Test sending of mqseries messages without installing WebSphere MQ - testing

Is there any environment to test sending of mqseries messages without installing WebSphere MQ?
We are developing some application which will be cooperate with WebSphere MQ system and we are wondering how to test it without buying one. We just want to know whether we send are messages correctly.

I don't know of anything that simulates a QMgr. On the other hand, there are options for development using WebSphere MQ at low or no cost.
There is a free 90-day trial here.
You can run an Amazon Machine Image on which the IBM licenses are free for development use. (You still pay Amazon for the image usage, just not for the IBM licensing.)
If your company owns a current license and support of WebSphere Message Broker, you are entitled to put all of it's components, including WebSphere MQ, onto all developer desktops in your organization as described in the Infocenter here.
If you are developing software for resale, you can register as an IBM Business partner and gain access to WebSphere, Rational, Tivoli and InfoSphere software through the Software Access Catalog offering for $795 a year. That's per enterprise, not per person, by the way.
If your company is an IBM Business Partner and is planning to obtain IBM certification for many developers, the Value Plan Option costs $2k but reimburses up to $6k of testing fees and includes the Software Access Catalog.
I am a product manager for WebSphere MQ so I'm always interested in whether potential users are able to get access to WebSphere products that they need for trial or development purposes. If none of the options here meets your needs, and this goes for anyone reading this post, I'd invite you to contact me directly using the address in my profile.

Related

Where is the V-IPU software?

I was reading the Graphcore documentation and came across the V-IPU software. The documentation says I can download it from the Graphcore software download portal, however I don't see it anywhere among the downloadable software (link below):
https://downloads.graphcore.ai/
I checked whether the Poplar SDK contains it but it doesn't, and it's not already installed on the machine I'm using (DSS8440 IPU SERVER). On the other hand, I'm able to run PopTorch without it, so I'm guessing V-IPU doesn't exist anymore? If not, where can I find it?
Graphcore's Virtual-IPU (V-IPU) is a software layer for allocating and configuring Graphcore IPUs in IPU-Machine and IPU-POD (a collection of interconnected IPU-Machines) systems, as described e.g. in the Introduction section of the V-IPU user guide. As you are using a Dell DSS 8440 IPU server and not an IPU-M or an IPU-POD system, V-IPU is not needed to run your programs on the IPU, as you have already verified yourself, and it is not visible to you on the Downloads portal either. You only need Poplar SDK to get going on the DSS 8440 server.
I'll add a few more details about these different systems, to clarify why V-IPU software is not needed with the IPU server you're currently using. The Dell DSS 8440 IPU server features eight Graphcore dual-IPU C2 cards, which are connected via a high speed PCIe switched fabric. On the other hand, in IPU-Ms and IPU-POD systems the IPU devices are accessed using IPU over Fabric (IPUoF) network connectivity, based on 100G RDMA over converged Ethernet (RoCE). The V-IPU software provides the allocation, provisioning and monitoring of IPU chips and related infrastructure for machine-learning Poplar-based workloads in the IPU-POD. The IPU-specific part of the V-IPU software can run on a single IPU-Machine, when used in direct attach mode, or on a server in an IPU-POD.
You can read more details on IPU-POD systems in this section of Graphcore's documentation.

IBM Worklight - Can commercial apps be created using the Developer Edition?

