Having recently done some work using WebSphere ESB and MQ, I came up with a list of IBM Redbooks that serve as useful references. Some of these are ‘must have’ documents for developers; others are good for additional background information. I’ll leave you to choose which.

All of these are available as electronic downloads (PDF files) from the IBM web site http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/ and are (mostly) identified with an eight-character id. I’ve included this id, plus a shortened form of the Redbook title, in the list below.

  • sg246963: WebSphere Product Family Redbook
  • sg247369: SOA Patterns, Design using WMB V6 and WESB
  • redp4191: WAS V6.1 Technical Overview (redpaper)
  • sg246451: WAS V6 System Management and Configuration
  • sg247413: WESB and WPS Production Topologies
  • sg247406: WESB SOA and SCA Connectivity
  • sg247212: WESB V6 Getting Started
  • redp4041: WPS and WID Technical Overview (redpaper)
  • redp4304: WBI V6.0.2 Performance Tuning (redpaper)
  • amqtac06: WMQ V6 for Windows, Quick Beginnings
  • csqzaf09: WMQ V6 Clients
  • amqzan09: WMQ V6 Using C++
  • csqzaw12: WMQ V5 Using Java
  • csqzal11: WMQ V6 Application Programming Guide
  • csqzak10: WMQ V6 Application Programming Reference
  • amqnar10: WMQ V6 Pub Sub User Guide
  • amqzag09: WMQ V6 System Administration Guide

There are plenty more in addition to this list, but I found these most relevant for the piece of work I was involved with.

You may also find it useful to view the set of SOA Patterns as published by IBM. These naturally focus on the use of IBM products, but even if you aren’t using their platform, the overall patterns still make sense. For instance, you can substitute your own flavour of ESB or messaging technology, your choice of application server environment, plus your web technology.