I have been asked by IBM to compile my list of "production readiness"
issues here and address them specifically to Allen Altmark, so here it is.

In looking at z/Linux I find the following two issues as issues that could
or do impact production level service level agreements, service-ability,
and availability of the environment.

The first issue is vt100 support from a VM console session.  There are
times, often because of a typo or other error, that the network just isn't
available and you have to use the VM console access.  By accessing a Linux
guest in this fashion you essentially loose vt100 support, thus loosing
the ability to edit (correct) files in a way that is natural for Unix
Engineers.  Now this probably isn't a big deal given sed, awk, and ned as
work arounds; however, when looking at a comparison of z/Linux to
Linux/IA32(64), Solaris, AIX, or HP/UX and when talking to a Unix engineer
this is a serious issue.  We don't want work arounds for a solution that
is deemed suitable for production especially when other vendors have this
and thus make a world difference when addressing Severity one issues.  On
a Sev 1 there is no time for work arounds...

The second primary issue is the lack of a syslinux or the ability to boot
into single user mode.  I have found that I can take a linux guest from
multi-user mode to single user mode, but what if for some reason
multi-user mode isn't available (filesystem issues or kernel issues) it is
a requirement to have single user mode as an option.  Again I am aware of
work arounds etc. . .  However, these work arounds are often time
consuming and they are just that work arounds.  The missing feature that
is found on every other natural Unix / Linux platform is the ability to
boot into single user mode.  In Linux on IA32 for example I would use
linux single (or linux 1) and this would boot me into single user mode,
simple and quick and "natural".

So there they are...  my two greatest issues with running z/Linux in
production.

Thank you!

===============================

Eric Sammons, RHCE
eric.sammons at frit.frb.org
FRIT - Unix Systems

===============================

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