SSLHandshakeException when connection to WebSphere MQ via JMS/JNDI

Question

I am in the process of configuring WebSphere MQ and SSL and then connect to it using Java and JMS/JNDI. The version I use is 6.0.1.1. Here are the steps I followed but I can't make it run because I get an SSL exception.

Step 1: Configure SSL for MQ Series

export JAVA_HOME=/opt/mqm/ssl
cd /var/mqm/qmgrs/MYQMGR/ssl
# Set up the key repository
gsk7cmd -keydb -create -db keydb.kdb -pw password -type cms -expire 1500 -stash
# Create a self-signed personal certificate
gsk7cmd -cert -create -db keydb.kdb -pw password -label ibmwebspheremqmyqmgr -dn "CN=My Queue Manager,O=My Company,C=UK" -size 1024 -x509version 3 -expire 365
# Export your personal certificate
gsk7cmd -cert -extract -db filename -pw password -label ibmwebspheremqmyqmgr -target myqmgr.cert.arm -format ascii

Step 2: Configure SSL for Java

# Generate the private/public key pair
# keypass option is the password to protect the private key
# storepass option is the password to protect the keystore
keytool -genkey -keystore keystore -storepass storepass -keypass keypass -dname "cn=My Java Client,O=My Company,C=UK" -alias ClientMQ -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048
# Export the public key if you need 2-way authentification
keytool -export -keystore keystore -storepass storepass -alias ClientMQ -file client.cer
# Import MQ public certificate into the truststore
# storepass option is the password to protect the keystore
keytool -import -keystore truststore -storepass trustpass -keypass keypass -alias ibmwebspheremqmyqmgr -file myqmgr.cert.arm

Step 3: Configure MQ Bindings

The SSL.CHANNEL has been create with the command: DEFINE CHANNEL(SSL.CHANNEL) CHLTYPE(SVRCONN) TRPTYPE(TCP) SSLCIPH(RC4_SHA_US) SSLCAUTH(OPTIONAL) DESCR('Channel using SSL')

JMSAdmin.config

INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY=com.sun.jndi.fscontext.RefFSContextFactory
PROVIDER_URL=file:///opt/mqm/java/bin/JNDI
SECURITY_AUTHENTICATION=none


cd /opt/mqm/java/bin
. setjmsenv
./JMSAdmin -v -cfg JMSAdmin.config

DEFINE QCF(QCF_NAME) SYNCPOINTALLGETS(YES) HOSTNAME(HOST) PORT(1414) TRANSPORT(client) QMANAGER(MYQMGR) CHANNEL(SSL.CHANNEL) SSLCIPHERSUITE(SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA)
DEFINE Q(MYQNAME) QMANAGER(MYQMGR) QUEUE(LOCALQUEUE)

Step 4: Figure out why I get the exception

When I ran my Java app I get the following exception when calling connectionFactory.createQueueConnection();:

javax.jms.JMSException: MQJMS2005: failed to create MQQueueManager for 'xxxx:xxxxx'
com.ibm.mq.MQException: MQJE001: Completion Code 2, Reason 2397
javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: Remote host closed connection during handshake

Here is the SSL trace:

keyStore is : 
keyStore type is : jks
keyStore provider is : 
init keystore
init keymanager of type SunX509
trustStore is: c:\home\doc\jsse\truststore
trustStore type is : jks
trustStore provider is : 
init truststore
adding as trusted cert:
  Subject: CN=My Queue Manager,O=My Company,C=UK
  Issuer:  CN=My Queue Manager,O=My Company,C=UK
  Algorithm: RSA; Serial number: 0x5072a61a
  Valid from Sun Oct 07 12:08:26 CEST 2012 until Tue Oct 08 12:08:26 CEST 2013

trigger seeding of SecureRandom
done seeding SecureRandom
%% No cached client session
*** ClientHello, TLSv1
RandomCookie:  GMT: 1349707178 bytes = { 204, 18, 167, 43, 13, 107, 252, 221, 191, 41, 25, 59, 207, 92, 67, 219, 251, 104, 195, 209, 7, 129, 104, 171, 139, 47, 163, 71 }
Session ID:  {}
Cipher Suites: [SSL_RSA_WITH_RC4_128_SHA]
Compression Methods:  { 0 }
***
[write] MD5 and SHA1 hashes:  len = 45
0000: 01 00 00 29 03 01 50 73   E6 AA CC 12 A7 2B 0D 6B  ...)..Ps.....+.k
0010: FC DD BF 29 19 3B CF 5C   43 DB FB 68 C3 D1 07 81  ...).;.\C..h....
0020: 68 AB 8B 2F A3 47 00 00   02 00 05 01 00           h../.G.......
Thread pool thread #0, WRITE: TLSv1 Handshake, length = 45
[write] MD5 and SHA1 hashes:  len = 44
0000: 01 03 01 00 03 00 00 00   20 00 00 05 50 73 E6 AA  ........ ...Ps..
0010: CC 12 A7 2B 0D 6B FC DD   BF 29 19 3B CF 5C 43 DB  ...+.k...).;.\C.
0020: FB 68 C3 D1 07 81 68 AB   8B 2F A3 47              .h....h../.G
Thread pool thread #0, WRITE: SSLv2 client hello message, length = 44
[Raw write]: length = 46
0000: 80 2C 01 03 01 00 03 00   00 00 20 00 00 05 50 73  .,........ ...Ps
0010: E6 AA CC 12 A7 2B 0D 6B   FC DD BF 29 19 3B CF 5C  .....+.k...).;.\
0020: 43 DB FB 68 C3 D1 07 81   68 AB 8B 2F A3 47        C..h....h../.G
Thread pool thread #0, received EOFException: error
Thread pool thread #0, handling exception: javax.net.ssl.SSLHandshakeException: Remote host closed connection during handshake
Thread pool thread #0, SEND TLSv1 ALERT:  fatal, description = handshake_failure
Thread pool thread #0, WRITE: TLSv1 Alert, length = 2
[Raw write]: length = 7
0000: 15 03 01 00 02 02 28                               ......(
Thread pool thread #0, called closeSocket()
Finalizer, called close()
Finalizer, called closeInternal(true)

On MQ side:

AMQ9660: SSL key repository: password stash file absent or unusable.

EXPLANATION:
The SSL key repository cannot be used because MQ cannot obtain a password to
access it. Reasons giving rise to this error include: 
(a) the key database file and password stash file are not present in the
  location configured for the key repository, 
(b) the key database file exists in the correct place but that no password
  stash file has been created for it, 
(c) the files are present in the correct place but the userid under which MQ is
  running does not have permission to read them, 
(d) one or both of the files are corrupt. 

But none of them applies to me.

ls -ltr /var/mqm/qmgrs/MYQMGR/ssl/
total 235
-rw-r--r--   1 mqm      mqm          129 Oct  8 12:00 keydb.sth
-rw-r--r--   1 mqm      mqm       115080 Oct  8 12:08 keydb.kdb
-rw-r--r--   1 mqm      mqm           80 Oct  8 12:08 keydb.rdb
-rw-r--r--   1 mqm      mqm           80 Oct  8 12:08 keydb.crl

Answer 1

Stupid mistake: alter qmgr SSLKEYR('/var/mqm/qmgrs/MYQMGR/ssl/keydb') fixes the issue.