IBM s390 User Manual

Front cover

S/390 Partners in Development:

ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

System setup

AD CD-ROM use

System operation

ibm.com/redbooks

Bill Ogden

International Technical Support Organization

S/390 Partners in Development: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

October 2001

SG24-6507-00

Take Note! Before using this information and the product it supports, be sure to read the general information in “Special notices” on page 85.

First Edition (October 2001)

This edition applies to the OS/390 AD CD-ROM and FLEX-ES versions available at the time this book was published.

Comments may be addressed to: IBM Corporation, International Technical Support Organization Dept. HYJ Mail Station P099 2455 South Road Poughkeepsie, NY 12601-5400

When you send information to IBM, you grant IBM a non-exclusive right to use or distribute the information in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.

Note to U.S Government Users - Documentation related to restricted rights - Use, duplication or disclosure is subject to restrictions set forth in GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.

Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

The author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

Special notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

IBM trademarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

Comments welcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

Chapter 1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 Purpose of this redbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2 ThinkPad/EFS systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2.1 FLEX-ES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.2.2 Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.2.3 Positioning with other small S/390s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.3 ThinkPad/EFS hardware used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.4 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Chapter 2. System and Linux installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1 Disk planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.2 ThinkPad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.3 Linux installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.3.1 Installation notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter 3. FLEX-ES and OS/390 installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3.1 FLEX-ES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.1.1 Brief introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.1.2 Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3.1.3 X3270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

3.1.4 Next steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.2 OS/390 AD systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.2.1 AD systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

3.2.2 OS/390 on CD-ROM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3.2.3 OS/390 device configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3.2.4 An unzip program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3.2.5 Installation tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

3.3 File ownership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3.4 Minor problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3.4.1 Next steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Chapter 4. FLEX-ES Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

4.1 FLEX-ES system and resource definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

4.1.1 Building a shell script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

4.1.2 IPL OS/390 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

4.2 Operation and use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4.2.1 User terminal connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4.2.2 Linux TN3270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

4.2.3 IODF requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

4.2.4 System performance monitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

4.2.5 TCP/IP for OS/390 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

4.3 Shutting down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter 5. Additional Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

5.1 Basic debugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

5.2 Operating Systems Messages console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

5.3 Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

5.4 Server memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

5.4.1 The vmstat command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5.4.2 Importance of Linux swapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

5.5 Ultrabay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

5.5.1 Using a second Linux hard disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

5.5.2 Second disk planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

5.5.3 Disk layout (AD system) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

5.5.4 Alternative method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

5.6 FLEX-ES FakeTape on OS/390. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

5.7 Multi-system setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

5.8 x3270 client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

5.9 Remote resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

5.10 Disk caches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

5.11 Tuning cachesize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

5.12 FSI Channel Adapters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

5.13 SCSI adapter for the ThinkPad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.14 Disk fragmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.15 Backup and restore considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.15.1 Using tar to back up S/390 volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

5.15.2 Using tar and ftp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

5.15.3 CD-RW drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

5.16 S/390 identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

5.17 Display PSW and registers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

5.18 RAS discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

5.19 Verify ckd disk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

5.20 Linux windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

5.21 Installing FLEX-ES upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

5.22 ThinkPad power control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

5.23 Useful Linux commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Chapter 6. Frequently asked questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Appendix A. FLEX-ES definition listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Basic definitions for a single HDD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Shell script for a single HDD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Definitions for two HDDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Shell script for two HDDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Appendix B. FLEX-ES parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

System definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Resource definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Emulated control unit types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Emulated device types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Typical resource definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Cloned devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Common rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

The resadm command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

CLI commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

iv S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

Special notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Related publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Other resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Referenced Web sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

How to get IBM Redbooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

IBM Redbooks collections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Contents v

vi S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

Preface

A ThinkPad Enabled for S/390, generally known as a ThinkPad/EFS system, is the smallest S/390 currently available, and is intended for development and demonstration purposes.

It is based on an IBM ThinkPad running Linux, and the S/390 emulation product FLEX-ES. FLEX-ES is a product of Fundamental Software, Incorporated (FSI) of Fremont, California. This package (the ThinkPad, Linux, and FLEX-ES) can run all current S/390 operating systems.

This IBM Redbook introduces the ThinkPad/EFS system, describes the setup process of the system in some detail, and then describes the installation and use of an OS/390 package known as the OS/390 AD CD-ROM system.

While this publication is primarily directed at members of the IBM S/390 Partners in Development program (also known as PartnerWorld), most of the content applies to any ThinkPad/EFS system.

The author

Bill Ogden is a retired IBM Senior Technical Staff Member, still working part-time on favorite

projects at the International Technical Support Organization, Poughkeepsie Center. He specializes in entry-level OS/390 and z/OS systems, writes extensively, and teaches ITSO workshops relating to these areas. Bill has been with the ITSO since 1978. Many of his projects for the last several years have been related to IBM’s S/390 Partners in Development organization.

Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project:

Jim Obrizok, Linda Lovallo, and Frank Yolton, of the S/390 Partners in Development program, who coordinated the PID elements of the project and helped obtain required hardware.

Scott Carter, Martin Groen, Peter Ward, David MacMillan, Ray La Croix, and Tom Valerio, of Fundamental Software, Inc., who provided considerable help with the details of

planning and installation.

Mike Hammock, of IntelliWare Systems, Inc., who provided useful feedback about typical system use.

Special notice

This publication is intended to help new users of ThinkPad/EFS systems better understand the platform. The information in this publication is not intended as the specification of any programming interfaces. See the PUBLICATIONS section of any relevant IBM Programming Announcement for more information about what publications are considered to be product documentation.

IBM trademarks

The following terms are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and/or other countries:

e (logo)® IBM ® AIX® CICS® DB2® ESCON® IMS™ Multiprise® MVS™ Netfinity® NUMA-Q® OS/2® OS/390® PartnerWorld® Perform™ PS/2® RAA®

Comments welcome

Your comments are important to us!

