Linux Operations; Overview Of Zlinux Operations; Running Linux On S/390 Or Zseries Hosts - HP XP20000/XP24000 Operation Manual

4 Linux operations

This chapter describes storage system operations in a Linux host environment.

Overview of zLinux operations

The storage system supports attachment to the following mainframe Linux operating systems:
Red Hat Linux for S/390 and zSeries
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server for IBM zSeries
For information on supported versions, Linux kernel levels, and other details, contact your HP
representative.
For details on FICON/zHPF connectivity, FICON/Open intermix configurations, and supported FCAs,
switches, and directors (for example, McDATA or CNT) for the storage system, contact your HP
representative.
For information on preparing the storage system for Linux host attachment, see the IBM documentation
about implementing Linux with IBM disk storage.
After physical installation of the storage system has been completed, the user configures the LINUX
system for operations with assistance as needed from an HP representative. For specific information
and instructions on configuring the disk devices for LINUX operations, see the XP disk array
configuration guide for the connected platform. Contact your HP representative for the latest information
on platform and operating system version support.

Running Linux on S/390 or zSeries hosts

There are three possible methods used to run Linux on an S/390 or zSeries host:
Run Linux in "Native" mode on the machine with no other operating system.
Create Logical Partitions (LPARs). Logically partition the hardware into up to a maximum of 15
separate LPARs per logical channel storage system. You can, for example, run S/390 applications
in one partition, VM and VSE applications in another partition, and Linux applications in a third
partition.
Use z/VM guest support. Run Linux as a virtual machine using z/VM to provide virtualization of
central processing units, I/O storage systems, and memory.
It is possible to run hundreds of Linux systems on a single S/390 or zSeries host. For example, you
can create a complete Linux server environment for each application developer and host production
system all on the same S/390 or zSeries host.
For SuSE SLES 9 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.0, the storage system supports 31- and 64-bit Linux
for zSeries on storage units as well as ESCON, FICON, and Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) attached
host systems.
XP Disk Array Mainframe Host Attachment and Operations Guide 49