:
  • Run java -cp ./com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar:./javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar:. com.ibm.mq.samples.jms.JmsPutGet

This is the expected error shown in the last Java backtrace:

  Caused by: com.ibm.mq.jmqi.jmqiException: CC=2;RC=2397;AMQ9641: Remote CipherSpec error for channel 'CLOUD.APP.SVRCONN' to  host ''. [3=CLOUD.APP.SVRCONN]

Step 5: Export the queue manager's public key certificate

The JMS application needs to trust the queue manager for one way TLS. The public key must first be exported from the server so that it can be imported into the application trust store and used by the JMS application.

1. Click on the queue manager being configured - this will display more details about this queue manager.
2. Click on 'Key store'. This is where the security certificates on the queue manager are stored.
3. The default security certificate labelled 'Default: qmgrcert' can be seen:
   1. The public part of the certificate must be downloaded. Click on the three dots in the upper right of the certificate:
   2. This will bring up a toolbar. Click on 'Download public certificate' to download the public key of the certificate.

Additional step for M1 Macs with ARM Processors:

This information is relevant from version 9.3.1 onwards where there was a change in how to connect to a Queue Manager with TLS.

For background the MQ MacOS toolkit makes use of native MQ client libraries delivered as universal binaries to support both x86 and Arm64. Whilst the toolkit itself consists of universal binaries it has a downstream dependency for encryption. For x86 the toolkit uses GSKit, for Arm64 it uses OpenSSL and this requires a .pem formatted truststore for TLS.

This means that is there is currently an additional requirement to export the following environment variable:

1. export MQSSLKEYR=<path_to_your_pem_file>/qmgrcert.pem

Step 6: Create a trust store and import the queue manager's public key

The following command creates a key database our application can use as a trust store. Navigate to the same folder as the JMS application and execute this command:

In Windows and Linux environments only:

1. run ikeycmd -keydb -create -db <trustStoreName>.jks -pw <trustStorePassword> -type jks -expire 0 where:
   • <trustStorePassword> - choose a password and remember it for future use.
2. To add the certificate to the new trust store run ikeycmd -cert -add -db <trustStoreName>.jks -file qmgrcert.pem -label qmgrcert -pw <trustStorePassword>

In Mac OSX environments, run keytool -importcert -file qmgrcert.pem -alias qmgrcert -keystore <trustStoreName>.jks -storepass <trustStorePassword>

A key database has now successfully been created to use as a trust store, and the queue manager's public key has been imported to our new trust store.

Step 7: Configure the JMS application to use the trust store for TLS

The JMS application now needs to be configured to use the new trust store.

1. Open the JMS application with a text editor, and navigate to the following section of code:

     try {
     // Create a connection factory
     JmsFactoryFactory ff = JMSFactoryFactory.getInstance(WMQConstants.WMQ_PROVIDER);
     JmsConnectionFactory cf = ff.createConnectionFactory();
   

2. Insert the following immediately after the code shown above:

     cf.setStringProperty(WMQConstants.WMQ_SSL_CIPHER_SPEC,"ECDHE_RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA256");
     cf.setStringProperty(WMQConstants.WMQ_CHANNEL, "CLOUD.APP.SVRCONN");
     cf.setIntProperty(WMQConstants.WMQ_CONNECTION_MODE, WMQConstants.WMQ_CM_CLIENT);
     System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStore", "<trustStoreName>.jks");
     System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword", "<trustStorePassword>");
   

   • <trustStorePassword> - this is the same password created to protect the key database.

Step 8: Rerun the JMS application

Once these changes have been made, save the program and re-compile it and follow by running the following command:

• Windows
  • Recompile javac -cp .\com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar;.\javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar com\ibm\mq\samples\jms\JmsPutGet.java
  • Run java -cp .\com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar;.\javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar;. com.ibm.mq.samples.jms.JmsPutGet
• Linux
  • Recompile javac -cp ./com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar:./javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar com/ibm/mq/samples/jms/JmsPutGet.java
  • Run java -cp ./com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar:./javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar:. com.ibm.mq.samples.jms.JmsPutGet

This time, the program should be able to successfully 'put' and 'get' messages from the queue manager.

The messages travelling over the network are now encrypted and the client now trusts the server.

Step 1: Connect to and configure the queue manager

First, the queue manager needs to be configured and mutual authentication must be enforced.

