PCF Protocol Package

This package provides a PCF (Programmable Command Format) protocol implementation for communicating with IBM MQ Queue Managers.

Features

• Full PCF protocol implementation with CGO bindings to IBM MQ C libraries
• Connection management with automatic reconnection and exponential backoff
• Static data caching (version, edition, platform) refreshed on reconnection
• Support for all major PCF commands (queues, channels, topics, etc.)
• Multi-message response handling for wildcard queries
• Human-readable error messages

Usage

import "github.com/netdata/netdata/go/plugins/plugin/ibm.d/protocols/pcf"

// Create client
client := pcf.NewClient(pcf.Config{
    QueueManager: "QM1",
    Channel:      "SYSTEM.DEF.SVRCONN",
    Host:         "localhost",
    Port:         1414,
    User:         "admin",
    Password:     "password",
}, state)

// Connect
if err := client.Connect(); err != nil {
    return err
}
defer client.Disconnect()

// Get version (cached, refreshed on reconnection)
version, edition, err := client.GetVersion()

// Get queue metrics
metrics, err := client.GetQueueMetrics("SYSTEM.DEFAULT.LOCAL.QUEUE")

// Get queue list
queues, err := client.GetQueueList()

Requirements

• IBM MQ Client libraries installed
• CGO enabled
• Linux platform

Protocol Details

The PCF protocol uses IBM MQ's administrative interface to query queue manager statistics and configuration. Commands are sent to the SYSTEM.ADMIN.COMMAND.QUEUE and responses are received on a temporary dynamic queue.

Connection Lifecycle

1. Connect to queue manager using MQCONNX
2. Open command queue (SYSTEM.ADMIN.COMMAND.QUEUE)
3. Create temporary reply queue
4. Refresh static data (version, platform)
5. Ready for PCF commands

Error Handling

The protocol automatically detects connection failures and marks itself as disconnected. The framework's backoff mechanism handles reconnection attempts.

Caching

Static data like version and platform information is cached and only refreshed on reconnection, reducing overhead for frequently accessed information.