We want our IBM Redbooks to be as helpful as possible. Send us your comments about this or other Redbooks in one of the following ways:

Redbooks™ Redbooks Logo RACF® RMF™ S/370™ S/390® SP™ ThinkPad® Ultrabay™ VM/ESA® VSE/ESA™ VTAM® WebSphere® xSeries™ z/OS™ z/VM™

򐂰 Use the online Contact us review redbook form found at:

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򐂰 Send your comments in an Internet note to:

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򐂰 Mail your comments to the address on page ii.

viii S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

Chapter 1. Introduction

Netfinity/EFS and ThinkPad/EFS systems are entry-level S/390 products. Implementation, involving underlying PC Server (or ThinkPad) hardware and S/390 emulation software, differs considerably from earlier machines. The EFS portion of the name is derived from “Enabled For S/390.”

EFS systems may be used to run OS/390 (and z/OS Linux for S/390. They may also be used for older versions of these operating systems. This document addresses only OS/390 and z/OS (31-bit mode) use, but the reader should not infer that the EFS is limited to OS/390 and z/OS.

Rather than constantly write “OS/390 and z/OS (31-bit mode)” we tend to simply mention OS/390 unless there is a particular point to be made about z/OS. You should assume that this book refers to both OS/390 and z/OS.

), VM/ESA (and z/VM), VSE/ESA, and

z/OS (31-bit mode) is supported in the latest release for FLEX-ES. Much of the work for this redbook was done before this latest release was available. We expect no significant differences to the redbook contents if you are using z/OS.

1.1 Purpose of this redbook

This IBM Redbook introduces ThinkPad/EFS systems and describes the installation process for a particular configuration of these systems. The configuration used is the base configuration selected by IBM’s S/390 Partners in Development (PID) of that program. Many of the specific details described here are for these PID systems and the OS/390 (and z/OS) software packages IBM provides for PID members who obtain systems through this program. However, the descriptions in this book can be generalized to apply to most other ThinkPad/EFS systems and installations.

ThinkPad/EFS systems are available only through IBM business partners, and are not available directly from IBM. In normal situations, the business partner performs the initial machine setup—including hardware installation, basic Linux operating system installation, initial disk configuration, and FLEX-ES installation. This redbook describes these same steps and, in a sense, describes steps that a normal ThinkPad/EFS user should not need to perform.

We include this material for several reasons: 򐂰 Understanding how a system is set up, even though someone else may have done it for

you, leads to a better understanding of the system.

򐂰 The system owner may accidently (or intentionally) delete or destroy part of the underlying

elements of his system. If this happens, he might ask his IBM business partner for assistance, or he might prefer to rebuild the system himself.

򐂰 Significant upgrades to the underlying elements (hardware, Linux, FLEX-ES) may require

a partial or complete rebuilding of the system. Again, the system owner has the option of using business partner assistance or implementing the upgrade himself.

program for members

After describing initial system setup, we describe the installation of an OS/390 Application Development CD-ROM system. These are usually known as AD systems, and are available only to PID members who obtain systems through the PID program. The OS/390 (and z/OS) systems involved are typical small implementations of these operating systems. The only unique factor is the packaging on CD-ROM. If you are not a PID member, this section of the document may not be of interest.

Another redbook, Netfinity Enabled for S/390, SG24-6501, duplicates much of the material in this ThinkPad Enabled for S/390 book. The ThinkPad material is based on Linux, while the Netfinity material is based on UnixWare or Open UNIX. for S/390, SG24-6215, is based on different text and is a recommended companion to both the Netfinity and ThinkPad books, even though the NUMA-Q EFS system is no longer available.

1.2 ThinkPad/EFS systems

A ThinkPad/EFS machine is an IBM ThinkPad laptop running Linux (the Red Hat 7.1 distribution for the discussions in this redbook). A Linux application package, FLEX-ES, emulates a S/390 (processor and I/O). The emulated S/390 is used to run OS/390 and all the normal subsystems and applications that run under OS/390. FLEX-ES emulates typical S/390 I/O devices such as 3390 disks, 3480/3490 tape drives, and 3174 controllers. Normal 3270 terminal connections are through TN3270 sessions to a FLEX-ES program that makes these sessions appear to the emulated S/390 as local, non-SNA 3270 devices.

A third redbook, NUMA-Q Enabled

Also known as IBM’s PartnerWorld organization.

Open UNIX 8.0 is the replacement and upgrade product for UnixWare 7.1.1. References in this document to

UnixWare also apply to Open UNIX.

2 S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

No “real” S/390 hardware is required, although there are options to attach parallel and ESCON channel devices. S/390 emulation. The emulated S/390 runs as a Linux process, in the virtual memory provided by Linux. Every S/390 instruction that is executed is interpreted by the FLEX-ES emulation program, which then uses PC instructions to emulate the effects of the S/390 instruction.

ThinkPad/EFS is not intended as a production S/390 machine. Many reasons are involved, including obvious ones such as:

򐂰 No RAID protection is available for emulated S/390 disk volumes. 򐂰 Total disk space is limited, as is the configuration of the disk space. 򐂰 No S/390 channel connectivity is supported. 򐂰 Memory is limited and must be shared between S/390 use and all the Linux-based

The system is intended as a small development machine, a demonstration machine, and may fit in a number of debugging situations. It is definitely a multi-user system, with, for example, TSO users connected through TN3270 sessions.

1.2.1 FLEX-ES

FLEX-ES is a product of Fundamental Software, Incorporated, (FSI) of Fremont, California. ThinkPad/EFS systems are a cooperative effort involving IBM, FSI, and several business partners that market ThinkPad/EFS systems. FLEX-ES runs under Linux or several UNIX operating systems.

processes.