Can we build commercial apps using the IBM Worklight free Developer Edition?
I searched the IBM official site and I sensed that we have to buy the license to develop commercial apps. But, can someone please clarify it?
Legally speaking: No, you cannot.
Non-Production Limitation
The Program can only be deployed as part of the Licensee's internal
development and test environment for internal non-production
activities, including but not limited to testing, performance tuning,
fault diagnosis, internal benchmarking, staging, quality assurance
activity and/or developing internally used additions or extensions to
the Program using published application programming interfaces.
Licensee is not authorized to use any part of the Program for any
other purposes without acquiring the appropriate production
entitlements.
Technically speaking: you could create an application that does not utilize Worklight features that in order to use them in a production environment, you'd have to buy the Consumer or Enterprise Edition of IBM Worklight.
By doing so you will lose:
The ability to install Worklight Server on an application server
The ability to utilize Worklight Adapters for backend connectivity, that rely on Worklight Server
The ability to secure your application using numerous built-in security features (application authenticity, device provisioning, ...)
The ability to manage your applications (notify, disable, ...)
The ability to remotely update (Direct Update) your applications
The ability to leverage Worklight's unified Push Notifications
The ability to see operational analytics
... and the list goes on.
Instead, you will have to rely on AJAX requests and spend time on (re-)implementing various aspects required for an application (but that's also of course depending on the scope and purpose of the application).
Also see:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17030963/ibm-worklight-license-is-worklight-free-to-use/17031953#17031953
IBM Worklight - Limitations of Worklight Studio for Developers
For any inquiries about Worklight I would suggest to contact IBM:
https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/iwm/web/signup.do?source=raq&S_TACT=109HE02W&lang=en_US

Clarification re the term "Application Infrustructure"

Apologies if what I am going to ask is too generic and please feel free to mark it as community wiki or even close it but after getting a good answer please.. Here goes nothing.
I had a heated debate over the term application infrastructure with a consultant from a BIG company and hence I am here to see what the experts think as I myself need a good understanding as well. I am a puny software developer and was trying to have a chat about software architecture and stuff and then we kinda got stuck up at the term application infrastructure.
As per my rival's understanding, this is solely used re the back-end hardware components and whereas I thought he is mixing the contexts and from the context of software eng it should refer to stuff that supports the application such as logging, ORM, or even framework (.net) etc.
To what extent am I wrong and if I am please shed some light on the definition...it's really gonna help a lot.
Thanks
Here are a few links with a little description about the term Application Infrastructure extracted from them:
Application Infrastructure -- f5.com
Application infrastructure, comprised of application servers, web servers, and often database servers, is a core component in most network architectures. This part of the network infrastructure delivers high performance application services to the LAN as well as to employees, partners and customers on the WAN.
Some of the key functionality of application infrastructure includes transaction management, clustering, reliable application-to-application messaging, system management, advanced application development tools, proprietary access, and interoperability with legacy technologies.
Application Infrastructure -- networkmagazineindia.com
A (common/standard) platform is required to make different applications in an enterprise work across geographies or multiple locations, and to manage a large number of users and transactions taking place within an enterprise. This platform which ensures that different applications work with each other, is known as an application infrastructure.
Application Infrastructure -- bitpipe.com
A high performance, reliable, and secure integrated technology infrastructure for managing multiple hosted applications by Application Service Providers.
What he seem to be describing is the platform for software (I'll leave it open if that is the same thing as the software platform. I do include software service in the Application Infrastructure definition and also include connectivity/networking along with hardware and software as the three foundation corner stones of Infrastructure. Infrastructure is the general purpose commodity components as opposed to the domain specific components which will typically always be Software; (A possible exception would be an organisation uses custom hardware). AIH; IBM pitch WebSphere as Appliction Infrastructure and Microsoft Consider their Windows Server to the Application Infrasture both agree with you and I.
From what I can see it speaks to HW and SW (middleware and API management).
Gertner definition : Application infrastructure is software platforms for the delivery of business applications, including development and runtime enablers.
Interesting info from Gartner:
http://wso2.com/resources/analyst-reports/comparing-vendors-of-comprehensive-application-infrastructure-suites/

KnowledgeLake setup for MFP

I got following from web but dont know how to set up the network printer/scanner/fax/copier (using Ricoh Afico MP 6001) for KnowledgeLake. The capture server has been setup. \srvcapture\cache
Capture for MFP
Create batches from multifunction peripherals, fax servers or any
other interface.
Enable any capture device to integrate with SharePoint
Batch import documents from multi-function devices
Watch network directories for new documents
Distribute MFPs for decentralized scanning
Support for custom Process Activities
Enable off-hours batch processing by scheduling imports
The particular information you are looking for can be found in the KnowledgeLake Capture and Capture Server documentation provided on the KnowledgeLake Support Portal at http://support.knowledgelake.com.
KnowledgeLake also has a Professional Services team that specializes in assisting in the implementation and setup of these products in customer environments.
The KnowledgeLake Technical Support team would also be more than happy to assist with any questions you may have if you put in a support ticket. This option is also available through the support portal at http://support.knowledgelake.com.
If you currently do not have an account with access to the KnowledgeLake Support Portal, you can select the "Request a New Account" button at the bottom of the previous referenced link.

