IBM z890

[Connor Krukosky]

On 11/3/2015 3:14 PM, Dave Wade wrote:
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of william
>> degnan
>> Sent: 03 November 2015 04:49
>> To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
>> <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
>> Subject: Re: IBM z890
>>
>>>> Congratulations! Mainframes are fun!
>>> Thanks and yes they are :)
>>>
>>>> One does not boot a mainframe; one IPLs it. :)
>>> I totally knew this but somehow forgot such terminology while writing
>> this email. *facepalm*
>>>> I can't advise you as to the other boxes. From my Linux experience on
>> mainframe I can say it doesn't seem to boo... IPL any differently to any other
>> mainframe OS. If you can define the device to the mainframe and issue an
>> IPL command, you *should* be able to IPL anything I think?
> Not sure. I think LINUX will run with Network Attached Storage ....
>
>>> Hm ok, I will have to do some more research on the storage front then.
>>> What I have been told is that you can IPL Linux over a SAN but not any
>> IBM OS.
>>> But if IPLing shouldn't be any different then maybe you can't IPL from
>>> a
>> SAN at all which I wouldn't be surprised at.
> I think all IBM
>
>>> -Connor K
>> Check the OS defaults of the SAN networking software layer.  My instinct is
>> AIX might play a part here.
> I seem to remember that IBM OS's need a SAN that will talk ESCON or FICON and will resent emulated 3390 disks.
>
>
> http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg246497.pdf
>
> might help
> Dave
>
Thanks for the info Dave, I have learned what can and can not be 
installed over FCP (aka SAN) via this page:
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/hardware/connectivity/products/fe8.html
# CHPID type FC – FICON, zHPF, and channel-to-channel (CTC) traffic for 
the z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE, z/TPF, and Linux on z Systems environments
# CHPID type FCP - Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) for attachment to SCSI 
devices for the z/VM, z/VSE, and Linux on z Systems environments

So now we know what can and can't IPL over which interfaces, now its a 
matter of finding which devices support what.
I think the IBM TotalStorage series of disk arrays support FC, at-least 
DS4000 and up, DS3000 may but I am not sure.
I have found some DS4000 chassis up which are somewhat cheap but then I 
need to buy caddies and drives and that will add up...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-1740-710-DS4000-EXP710-Total-Storage-Expansion-Unit-zq-/281628536073?hash=item41925e6d09:g:~44AAOSwrklVAxIp
I have found complete DS4000's for around 200 dollars.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-DS4000-EXP100-SAN-Expansion-Unit-1724-1xp-w-14x-400GB-7-2k-Hard-Drives-3650-/171988053156?hash=item280b496ca4:g:j20AAOSweW5VgGTH
But still I am not 100% sure they support FC, and are not just SAN's 
over FCP which I think they also support.
To say the least I need to find someone very familiar with the newer IBM 
hardware because I don't want to pay as much as I did for the machine to 
get storage that 'might' work.

-Connor K