No special adapter cards or other hardware is needed for basic

FSI also produces four hardware options that may be used with FLEX-ES. These are:

򐂰 A parallel channel adapter, providing one S/390 parallel channel 򐂰 A parallel channel adapter, providing three S/390 parallel channels 򐂰 An ESCON channel adapter, providing one S/390 ESCON channel

򐂰 A communications adapter, providing six lines corresponding to S/370 ICA lines

These adapters are full-length PCI adapters and would not normally be used with a laptop machine. In principle, it may be possible to use one by installing it in an appropriate ThinkPad docking station. At the time of writing, such options had not been tested and must be considered unsupported; furthermore, the required FLEX-ES support modules are not provided with ThinkPad/EFS systems. This redbook ignores the FSI hardware adapters. If you are interested in these, you should refer to the NetFinity/EFS redbook.

FLEX-ES is a licensed product. The licenses are arranged through IBM and FSI business partners. A FLEX-ES license specifies the number of PC processors that can be used for S/390 emulation. For the ThinkPad/EFS system described in this redbook, this will specify a single processor. A FLEX-ES license is keyed to a specific serial number in a hardware dongle that is connected to the USB port of the ThinkPad and will run only in a ThinkPad that has this dongle installed. It is provided as part of the FLEX-ES license. A FLEX-ES license is also keyed to a specific PC Server (ThinkPad) speed, and will operate only on a server that operates within 2% of the specified speed.

At the time of writing, there is no practical support for these adapters on a ThinkPad. We mention them here for

completeness.

This is a very brief statement of a complex process. FLEX-ES internally uses a “just in time” compiler technique to build PC code that emulates the S/390 instructions. A controlled amount of the “compiled” code is retained to improve performance within loops and so forth.

This adapter was not yet available at the time of writing.

Chapter 1. Introduction 3

1.2.2 Linux

In order to provide well-tested S/390 operation, a single Linux distribution was chosen as the ThinkPad base software. This is Red Hat 7.1 Linux. Other versions and distributions of Linux might work, but only ThinkPad/EFS machines running on this base operating system are supported at the time of writing.

This may change in the future, of course. Linux is an ongoing process and the EFS base system is likely to migrate to a future Linux kernel when one becomes available and FSI migrates the FLEX-ES code to it. FSI and IBM intend to manage EFS development with a high priority for system stability. In general, this means the EFS base operating system will not “chase” small Linux enhancements and may delay movement to major new releases until their stability for the EFS environment has been thoroughly confirmed.

Linux is a large topic. This redbook addresses Linux only to the extent needed to install and use FLEX-ES. There are many clever things that can be done with Linux, and some of these can interact with FLEX-ES and files used with FLEX-ES. Except as needed to install a basic ThinkPad/EFS system, we do not explore the things a user might implement using Linux facilities.

1.2.3 Positioning with other small S/390s

Recent entry-level S/390 machines used by PID members have included the following: 򐂰 P/390, R/390, and S/390 Integrated Server (IS) systems (all based on P/390 adapters).

These systems are no longer manufactured or marketed, but are still widely used by members of IBM’s Partners in Development (PID) organization.

򐂰 Application StarterPak systems. These are no longer manufactured or marketed, but a

number are in use by PID members.

򐂰 Several models of Multiprise 3000 systems (MP3000). These are currently manufactured

and marketed and widely used.

򐂰 x/Server EFS (formerly known as NUMA-Q Enabled for S/390). These are no longer

marketed for EFS solutions.

򐂰 Various models of Multiprise 2000 systems. These are no longer actively marketed.

The following table offers a few initial comparisons:

S/390 CPUs

ThinkPad/EFS < 1 1.4 256 Good 32 GB + None Very portable!

Netfinity/EFS (small)

xSeries EFS 3 5 512-2048 Excellent 200 GB+ Limited Multiple S/390 instances

P/390 R/390 Int. Serv.

MP3000-P30 1 8 1024

1 1.8 512+ Very Good

1 1 256 fixed Limited 18-36 GB Limited Portable (except IS)

Rel CPU Perf

Typical S/390 Storage in MB

fixed

Internal Disk Perform

to Excellent

Very good 72 GB Excellent LPARs

Typical Internal Disk Capacity

160 GB Limited Multiple S/390 instances

S/390 Chans

Significant Features

portable

significant non-S/390 workloads possible

Crypto hardware ICMF

4 S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

S/390 CPUs

Rel CPU Perf

Typical S/390 Storage in MB

Internal Disk Perform

Typical Internal Disk Capacity

S/390 Chans

Significant Features

StarterPak model A10

1 4+ 1024

fixed

Good 90 GB 4

ESCON

LPARs Crypto hardware ICMF OSA-2

This table is intended only as a starting point for positioning a ThinkPad/EFS system and needs a number of qualifications:

򐂰 The relative CPU performance numbers shown are rough indications of processor

performance. Total system performance is dependent on many other factors as well, including memory size and disk performance. Also, processor performance depends on the nature of the workload and may vary considerably from the indicated ratios. Do not attempt to use this table for anything other than positioning the EFS models listed relative to the other specific machines shown.

򐂰 ThinkPad/EFS is shown as less than 1 CPU. This indicates that the single PC processor

in the ThinkPad must be shared between Linux processes (such as S/390 emulated I/O) and S/390 instruction emulation.

򐂰 An x/Series 430 EFS system can have 1, 2, or 3 processors enabled for S/390 processing. 򐂰 Many of these machines can have a wide range of memory installed. The numbers shown

are intended to represent typical systems.

򐂰 All the machines except the StarterPak can have a wide range of disk storage installed.

Again, the numbers shown are intended to represent typical installations. The numbers represent effective disk capacity, after RAID or mirroring overhead.

򐂰 The S/390 Chans column refers to S/390 channel connectivity, using ESCON and parallel

channels. All of the systems offer some channel connectivity, but all except the MP3000 are quite limited in this area.

򐂰 This table ignores RAS characteristics. The PC-based machines (Netfinity/EFS,

ThinkPad/EFS and all the P/390-based machines) are designed to different RAS standards than the more industrial strength MP3000 and StarterPak systems. This may be an important factor when selecting a system for essential 24x7 production requirements.

1.3 ThinkPad/EFS hardware used

ThinkPad/EFS systems are provided through IBM business partners. They cannot be ordered directly from IBM. Different business partners may start with slightly different base configurations and offer different options. The system we describe in this redbook should closely match most starting configurations offered by business partners.

