When an application connects to MQ using client bindings, network connections have to be opened up which can have security implications. In the last few MQ releases these have been addressed with the introduction of the CHLAUTH and CONNAUTH features. This is the first in a series of articles that will look at these features. This article will explain how they fit together when a receiving end of a channel is started. Different types of bindings IBM MQ supports two ways that an application can connect: Local bindings : This is when the application and queue manager are on the same operating image. CHLAUTH is not relevant to this type of application connection. Client bindings : This is when the application and queue manager use the network to communicate. The application and queue manager may be running on the same machine or they may be on different machines. In MQ a client connection is handled in the form of a server-connection (SVRCONN) channel. Both CONNAUTH an