Enterprise SSO & Identity management / recommendations

We've discussed SSO before. I would like to re-enhance the conversation with defined requirements, taking into consideration recent new developments.
In the past week I've been doing market research looking for answers to the following key issues:
The project should should be:
Requirements
SSO solution for web applications.
Integrates into existing developed products.
has Policy based password security (Length, Complexity, Duration and co)
Security Policy can be managed using a web interface.
Customizable user interface (the password prompt and co. screens).
Highly available (99.9%)
Scalable.
Runs on Red Hat Linux.
Nice to have
Contains user Groups & Roles.
Written in Java.
Free Software (open source) solution.
None of the solutions came up so far are "killer choice" which leads me to think I will be tooling several projects (OWASP, AcegiSecurity + X??) hence this discussion.
We are ISV delivering front-end & backend application suite. The frontend is broken into several modules which should act as autonomous unit, from client point of view he uses the "application" - which leads to this discussion regrading SSO.
I would appreciate people sharing their experience & ideas regarding the appropriete solutions.
Some solutions are interesting
CAS
Sun OpenSSO Enterprise
JBoss Identity IDM
JOSSO
Tivoli Access Manager for Enterprise Single Sign-On
Or more generally speaking this list
Thank you,
Maxim.
What about FreeIPA?
"FreeIPA is an integrated security information management solution combining Linux (Fedora), 389 (formerly known as Fedora Directory Server), MIT Kerberos, NTP, DNS. It consists of a web interface and command-line administration tools."
If you focus on web applications, check out http://oauth.net/.
CAS has strong adoption, user-base, and a strong lead (who recently switched jobs, but is still comitted to the project). It is straightforward to integrate (if you're comfortable writing Java code/configuring Spring beans), and can do all your requirements, noteably:
SSO solution for web applications.
YES
Integrates into existing developed products.
YES (though some cleaner than others - but many modules are available for major products, and it supports common standards (SAML, OpenID).
has Policy based password security (Length, Complexity, Duration and co)
*YES - can easily be implemented, and some extensions to integrate with LDAP (probably the most common user store) are supported
Security Policy can be managed using a web interface.
NO - though one could be build fairly simply - if you're comfortable with development, and given that this is likely to be a non-trivial project, I'd recommend considering this a non-blocker given that the product is open-source
Customizable user interface (the password prompt and co. screens).
YES - easily customized through some basic HTML/CSS editing
Highly available (99.9%)
YES - both reliable, and can support multiple node/failover scenarios easily
Scalable.
YES - used in many high-traffic environments both intranet and internet
Runs on Red Hat Linux.
YES
Oracle Enterprise Single Sign-On is not what you're after - it requires a Windows executable to be deployed. Oracle Access Manager is closer to what you're after (though it's not free or Java-based).
The major commercial players in the Identity and Access Management (IAM) market space are CA, Oracle, IBM, Sun and Novell. None of these are free solutions but they have many of the features that you are looking for.
For free software, I recommend DACS: The Distributed Access Control System. I know that one department where I work has implemented this with great success. It doesn't have as many features the commercial IAM products but otherwise is a good solution.
I have used Tivoli Access Manager backing onto Websphere and IIS boxes - the way it writes access information into the page headers is very useful. On the downside, I didnt find the DB2 Ldap backend very scalable or reliable, and you know with IBM this isn't going to come cheap.
Also the asynchronous paths (junctions) used to identify different servers is a bit of a hack really eg http://mysite/myserver/myapp - a very bad idea and not thought through very well.