The basic hardware requirements are: 򐂰 A Thinkpad in the A21p, A22p, A23 (or T23) series, or one that is closely compatible, is

the only supported base at the time of writing.

򐂰 A major compatibility requirement is that the X windows support in Red Hat Linux 7.1 must

operate correctly with the ThinkPad display.

򐂰 It must have a USB port (for the FSI license dongle). 򐂰 It should have 512 MB memory (or more, if available). 򐂰 It should have at least one 32 GB (or larger) disk drive. 򐂰 The option for a second 32 GB (or larger) drive (swappable in the slot used by the

CD-ROM drive and the diskette drive) should be considered.

Chapter 1. Introduction 5

򐂰 It should probably have the integrated Ethernet adapter, and possibly a second (PCMCIA)

Ethernet adapter or a PCMCIA token ring adapter (depending on your requirements).

ThinkPad models change frequently and the above requirements may need to be adjusted to match current offerings. The author used a T20 ThinkPad (which met the other requirements) and had no problem with it. However, from a formal support viewpoint, only selected ThinkPad models should be used. At the time of writing, these were the A21p and A22p machines.

No particular disk drive size is required. A system needs about 1.5 GB for Linux. Most of the remaining disk space can be used for emulated S/390 drives. An emulated drive takes approximately the same number of bytes on the ThinkPad disk as are available on a “real” drive. A 3390-3, for example, requires about 2.8 GB on the ThinkPad disk. It is convenient to have extra space—say 2 GB—left for a work area.

Using two disk drives allows some overlap of drive operations. We did not attempt to measure this and we suspect that the effect is small. FLEX-ES provides very effective cache functions for emulated drives and this greatly reduces the actual disk drive I/O rates (especially seek rates) compared to “real drives” on “real S/390s.”

1.4 Terminology

EFS descriptions can become confusing if the terminology is not well defined. These are important terms:

򐂰 Processor means a PC processor in the ThinkPad (or a Server processor in larger

platforms).

򐂰 Server means our underlying ThinkPad hardware. 򐂰 Server operating system means Linux for the ThinkPad/EFS system described in this

redbook.

򐂰 S/390 CPU (or simply CPU) means an emulated single S/390 CPU engine. 򐂰 S/390 system means an emulated S/390 (in the EFS system) that might have more than

one emulated S/390 CPU engine.

򐂰 Instance (or FLEX-ES instance) means an emulated S/390 system. We can run several

FLEX-ES instances if we have sufficient resources.

򐂰 OS/390 means the S/390 operating system. We could also use VM/ESA or VSE/ESA, but

we elected to work only with OS/390 and z/OS (31-bit mode).

򐂰 ThinkPad/EFS is a generic name. The business partners providing this product often

have their own names for their specific implementation of the product.

For any FLEX-ES instance, there is a one-to-one correspondence between processors enabled for S/390 and S/390 CPUs. Running multiple instances is something like running multiple OS/390s in separate LPARs (but is not quite the same). We can run multiple instances of single-CPU S/390s in a ThinkPad/EFS system.

6 S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

Chapter 2. System and Linux installation

ThinkPad/EFS installation, with Linux, is much simpler than installation of other EFS platforms. There are three primary reasons for this:

򐂰 The appropriate ThinkPad models can be used “out of the box.” We are unaware of any

requirements for BIOS upgrades.

򐂰 The server operating system (Red Hat Linux 7.1) is installed “out of the box.” We are

unaware of any required patches or fixes essential for EFS use.

򐂰 We can use simple Linux files for emulated S/390 disks.

There are no RAID functions to customize.

All of these factors are subject to change, of course, and are likely to change with future systems. Nevertheless, we expect ThinkPad/EFS installation to remain simpler than installation of other EFS systems. A background consideration is that, because ThinkPad/EFS is not intended for production use, there is slightly less emphasis on using the latest BIOS fixes, latest Linux fixes, and most optimum disk performance techniques.

We elected to have Linux as the only PC operating system on our ThinkPad. You could create multiple primary partitions, install a boot manager of your choice, and install a Windows system in addition to Linux. This should be transparent to FLEX-ES, assuming you manage to install a functional Linux.

2.1 Disk planning

A little background on FLEX-ES disk techniques may be interesting, especially for those who have used or read about other EFS platforms. FLEX-ES uses raw disks on its other platforms. Using a UnixWare discussion, the following elements are involved:

򐂰 A raw disk is contiguous space on a hard disk. (This statement ignores the effects of

RAID striping. The Server operating system sees a raw disk as contiguous space if a hardware RAID adapter is used.)

This is not to say that you should not install BIOS upgrades. We are unaware of any that are required for using

FLEX-ES.

These comments also apply to Netfinity/EFS with an Open UNIX 8 base. Open UNIX 8 is the replacement release for UnixWare 7.1.1.

base (as used with current Netfinity/EFS systems) for

򐂰 A raw disk (or several raw disks) is required for each S/390 DASD volume being

emulated. For example, if an OS/390 system requires 15 3390 volumes (for the system and user volumes), then FLEX-ES would need at least 15 raw disks in UnixWare.

򐂰 A raw disk has no UNIX file system. It can be used (by UNIX programs) as a single,

sequential file. Multiple raw disks are tedious to administer and can lead to fragmentation issues if not well planned. This disk management has often been the most complex element of EFS installation on other platforms.

򐂰 Raw disks are used by FLEX-ES because UnixWare does not buffer access to them.

Instead, FLEX-ES code does all the buffering using designs that are optimized for emulated S/390 volumes. This provides a major performance boost for FLEX-ES.

򐂰 In principle, FLEX-ES could use standard UNIX files to emulate S/390 volumes. However,

the normal UNIX buffering is not well suited to this emulation and the resulting performance is poor.

Linux has added more factors to these elements: 򐂰 Linux has raw disks, but buffers I/O for them. This means that the unique FLEX-ES

coding for raw disks is not very effective.

򐂰 Linux I/O handling for normal file systems is generally faster than that of traditional UNIX

systems.