1. Run runmqsc -c -u <ADMIN_MQ_USER> -w60 <QUEUE_MANAGER_NAME> to connect to the queue manager where:
   • <ADMIN_MQ_USER> - this is 'mqUsername' in the file platformApiKey.json
   • <QUEUE_MANAGER_NAME> - this is 'queueManagerName' in the file connection_info.txt
2. Run ALTER CHL('CLOUD.APP.SVRCONN') CHLTYPE(SVRCONN) SSLCIPH(ECDHE_RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA256) SSLCAUTH(REQUIRED)
   • Notice now that SSLCAUTH is changed to 'REQUIRED'. This is configuring the queue manager to only accept communication from trusted clients.

Step 2: Rerun the JMS application

Rerun the JMS application.

• On Windows:
  • Run java -cp .\com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar;.\javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar;. com.ibm.mq.samples.jms.JmsPutGet
• On Linux:
  • Run java -cp ./com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar:./javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar:. com.ibm.mq.samples.jms.JmsPutGet

The application will fail as the queue manager is configured for mutual TLS, but the client is still configured for standard TLS.

Step 3: Create the keystore

A key store must now be created to store a private certificate for the JMS application to use. Navigate to the same folder as the JMS application and execute the following command:

In Windows and Linux environments only, run ikeycmd -keydb -create -db key -pw <keyStorePassword> -type jks -expire 0 and note down the password for future use.

A key database has now successfully been created to use as a key store.

Confirm a new file can be seen called key.jks in the file system by running ls.

Step 4: Create a self signed public/private key pair for JMS application

1. Create a self-signed certificate for the client to use:
   • In Windows and Linux environments:
     • ikeycmd -cert -create -db key.jks -pw <keyStorePassword> -sig_alg SHA256WithRSA -label clientcert -dn "O=<Your Organisation>, C=<Your Country>"
       • <keyStorePassword> - pick a password for your key store file
       • <Your Organisation> - your company may have specified a particular value to use, otherwise use your own input
       • <Your Country> - your company may have specified a particular value to use, otherwise use your own input
   • In Mac OSX environment:
     • keytool -genkey -alias clientcert -keyalg RSA -sigalg SHA256withRSA -keysize 2048 -keystore key.jks -dname "O=<Your Organisation>, C=<Your Country>" -storepass mypass
2. Extract the public key of the security certificate from the key store:
   • In Windows and Linux environments:
     • ikeycmd -cert -extract -db key.jks -pw <keyStorePassword> -label clientcert -target clientcert.pem
       • <keyStorePassword> - this is the password entered above to protect the key store.
   • In Mac OSX environment:
     • keytool -export -keystore key.jks -storepass <keyStorePassword> -alias clientcert -file clientcert.cer
     • cat clientcert.cer | openssl x509 -inform DER >clientcert.pem

Step 5: Configure the JMS application to use a key store for mutual TLS

1. Open the JMS application with a preferred text editor, and navigate to the following section of code:

     try {
     // Create a connection factory
     JmsFactoryFactory ff = JMSFactoryFactory.getInstance(WMQConstants.WMQ_PROVIDER);
     JmsConnectionFactory cf = ff.createConnectionFactory();
   
     ...
   

2. Insert the following code immediately after the code shown above:

     System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.keyStore", "key.jks");
     System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword", "<keyStorePassword>");
   

   • <keyStorePassword> - this is the password created to protect the key store.

Step 6: Import the JMS public key into a queue manager trust store

In order for the queue manager to trust the client, the next step is to import the public part of the JMS client’s security certificate into the queue manager’s trust store; This action ensures that the queue manager trusts the client. This can be done from the web user interface:

1. Click on the queue manager name from the available list:
2. Click on the 'Trust store' tab as shown below:
3. Click the 'Import certificate' button:
   1. In the window that opens, browse for the public certificate extracted in the earlier step.
4. In order for the queue manager to refresh its security cache and pick up these changes, refresh the SSL security on the queue manager.
   • Using the runmqsc command to connect to the queue manager, execute REFRESH SECURITY TYPE(SSL)
   • The console will output AMQ8560I: IBM MQ security cache refreshed. as a notification of the change.
   • When this operation has finished, disconnect runmqsc from the queue manager by typing end

Running refresh security will end all connections to this queue manager, so consider the most appropriate time to use this command

The queue manager has now been configured to enforce mutual authentication and the client’s public key has been added to the queue manager’s trust store. Therefore, the client application and server will now be able to communicate through encrypted channels.

