Running IBM Maximo 7.6 on Azure RHEL is operationally complex — WebSphere, DB2, MQ, and Maximo itself each have startup dependencies. This is the operations model I built to eliminate tribal knowledge and make day-2 operations repeatable.

• Startup sequence matters: DB2 HADR primary → DB2 standby → MQ Queue Manager → WAS Node Agents → WAS Deployment Manager → Maximo application
• Automate the full sequence in idempotent shell scripts — each step checks the previous before proceeding
• DB2 HADR monitoring: script that checks HADR_STATE and pages if standby falls behind RPO threshold
• Health check endpoint: lightweight HTTP probe on Maximo that confirms application is serving requests, not just that WAS is running
• Credential management: no passwords in scripts — use Azure Key Vault references or OS-level credential files with restricted permissions
• Runbook-as-code: every operation documented as a script in a Git repo, not a Word document on someone's laptop