򐂰 Linux directly supports large files (larger than 2 GB), as required for 3390-3 and 3390-9

emulation.

For these reasons, FLEX-ES uses normal Linux files to emulate S/390 DASD. It is possible to use Linux raw disks, but the performance benefits are slight and not worth the administration efforts involved. Linux has recently begun to support raw devices. It is possible that future versions of FLEX-ES may use these if performance benefits warrant it. For this redbook, and for current ThinkPad/EFS systems, we will use only normal Linux files for emulating S/390 disk volumes. This substantially simplifies installation and administration of the EFS system.

We plan to use a simple naming convention with names such as /s390/OS39RA, for the Linux file containing an emulated 3390-3 with volser OS39RA.

Differences

Typically, under Linux, an emulated S/390 DASD volume is a single Linux file. In this case (a single file), the file can have any convenient name. No FLEX-ES naming convention is required.

Under UnixWare (for a Netfinity/EFS system) emulated S/390 DASD volumes may occupy several raw disks. naming convention must be followed. This naming convention requires UNIX file names to end with a lowercase ASCII “s” followed by a numeric digit.

This is not unique to FLEX-ES. Other major UNIX middleware packages, such as some relational data base

managers, also use raw disks for the same reasons.

This does not imply that UnixWare disk handling is poor. It is very good for normal UNIX applications. Emulation of S/390 volumes is a very specific, narrow application that does not match typical UNIX file usage.

This is not required, can be done to reduce potential fragmentation issues with raw disk space.

In this case (multiple UNIX files per S/390 volume) a special FLEX-ES

8 S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

2.2 ThinkPad

Before installing Linux, we installed all our ThinkPad options: additional memory, internal Ethernet port, the CD-ROM drive, and a 32 GB disk drive did not install our Ethernet PCMCIA card at this time. (In fact, we never used the PCMCIA adapter because we could successfully share the integrated Ethernet adapter between Linux and OS/390 TCP/IP.)

We started the system and selected F1 for BIOS setup. Working with BIOS functions, we verified that we had 512 MB of memory and that the internal Ethernet adapter was recognized. We set the time and date. In the Startup section, we verified that the Boot device List F12 Option was enabled; this lets us temporarily select the CD-ROM as a boot device. Our normal Boot List contained Removable Devices (that is, a diskette) followed by Hard Drive.

After exiting the BIOS setup function and performing power-off/power-on functions, we had an initial prompt to provide a temporary boot device list. Pressing F12 provided this list. The CD-ROM was the third element in the list and this is needed to start Linux installation.

2.3 Linux installation

We purchased a Red Hat Linux 7.1 standard package in a local store. (They also had a Deluxe version and a Server version; we selected the basic version.) This consists of four CD-ROMs. The first two contain the system; the third contains Linux source code and the fourth contains documentation.

in the standard disk position. We

We booted from the first Linux CD (using the ThinkPad F12 option to select a temporary boot device). This produced a Red Hat logo screen and offered the choice of graphics mode or text mode installation. We selected text mode, primarily because it was easier to document for this redbook. We then went through a number of installation prompts:

Language: English Keyboard: US Welcome to Red Hat Linux: OK System Type: Custom System (Possible message about “Bad Partition Table”; if so, select Initialize) Partition: Manually Partition Select partition tool: Disk Druid

You can select fdisk instead of Disk Druid, and you should use whichever one you find most comfortable. We found that the Linux fdisk was just different enough from DOS fdisk to be confusing, so we used Disk Druid.

Our ThinkPad disk had no installed partitions and was 100% available for allocation. Using Disk Druid, we allocated four partitions:

Mount Point Device Requested Actual Type Purpose

/boot /hda1 32 M 36 M Linux native boot partition / /hda5 3000 M 3000 M Linux native Linux system /hda6 150 M 155 M Linux swap /s390 /hda7 1 M 26123 M Linux native for S/390 volumes

OK (to exit from Druid) Save changes: yes (If this message appears)

Business partners providing ThinkPad/EFS systems were switching to 48 GB drives at the time of writing. This

change has no effect on the comments here, except that it makes a single-disk system more attractive.

Chapter 2. System and Linux installation 9

We selected a completely arbitrary size, 150 MB, for a Linux swap partition. In the light of later experience, this could probably be smaller. However, it is a small fraction of our available space and appeared to be a safe choice. The Red Hat documentation indicated that 32 MB was the maximum possible boot partition size, so we selected that. Again, it could probably be smaller.

It may take some experimentation with Disk Druid to mark a partition as Linux swap. We suggest simply working with the Disk Druid options (Add, Delete, Edit) until you succeed.

The documentation did not provide much guidance for selecting the amount of space for Linux itself. We elected to put all of Linux into the root file system, and arbitrarily assigned 3000 MB for this. Our more minimal installation actually used about 1.1 GB.) If you have more Linux or UNIX experience, you might want to create several file systems for Linux

(If you elect to install “everything” in RH7.1, you will need about 2.5 GB.

instead of placing everything in a single root file system. Other than having about 25 MB available in /usr (for later FLEX-ES installation and working files), there are no special requirements for your Linux disk configuration.

We then assigned all the remaining space on this drive to a partition with the mount point /s390. This name is arbitrary, but clearly indicates the intended purpose of the partition.

At this point, we had only a single hard disk installed. Our second hard disk will eventually replace the CD-ROM drive; we cannot have both the CD-ROM drive and the second hard disk installed at the same time. We initialized the second drive later.

