Installation on z/VM
From LinuxVM
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Installing Linux on z/VM
This document assumes you will install a s390x distro under z/VM running on real hardware. And assumes that you know the basics of Linux operation, like formatting disks, creating users, and writing loadable modules in assembly (just kidding).
Software
You will need a 3270 terminal emulator. For Linux, there's a good one named x3270 (or tn3270). For Windows, you can have IBM Personal Communications, qs3270, WinAxe or another emulator.
You will need an ssh client too. Most Linux distros come with ssh by default. For Windows, I use a very nice client named PuTTY. Google it and download it, if you don't have it already.
Even if not required, it's good to have a VNC Client too. I use TightVNC for Windows, and Vinagre for Linux.
Those tools will be needed to connect to the guest, and perform the installation. Apart from that, you will need an NFS server, an HTTP server or an FTP server to use as a software repository, as you cannot boot your zVM guest from DVD or usb (for now).
Installation Overview
As we don't have a monitor, or a floppy disk, or cd-drive, we need to put some files in the guest, boot from them, and install using our network. The process is:
- define your zVM guest
- put files on zVM guest
- boot from those files
- configure networking
- access installation system
- prepare disks
- install packages
- reboot and configure
- enjoy
Installation
Before starting installation, write down some critical info: - IP address/netmask/broascast/gateway of your new Linux - IP address of your DNS server - IP address of your NFS (or FTP, or HTTP) server
Prepare your infrastructure
First of all, download your installation media. If you can download a full DVD, do it. If you download the individual CDs, you will have to extract all files from the iso inside a directory, and this will use more space than mounting the iso file. I will assume that you have the files mounted on /mnt/install in your FTP server (yes, you will need one), and this directory is accessible by FTP. If this FTP server is Linux, export /mnt/install in your /etc/exports too, the installation is faster using nfs.
Define your zVM guest
You will need some hardware on your guest: at least 512MB of RAM, 9GB of disk, a special 191 disk with about 100 cylinders, and a virtual network interface. After defining these parameters, access your guest using your 3270 emulator and prepare it.
You will need to format your 191 disk using CMS FORMAT command: FORMAT 191 A
This will be your home disk (like /home/yourname on Linux or C:\Windows\Profiles\YourName on Windows 95).
Put files on zVM guest
You will use an FTP client running in zVM to download some code. The ftp application resides on TCPMAINT disk 592. To access it, run:
LINK TCPMAINT 592 592 RR
ACC 592 Z
Now you can ftp to your server and get the files: FTP ftp-server-address
The location of bootstrap files depends on your distro. On Suse Linux Enterprise, they are located in /boot/s390x on the installation media:
- parmfile
- initrd
- vmrdr.ikr
On Red Hat Enterprise, they are located on /images:
- generic.prm
- initrd.img
- kernel.img
The parmfile or generic.prm are text files. They contain some parameters (like IP addresses, hostnames, and so on) for the installation. The vmrdr.ikr, kernel.img, initrd.img and initrd are binary files. You have to use a special FTP command (LOCSITE FIX 80) to download those files, as they need to be formatted in a 80-column format (they will be written on punched cards, seriously).
I will use RHEL here, but the commands are the same for SLES, only the files will change.
ASCII
GET generic.prm RHEL5.PARM
BIN
LOCSITE FIX 80
GET initrd.img RHEL5.INITRD
GET kernel.img RHEL5.KERNEL
The local filename can be changed, but I use this format to know the distro I am installing.
Bootstrap the installation
Now, send the files to the card reader