Step 7: Rerun the JMS application

To demonstrate mutual TLS has been correctly configured between the client and the server, recompile and run the program using the same Java commands as usual:

• Windows
  • Recompile javac -cp .\com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar;.\javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar com\ibm\mq\samples\jms\JmsPutGet.java
  • Run java -cp .\com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar;.\javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar;. com.ibm.mq.samples.jms.JmsPutGet
• Linux
  • Recompile javac -cp ./com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar:./javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar com/ibm/mq/samples/jms/JmsPutGet.java
  • Run java -cp ./com.ibm.mq.allclient-9.0.4.0.jar:./javax.jms-api-2.0.1.jar:. com.ibm.mq.samples.jms.JmsPutGet

The tutorial has successfully been completed.

Appendix 1: Downloading the IBM® MQ as a Service files

This section describes how to gather the various files that would have been downloaded during the guided tour, but which might have since been lost.

Appendix 2: JMS Application tutorial

Use the tutorial provided at the link below to create a JMS application which can connect to a queue manager and send and receive simple messages.

Several variables will need changing from the tutorial in order to configure the JMS application to connect to the on cloud queue manager you are using for this TLS tutorial. The values that need changing in the JMS application are below:

Most of the values required can be found in the connection_info.txt file; this should have been downloaded by following the guided tour. If you do not have the file, consult Appendix 1. The guided tour details how to create the ‘APP_USER’ and ‘APP_PASSWORD’ variables and download them in a file called ‘apiKey.json’, the ‘APP_PASSWORD’ refers to the API key. If you do not have this file, consult Appendix 1.

• HOST = listed as ‘Hostname:’ in the ‘connection_info.txt’ file
• PORT = listed as ‘Listener port:’ in the ‘connection_info.txt’ file
• CHANNEL = change this value to: ‘CLOUD.APP.SVRCONN’
• QMGR = listed as ‘Queue manager name:’ in the ‘connection_info.txt’ file
• APP_USER = listed as ‘mqUsername:’ in the ‘apiKey.json’ file
• APP_PASSWORD = listed as ‘apiKey:’ in the ‘apiKey.json’ file
• QUEUE_NAME = do NOT change this value

To create the basic, unsecured JMS application follow this tutorial

Appendix 3: Downloading and installing the IBM SDK**

1. Download JDK
   • You should download the IBM JDK from here. Select the right download for your platform and install.
2. Depending on which package you downloaded you need to run it to install.
   • For example, if you downloaded ibm-java-x86_64-sdk-8.0-5.17.bin, run ./ibm-java-x86_64-sdk-8.0-5.17.bin
   • For Windows you need to download the Eclipse package that contains the JDK.
3. Add to PATH
   • On Windows set PATH=C:\IBM_Eclipse\eclipseDevelopmentPackage\ibm_sdk80\bin;%PATH%
   • On Linux export PATH=<install location>/ibm-java-x86_64-80/jre/bin:<install location>/ibm-java-x86_64-80/bin:$PATH

Appendix 4: Downloading the IBM MQ Client

The IBM client is required to connect to the queue manager using runmqsc.

For getting details about the various available MQ client versions please follow this link.

Select the latest package, the latest version at time of writing being 9.3

1. You can see the download links for the latest CD release under the CD tab and latest LTS maintenance release under the LTS tab, as indicated below.

   • CD release
   • LTS release

2. Click on the Other useful links and then choose the IBM MQ redistributable clients .

3. Select the IBM MQC redistributable client for <Your Operating System> by ticking the box on the left of the package as shown below. It should have Redist in the file name. This tutorial was created using the Linux Ubuntu Operating system

4. Select to download via HTTPS, this will allow you to download the client directly through your browser as shown below - Note: if you do not have this option, try in an alternative browser.

5. After clicking on continue. You will be redirected to screen shown below. Click on the download icon to begin your download

6. Once downloaded, extract the file to a directory of your choice <PATH_TO_MQCLIENT_DIR>

   • tar -xvzf <IBM-MQC-Redist>.tar.gz <PATH_TO_MQCLIENT_DIR>

7. Add commands to path

   • export PATH=$PATH:<PATH_TO_MQCLIENT_DIR>/bin