The installation prompts continued with fairly basic items:

Choose partition to format: ALL (place asterisk in all lines) LILO Configuration, special parameters: (leave blank) OK LILO Configuration, where to place boot record: MBR LILO Configuration: OK Device Partition Type Default Boot /dev/hda5 Linux native * Linux Network Configuration: [ ] use bootp/dhcp (deselect this) IP address: 9.12.17.210 Netmask: 255.255.255.0 Default gateway: 9.12.17.150 Primary name server: Secondary name server: Ternary name server: Hostname Configuration: Hostname: tpefs1 Security level: No Firewall (use the space bar to change it) Mouse: 3 button PS/2 mouse Language support: English Time Zone: (as appropriate) Root password: xxxxxxxx (must be at least 6 characters) Add user: aaaaaaa (use your name) User password: xxxxxxxx (must be at least 6 characters)

The No Firewall security option was appropriate for our purposes, but may not match your needs. As far as we know, this has no particular FLEX-ES security implications select the options appropriate for your needs. Select any user name you like for the Add User function, but do not select the name flexes. (flexes is a special name for FLEX-ES and will be

We intentionally specified considerably more space than we needed. We assumed the extra space would be useful

for a variety of purposes.

Separate file systems for /tmp and /home are the most common alternatives.

10 S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

and you can

automatically installed later.) The installation process will automatically create a group with the same name as the user name you specify, and add this user to the group. For example, if you specify username ogden, the installation process will automatically create group ogden and add user ogden to group ogden.

OK to Exit from the User Account routine Authentication Configuration: [*] Use shadow passwords [ ] Enable MD5 Passwords [ ] Enable NIS [ ] Enable LDAP [ ] Enable Kerberos

Package Group Selection: Customized (you need to scroll the following list) total install size: 954 M [*] Printer support [*] X Window System [ ] GNOME [*] KDE [*] Mail/WWW/News Tools [*] DOS/Windows Connectivity [ ] Graphics Manipulation [*] Games [ ] Multimedia Support [*] Laptop support [*] Networked Workstation [ ] Dialup Workstation [ ] News Server [ ] NFS Server [ ] SMB (Samba) Server [ ] IPL/Netware (tm) Connection [ ] Anonymous FTP Server [ ] SQL Server [ ] Web Server [ ] DNS Name Server [*] Network Management Workstation [ ] Authoring/Publishing [ ] Emacs [*] Development [*] Kernel Development [*] Utilities [ ] Everything OK

You can select gnome in addition to (or instead of) kde. These two packages are competing implementations of an X windows-based desktop environment. You need at least one of them. Experienced Linux users often have strong preferences for one or the other package. We had no strong preferences and arbitrarily selected kde; we have been quite satisfied with this choice. (We also used gnome on other installations, with no problems.)

FLEX-ES needs to use TCP/IP port 24 on Linux for its Terminal Solicitor function. Almost all FLEX-ES installations will require this. FLEX-ES will also use port 555 if you have remote FLEX-ES resources installed. The typical ThinkPad/EFS user will probably not use this, especially for initial FLEX-ES use. If you install firewall functions, be certain that por t 24 is not blocked.

Chapter 2. System and Linux installation 11

You also need X windows, Laptop support, Networked Workstation, Network Management Workstation, Development, Kernel Development, and Utilities. You may want to change some of the options we selected or did not select. In particular, you might want to select Anonymous FTP Server (if you want any ftp server functions) and SMB (Samba) Server (if you want Windows connections). FLEX-ES does not require these, but they may be useful in many cases.

Some of the packages you...selected...require packages

you have not selected. ...

(*) Install packages to satisfy dependencies

X probe results: Video Card S3 Savage (generic) X Server XFree89 OK (to accept this hardware) Install log will be in /tmp/install.log Now format file system(s) (took about 1 minute) Transferring install image to hard disk Package installation: 425 packages to install

Installation took about 16 minutes. It called for the second CD-ROM when it was approximately half finished.

Create boot diskette: No (could not switch to diskette drive) Monitor Setup: IBM 9513 T55A TFT

4 MB

No clock chip

24 bit 1024x768 Starting X (test): OK Select “Yes” with mouse

Select “Start X automatically”

Reboot (ejects the CD)

Unfortunately, this Linux distribution does not have specific display parameters for ThinkPad displays. As a guess, we specified our ThinkPad display as an IBM T55A (which is a flat-panel LCD display) and this has worked well. As part of the monitor setup dialog (although it is more concerned with video adapter parameters) we specified 4 MB video memory, no clock chip (as recommended by the installation dialog) and 24 bit x 1024 x 768 resolution. While this may not be an optimum definition for ThinkPads, it works well and provides an excellent display.

After rebooting and logging into Linux as root, we tried the following:

# df -h (display file system usage) # cd /proc # cat cpuinfo # cat iomen # cd / # ls -al (verify that normal root entries are present)

2.3.1 Installation notes

The Custom System installation option was required in order to have both X windows and xinetd active. The Laptop Installation and Workstation Installation choices both omit xinetd support, and the Server Installation choice omits X windows. We require xinetd functions and X windows functions and are forced to use the Custom installation option.

12 S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

After the installation outlined above, you should be able to log into the system and ping another host on your subnet. be able to access remote hosts. You will note, however, that other systems cannot telnet to your ThinkPad Linux.

If the gateway IP system you specified is functional, you may

If you want to permit telnet or ftp into your machine, you need to

do the following:

# /sbin/chkconfig telnet on (to permit incoming telnet) # /sbin/chkconfig wu-ftpd on (to run an ftp server)

If this does not work for some reason, you can edit the relevant files as follows:

# cd /etc/xinetd.d # vi telnet (you can use another editor, if you like) change “Disable = Yes” to “Disable = No” (save and exit from your editor) Stop and restart your Linux system, OR force xinetd to restart: # ps -ef | grep xinetd (find the line for xinetd and read the PID number) # kill -s USR1 pidnumber (the PID number for xinetd)

Similar editing of the wu-ftpd file in the same directory will enable the ftp server.

You may have problems if you ping systems on other subnets. The remote system must have a defined route

back to you in order for the ping to work. Testing with another system on your local subnet avoids routing problems.

This is not required for FLEX-ES operation.

Chapter 2. System and Linux installation 13

14 S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

Chapter 3. FLEX-ES and OS/390 installation

This chapter describes the installation process for FLEX-ES. System definitions, resource definitions, and operation is described in the next chapter. This chapter also describes the installation of an OS/390 AD CD-ROM system. If you do not use these AD systems, you should skip this section and work with your IBM business partner to understand alternate methods for installing S/390 software.

