Luminex Virtual Blue 3990 is a box that has ESCON and FICON connectors to the mainframe to supply ECKD volumes and FC for the data storage device. http://www.clipper.com/research/TCG2003050.pdf
On Mon, Nov 9, 2015 at 1:28 AM, Connor Krukosky <[email protected]> wrote: > On 11/8/2015 9:11 PM, Timothy Sipples wrote: >> >> So let's explore this possibility. >> >> First of all, many congratulations on your $237 acquisition! You've got an >> interesting machine, a machine that figured prominently in mainframe >> history as the first genuinely "small" 64-bit mainframe -- though it may >> not seem small in your basement. Here are a few details worth checking: > > Thanks! >> >> 1. Do you have any ESCON ports on your z890, or only FICON/FCP? If the >> latter, you would have 2Gbps ports capable of fallback to 1Gbps. The IBM >> DS6800 is a superb match if you're looking for a bit of FICON/ECKD >> storage, >> though make sure the DS6800 unit you find is actually ECKD. (Somebody on >> this list just might have a DS6800 to donate.) If you have ESCON ports you >> could also look at older ESCON-attached storage units or even possibly an >> ESCON-to-FCP/SCSI converter. > > I do have ESCON ports as-well, two 16 port cards installed. ( I have 4 FICON > cards for reference ) > I have looked into the DS6000 and DS6800, on eBay people are asking A LOT I > have made some offers but I doubt I will get anything from there. > The expansion units are worth almost nothing comparatively is the sad thing. > But if someone here happened to have a 1750-511 or 1750-522 laying around > and wouldn't mind letting it disappear I would be more than happy to pay for > shipping. > I have never heard of ESCON-to-FCP/SCSI converters. > I've seen the FCP to SCSI boxes but they hook up via FICON and don't count > as a proper DASD that say z/OS can see or use, they count as a SAN. >> >> >> 2. The z890 was available with 1000BASE-T, Gigabit, and 10 Gigabit >> Ethernet >> -- and even Token-Ring. For your purposes having at least a couple >> 1000BASE-T ports (Feature Code 1366) would be best, but the other ports >> could be a bonus. > > I think I have the 1000BASE-T cards. I have 5 total cards but two of them > were damaged due to some problems with thermal adhesive failing thus making > the heat-sinks fall off the chips and when they fell to the bottom they got > wedged when being removed and damaged the same chip in two different cards. > I have re-applied thermal adhesive in the 3 cards that seemed ok and just > set the other two aside for now. I currently set up the first port on the > first card for OSA-ICC so I can use that for 3270s in the future when I get > them configured, and setup the rest of the 5 ports for OSD so I can use them > for standard networking. >> >> >> 3. Is the 4th core on your z890 configured as an IFL, ICF, or zAAP by any >> chance? If not, it's a spare to the three cores that are configured on >> your >> machine, and that's not bad either. > > As far as I know I don't think so, it may be an IFL or ICF, but I know its > not configured as a zAAP as I was hoping it would be. > I will have to check later and get back as to what it is. >> >> >> 4. The z890 had anywhere from 8GB to 32GB of main memory. Do you know how >> much yours has? Even the 8GB configuration should be fine for a personal >> mainframe, but more might be fun if you want to run some memory intensive >> home workloads. > > It only has 8GB, but I will probably keep an eye out on eBay in-case a > larger module pops up. >> >> >> 5. I suspect CP Assist (CPACF, Feature Code 3863) is installed, though >> that's something to check. You can also check to see if any cryptographic >> adapters are installed. There were three available for the z890: PCICA >> (Feature Code 0862), PCIXCC (Feature Code 0868), and Crypto Express2 >> (Feature Code 0863). The last one would be the best. All operating systems >> can take advantage of these features. > > I am pretty sure it is installed as when I double clicked on the CPC I > remember seeing 'Cryptographic Feature: Installed' or the likes. > I do not have any cryptographic adapters installed but I have seem them > floating around so if I want to play with one I can probably find one on > eBay for not too much if I'm lucky. > >> >> 6. Do you have a HMC with DVD drive? If you don't, maybe that's another >> item somebody on this list would know where to get. > > No it does not have a DVD drive, but I would assume its just a matter of > finding a DVD drive for the T42, but also would the SE just realize its been > installed? because as of now these options are grayed out when going to > 'Boot from DVD or FTP'. But this isn't much of a problem anyway, I am quite > honestly finding it much easier to be-able to just open the ISO on my > desktop and using an FTP to boot since I can then just point the FTP to any > ISO or directory to try new things out without having to burn a new disk or > swap disks. >> >> >> OK, now about z/OS. Your capacity model 320 machine is approximately 120 >> PCIs and exactly 20 MSUs according to IBM's LSPR tables. The z890 is >> compatible with z/OS 1.13 but not 2.1 and above. (Version 2.2 is the >> current release.) Last I checked (a couple years ago), if you're willing >> to >> set a defined capacity of 3 MSUs for a hypothetical z/OS LPAR on your >> machine -- and you should be, especially if the z890 supports softcapping >> that LPAR (can't remember offhand) -- in principle it's possible to >> license >> z/OS under standard commercial terms for about $125 per month for >> authorized zNALC workloads. That would include the base z/OS operating >> system, DFSMSdss and hsm, XL C/C++ compiler, SDSF, Security Server, and >> RMF. Java 8 is still compatible with z/OS 1.13 and no additional charge, >> and there are some other add-ons that are no additional charge. So maybe >> "not crazy," or at least less crazy than you might have thought. If >> somebody wants to subsidize that particular aspect of your hobby, that'd >> be >> helpful. (Maybe you want to port some open source software to z/OS 1.13 >> and >> above?) > > Wow I will have to look into if I can soft cap the LPAR, there were quite a > few config options for the LPAR so I may be-able to do so. > I will definitely have to look into this as I didn't know it would start so > cheap! > Thanks for the info! >> >> By the way, if you want to test z/VM you can, assuming you have a >> DVD-equipped HMC. The z/VM Version 5.3 Evaluation Edition is still >> available: >> >> http://www.vm.ibm.com/eval/ >> >> The documentation says it requires a z10 or higher. In fact the z/VM 5.3 >> Evaluation Edition *probably* works on earlier machines capable of >> starting >> from DVD, including the z890, though on pre-z10 machines the boot process >> is *much* slower. Because of the slow boot, IBM never claimed that the >> Evaluation Edition worked on models prior to the z10, but as I recall that >> was the only issue. Of course Version 5.3 of z/VM is quite backlevel, but >> Version 5.4 (also backlevel) is the last release of z/VM that works on a >> z890, so you're not far off here. Also bear in mind this is a 90 day >> evaluation license. Once you reach 90 days you're obliged to discontinue >> use. Check the license agreement for details. IBM Redbook SG24-6695 is >> likely to be useful if you head down this path. It's also possible IBM >> will >> discontinue downloads of the Version 5.3 Evaluation Edition at some point >> in the future. > > I have actually already found this and will likely try it out in the future. > Just one question, is this 90 day evaluation from when you install it or > when you download it? >> >> I like the ZZSA idea as well. > > Yea I will likely try this out as well in the near future. >> >> >> I've placed a brief story about your new personal mainframe at >> http://www.mmainframer.com at least as a placeholder. Please keep us >> posted >> on your progress. > > Awesome, well I will try to provide as much information as possible. I will > likely once I get enough knowledge and feel prepared enough make a nice > Youtube video along the lines of 'I just bought a mainframe, what now?'. > Basicly going from nothing to having an IPLable image installed on some form > of storage. > > -Connor K > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN -- Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
