Install on Windows¶

The PowerShell installer installs a precompiled exporter with a Windows service adapter. Windows Server 2019 amd64 is a provisional target.

This is a ZIP plus a PowerShell installer, not an MSI. It configures the exporter service, not Alloy or Prometheus. Add the separate scrape configuration to your existing monitoring agent. The OTel package instead pushes to the OTLP receiver you configure.

Before you install¶

Use elevated, 64-bit Windows PowerShell 5.1. PowerShell 7 and a compiler are not required. Check compatibility and the native prerequisites of your existing 64-bit IBM MQ installation, including its Visual C++ runtime.

Provision a dedicated account with MQ permissions and the Log on as a service right. The installer does not grant those permissions. Do not use an administrator account for the service.

Download install.ps1 from a reviewed repository revision, or extract it from a verified release ZIP. Choose an explicit version from GitHub Releases.

Install Prometheus¶

For an existing local queue manager QM1:

$credential = Get-Credential 'EXAMPLE\mqmon'
.\install.ps1 -Version v6.0.0 -Instance qm1 -QueueManager QM1 `
  -ServiceAccount 'EXAMPLE\mqmon' -ServiceCredential $credential -Port 9157

-Instance is a label you choose for the installed Windows service, not an IBM MQ identifier to discover. Use a lowercase label containing letters, digits and hyphens, starting with a letter and no longer than 40 characters, such as qm1. Supply the actual queue-manager name through -QueueManager.

Use -MQPath for a non-default MQ installation and -InstallRoot to change the exporter installation directory. Quote paths containing spaces. Passwords are supplied through the credential prompt, not command-line arguments.

Get-Service mq-exporter-qm1
Get-Content 'C:\Program Files\mq-exporter\qm1\logs\exporter.log' -Tail 50
& 'C:\Program Files\mq-exporter\qm1\mq-dist.exe' health --qmgr QM1 --url http://127.0.0.1:9157/metrics

Expect connected:true,status:2 from the health helper. Check queue coverage separately. For OTLP delivery, use the OpenTelemetry package.

Install offline¶

Transfer the Windows ZIP, trusted SHA256SUMS file and installer through your approved channel. Add these arguments to the installation command:

-Archive 'D:\Media\mq-exporter-dist-v6.0.0-windows-amd64.zip' `
-Checksums 'D:\Media\SHA256SUMS'

The version must match the archive. The installer verifies the checksum before extraction and requires no GitHub token or development tools.

Client connections and instances¶

For remote MQ, add -Mode client -Channel APP.SVRCONN -ConnectionName 'mq.example.com(1414)'. Check Get-Help .\install.ps1 -Detailed for the full parameter list. Native MQ libraries remain required in client mode.

Each queue manager needs a distinct instance, such as qm2, and a distinct Prometheus port, such as 9158. Instance configuration and logs are independent. The service adapter keeps the MQ library path local to its exporter process.

Updates and service control¶

Run the installer with the new version and the existing instance identity. It preserves configuration and existing service credentials. -ReplaceConfig explicitly replaces configuration; identity changes also require -Repoint. Existing binaries and replaced configuration have collision-safe backups.

The included mq-service.exe implements the Windows service protocol and retries exporter exits after 15 seconds. It stops its tracked child on service stop. The installer creates no MQ SERVICE object.

Stop-Service mq-exporter-qm1
Start-Service mq-exporter-qm1

If an update fails after stopping the service, the service can remain stopped. Inspect the error and backups before starting it. Arrange log rotation while the service is stopped. Native Server 2019 install, upgrade, service-account, stop/start and reboot checks have passed with the corrected rc.4 installer. Live local-bindings and authenticated client tests also passed with the MQ 9.3.0.35 trial server. See compatibility for the exact scope.