3.1 FLEX-ES

This redbook concentrates on the use of FLEX-ES with a ThinkPad running Linux. Furthermore, we describe a particular ThinkPad/EFS configuration used as a starting point for IBM’s S/390 Partners in Development (PID) organization. This configuration might be regarded as the minimum practical system for using OS/390 and z/OS.

The following descriptions and figures assume this particular ThinkPad/EFS configuration. Other configurations and more complex systems are possible, but are not described here.

3.1.1 Brief introduction

Conceptually, FLEX-ES can be viewed as the following components: 򐂰 A S/390 instruction emulator, which might be seen as the heart of the system. It examines

each S/390 operation code and emulates that operation, using the instructions of its underlying PC processor.

򐂰 A resource manager that controls the interfaces between the emulated S/390 processors

and emulated I/O devices and connections.

򐂰 Emulators for various S/390 I/O devices. 򐂰 A FLEX-ES console for controlling FLEX-ES startup and operation. (This is not related to

the OS/390 master console.)

򐂰 A Terminal Solicitor program that emulates local, channel-attached, non-SNA 3270

terminals. The actual terminals are TN3270 sessions that connect to this program through normal TCP/IP protocols.

򐂰 A number of utility programs to help set up and run the FLEX-ES environment.

Figure 3-1 provides a simplified view of FLEX-ES operation. FLEX-ES is simply a process under Linux. While this illustration should not be taken too literally, it can be used to make a number of basic points about FLEX-ES.

It is actually a number of interrelated processes and threads, but that can be ignored at the conceptual level.

16 S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

Emulated S/390

running OS/390 and its normal applications

FLEX-ES processes

Linux operating system

PC Processor in ThinkPad

ThinkPad disks

Figure 3-1 Conceptual view of FLEX-ES system

Key points include: 򐂰 FLEX-ES is a software product.

All the hardware shown (in Figure 3-1) is standard

ThinkPad hardware.

other Linux processes

FLEX-ES Terminal Solicitor

TCP/IP

Enet Adapt

LAN

ThinkPad display and keyboard

Windows

򐂰 The FLEX-ES program, running under Linux on the ThinkPad’s PC processor, emulates a

complete S/390 environment.

– FLEX-ES obtains sufficient virtual memory to emulate the “real memory” for the

defined S/390 machine being emulated. While not detailed in the illustration, FLEX-ES can also emulate expanded memory.

– FLEX-ES, as part of emulating a S/390, handles S/390 I/O instructions and emulates

the S/390 I/O devices as required. In the illustration, various 3390 volumes (containing OS/390 and so forth) are contained on the ThinkPad disks.

򐂰 The FLEX-ES license specifies how many PC processors may be used (at any one

instant) for S/390 emulation. For a ThinkPad/EFS system this will normally be one processor.

򐂰 The owner can elect to dedicate PC processor(s) to FLEX-ES S/390 use. This provides a

performance boost. You cannot dedicate all the PC processors to S/390, because other Linux functions need access to a processor. If processors are not dedicated, then the normal Linux dispatching function will dictate which processors are being used by FLEX-ES at any instant. The number will never exceed the number permitted in the FLEX-ES license. A ThinkPad/EFS system has only a single PC processor, and it cannot be dedicated for S/390 emulation.

The optional S/390 channel adapters available for use with FLEX-ES are ignored in this discussion.

Chapter 3. FLEX-ES and OS/390 installation 17

򐂰 You can emulate a S/390 with a number of CPUs. This number cannot exceed the

number of PC processors licensed for S/390 emulation. With the ThinkPad/EFS system we are describing, this means that only a single-processor S/390 can be emulated.

򐂰 The emulated S/390 can use LAN adapter(s) on the ThinkPad. OS/390 TCP/IP can run

this way. A single ThinkPad LAN adapter can be used both by the OS/390 TCP/IP and by Linux TCP/IP. This differs from FLEX-ES under UnixWare, where a LAN adapter may not be shared by a S/390 TCP/IP and UnixWare.

򐂰 The FLEX-ES Terminal Solicitor is a Linux process. It provides a TN3270 server function

and listens (by default) on port 24 of Linux’s TCP/IP. An external user can connect a TN3270 client to the Terminal Solicitor. The Terminal Solicitor and the FLEX-ES emulation process will then transform the TN3270 protocol so that it appears to be a local, non-SNA 3270 to the emulated S/390. This is the normal way to connect MVS consoles, TSO terminals, CICS terminals, and so forth. There is no particular limit to the number of terminals that can be connected this way.

Each one must have appropriate VTAM

definitions for a local 3270, of course.

򐂰 If a LAN adapter is connected to OS/390 TCP/IP, then TSO terminals may connect this

way. If OS/390 TCP/IP and UNIX System Services are configured for it, ASCII telnet sessions can also use this connection. The Terminal Solicitor is not involved in these connections. The two LAN interfaces would have separate IP addresses, of course, even though they may share a common LAN adapter.

򐂰 The illustration shows a single emulated S/390. It is possible to emulate several S/390s at

the same time.

The PC processor(s) licensed for S/390 emulation will be dispatched among the several emulated S/390s. Only one Terminal Solicitor would be used; it can be shared by all emulated S/390s. The multiple emulated S/390s are known as multiple instances of FLEX-ES S/390 emulation. Multiple S/390 instances of OS/390 are probably not very practical with a ThinkPad/EFS system, due to limited ThinkPad memory and due to there being a single ThinkPad processor that must be shared among all the S/390 instances plus Linux. However, multiple VSE/ESA or VM/ESA systems might be practical on a ThinkPad/EFS machine.

򐂰 While it is not apparent in the illustration, the amount of real PC memory available is a key

performance factor. The performance of an emulated S/390 degrades quickly if Linux performs much paging (especially if the paging is triggered by FLEX-ES processes or if the memory being paged is used by FLEX-ES to emulate S/390 real memory). The recommended paging level for Linux is zero once steady-state S/390 emulation is running, and should seldom rise to more than one page per second. OS/390 paging (in the emulated S/390) might be much higher than this, with no ill effects. Do not confuse Linux paging with OS/390 paging. The amount of real ThinkPad memory available is a key factor in setting the size of the emulated S/390 machine memory and in deciding whether to use multiple S/390 instances.

