On Wed, Jan 15, 2003 at 10:35:48AM -0500, David Boyes wrote: > It's also an expectation issue -- for a new 390 customer, the concept of > paying an extra $10-20K for a 2074 console controller just to be able to > *boot* their new $400K mainframe or install the OS is pretty silly -- > yes, it's a good thing to have, but the $40K Sun sitting next to it > requires a $10 serial cable or a PC keyboard and monitor that they > probably have sitting on their desk. Even on the multi-million Sunfire > systems, you can still install the OS with what comes in the box.
Here's a question: I'm certainly no HMC expert, *but*: As near as I can tell, the 2074 is like a P/390 or IS without the S/390 processor card: that is, it itself is an OS/2 box with an interface card that lets it communicate with channel-attached devices. So, like a P/390 or IS, it presents the console as a PCOMM session turned around to point at its magic device driver that emulates a 3270; then it in turn can export that via telnet. Why would this be hard to put into the HMC? You've clearly already got some kind of communication with the S/390 system in place; why not add a packet filter (for denying access on at least a per-host or per-network basis) and a telnet server (the HMC is basically OS/2 under the hood too, isn't it?)? Heck, you could get really fancy, and throw in an SSL wrapper too, for secure remote console access. You'd need one more ethernet port out the back of the frame and another subsystem on the HMC. Sure, it might drive up the cost of the HMC somewhat, depending on how much of the 2074 functionality needs to be put in the HMC (versus how much of that glue is already present). Still, I suspect it will be easier for the customer to swallow there than it is as a separate item. Adam
