Do people really have Linux systems that run 7 x 24?

Alan Ackerman
Alan (dot) Ackerman (at) Bank of America (dot) com 

Alan,

You bet we do - more than one in fact 

Bill Munson
Brown Brothers Harriman
z/VM System Programmer
201-418-7588

President MVMUA
http://www2.marist.edu/~mvmua/





Alan Ackerman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 
Sent by: The IBM z/VM Operating System <[email protected]>
08/06/2008 02:06 AM
Please respond to
The IBM z/VM Operating System <[email protected]>


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Subject
Re: ADD VIRTUAL MEMORY DYNAMICALLY






On Tue, 5 Aug 2008 09:58:58 -0700, Schuh, Richard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
:

>Yes, it can add, but not subtract without LPAR deactivation. Let me know

>when the ability to dynamically remove previously added storage is
>available, and I will be more enthusiastic.
>
>Regards, 
>Richard Schuh 

Deleting memory is a lot harder. 

What if there are control blocks in there? You could use handles (pointer
s to pointers) but that is a 
complete rewrite. If a control block can move, you cannot trust a registe
r to continue to point to 
it. I think this would require a new instruction set to do the pointer to
 pointer resolution directly.

Or you can fence off areas and say "no control blocks allowed in here". T
hat would increase the 
complexity of operating systems, though. Such storage could only be used 
to back up guest or 
pageable operating system pages. 

If you wanted to remove a block of memory, you would have to initiate a m
ass page-out to clear 
the area. I'd rather not have to resolve the performance issues that migh
t occur.

Does z/OS do this?

I don't think the ability to remove memory is something I want IBM to spe
nd scarce z/VM 
development dollars on.

Another thought:

The need to add memory may be an emergency situation. The need to remove 
it again is not an 
emergency and can be planned. How important avoiding an IML may be depend
s on whether you 
really want to achieve 7 x 24 operation. 7 x 24 operation is going to cos
t you something -- 
including adequate capacity and memory. 

There are other ways to achieve 7 x 24 operation. We don't run any system
s with true 7 x 24 
requirements. We may run pairs of systems, or sysplexes of systems, but n
ot single systems.

Do people really have Linux systems that run 7 x 24?

Alan Ackerman
Alan (dot) Ackerman (at) Bank of America (dot) com 



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