򐂰 The terminal shown in the figure is usually the ThinkPad display and keyboard. The

typical ThinkPad/EFS usage would be through X Windows. In this mode, several windows can be open. Some of these might be x3270 sessions (TN3270 clients) connected to OS/390 through the Terminal Solicitor; one of these sessions might be the MVS master console. Another window might have FLEX-ES command line interface (CLI) prompts used to control FLEX-ES operation. CLI commands are used to IPL a S/390 operating system, for example.

It also differs from P/390-based machines and the MP3000, none of which permit sharing of LAN adapters by

multiple TCP/IP stacks.

There is an overall FLEX-ES limitation of 2048 emulated devices, but a ThinkPad/EFS system is unlikely to

approach this limit.

A different FLEX-ES license is not required for this. The FLEX-ES license indicates how many Server processors

may be used for S/390 operation, but does not limit how many instances of S/390s you can run.

18 S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

3.1.2 Installation

FLEX-ES can be delivered a number of ways:

򐂰 FTP over the Internet 򐂰 CD-ROM 򐂰 Diskettes 򐂰 Preinstalled by a business partner

The FLEX-ES package for ThinkPads is not large (about 3.5 MB), and an FTP download is easy, even over a typical dial-up line. In addition to the FLEX-ES code, you need a FLEX-ES license. This is a few hundred bytes and will normally be shipped with your system. We expect most business partners will burn a CD with the FLEX-ES packages and we will use this for our illustrations.

FLEX-ES for ThinkPad/EFS is shipped as three rpm packages, plus a license key file. (You need a USB dongle that matches the license key file, of course.) Our basic installation consisted of the following commands:

# mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom (CD with FLEX-ES and key file) # cd /mnt/cdrom # ls -al

# rpm -i flexes-6.0-5.i386.rpm spawn passwd flexes Changing password for user flexes New UNIX password: BAD PASSWORD: it is too simplistic/systematic Retype new UNIX password: passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully # rpm -i msgmgr-6.0-5.i386.rpm # rpm -i ftlib-6.0-5.i386.rpm # cp /mnt/cdrom/yourlicensekeyname.key /var/adm/flexes/.flexeslicense

(you should see the three rpm files and whatever other files your business partner included. We placed our key file on our CD)

Ignore the error messages about passwords. The installation process creates userid flexes with the password abcdef1. It also creates a group named flexes and makes user flexes a member of this group. You can later change the password to anything you like.

We used a test release of FLEX-ES for ThinkPad/EFS, as reflected in the version numbers that are part of the rpm package names. Your rpm names will be different but should have the same pattern. Likewise, the file name for your license key will be different, but should be easily recognizable.

In practice, most FLEX-ES management and operation is from userids root and flexes. Of course, the standard advice applies that you should log into the system as flexes (or some other id) and then su to root. This su step complicates documentation, so we will simply discuss root and flexes usage and assume you become root in a proper way. In our documentation a # prompt indicates root, and a $ prompt indicates a non-root userid.

FLEX-ES installation creates /usr/flexes and makes this the home directory for userid flexes.

We then shut down Linux, connected the USB dongle, rebooted and did this:

# cd /usr/flexes # mkdir rundir (conventional location for FLEX-ES files) # vi /root/.bash_profile

USERNAME=”root” PATH=$PATH:/usr/flexes/bin <=== add this line export USERNAME BASH_ENV PATH

Chapter 3. FLEX-ES and OS/390 installation 19

# vi /usr/flexes/.bash_profile

USERNAME=”flexes” PATH=$PATH:/usr/flexes/bin <=== add this line export USERNAME BASH_ENV PATH

Adding /usr/flexes/bin (where all the FLEX-ES executables are located) to PATH makes operation easier.

Installing the FLEX-ES license key

You need a FLEX-ES license key, which is a Linux file of a few hundred bytes. Your IBM business partner should obtain this for you. The business partner will need to obtain a USB dongle along with the license key. The dongle is a small hardware device that plugs into the ThinkPad USB port and contains an encrypted serial number that is reflected in the license key.

Copy the license key file to /var/adm/flexes/.flexeslicense, as noted in the instructions above. (Note that the target file name begins with a period.) If the license key is provided on diskette you will need to copy it from there. For example:

(shut down Linux) (remove the CD-ROM drive from the Ultrabay of the ThinkPad) (insert the diskette drive in the Ultrabay) (boot Linux and log in as root) # mdir a: (if the diskette is in DOS format, you should see the file with your key) # mcopy a:your.key /var/adm/flexes/.flexeslicense (done) (if the diskette is not in DOS format, try the following) # mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy # ls -al /mnt/floppy (if the key file is displayed, copy it with the following command)

# cp /mnt/floppy/yourlicensekeyname.key /var/adm/flexes/.flexeslicense

3.1.3 X3270

ThinkPad models are updated and changed frequently. The exact method of changing from CD-ROM use to diskette use depends on your ThinkPad model. In some models, you can have both a CD-ROM drive and a diskette drive active at the same time. In this case, there is no need to shutdown the Linux to swap drives.

If you have multiple FLEX-ES licenses, be certain to identify the correct license with the correct dongle.

A version of x3270 (a TN3270 client) is distributed with FLEX-ES. A different version of x3270 is distributed with Red Hat Linux 7.1. You should use the version distributed with FLEX-ES, even though it may be older than the version distributed with Linux. Since we placed the FLEX-ES libraries after the Linux libraries in our PATH environment, the system will find the Linux x3270 first. You can correct this in a number of ways. We did this:

# cd /usr/bin/X11 # mv x3270 x3270xxx (rename it to something obscure)

After doing this, the FLEX-ES distribution of x3270 will be found using our PATH. (You could accomplish the same thing by placing /usr/flexes/bin first in the PATH, or you could simply delete the X11 version of x3270.)

20 S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390

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