>>> On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 4:32 PM, in message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dave Hansen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello group, > > We are running SLES9 on our zSeries. The other day I tried to load > SLES10 on my PC. The install said resize the windowing partition(s)? I said > yes, and it failed.
How, exactly, did it fail? If you have a paid-for copy of SLES10 you would be entitled to at least 30 days of installation support, or more, depending on what support option you chose. > I have been looking at this partitioning stuff and our > options and they are different for x86 and zSeries. I tried to find more > on this and came across EVMS. EVMS brings a *new* model of volume > management to Linux. My advice is not to get too enamored with EVMS. From what I've been told, IBM has lost interest in maintaining it, so it is likely going away in the not too distant future. -snip- > Q). For our S/390 (zSeries), CDL (Common Disk Layout) is talked about. > It says the S/390 Segment Manager cannot be added or removed from a disk. > For ECKD dasd we use fdasd. Does fdasd select CDL and use this EVMS and the > S/390 Segment Manager? No. The dasdfmt command is what determines if your ECKD is CDL formatted, or LDL formatted, with CDL being the default. The fdasd command only puts partitions and volsers on the DASD. EVMS comes into play only after these two utilities are run. Sort of like Logical Volume Manager (LVM). You have to get the DASD formatted and partitioned before the higher-level management tools can then use them. > dasdfmt talks about geometry when it formats the > disk, we run dasdfmt before fdasd. I'm told we want partitions on zSeries > because they are more efficient. Not more efficient, per se, but more flexible, particularly in cases where LPAR installs are done, versus z/VM. Even on z/VM I find myself using them, at least a little. It's easier for the z/VM support staff to assign entire volumes to a guest, and let the Linux system administrator figure out how to carve them up. I usually put two partitions on one volume, and only one on the rest. The two partitions for the first volume are for the root file system, and the second is given over to LVM, as are all the other volumes in their entirety. > Q). So my PC (x86) install failed because of partitioning with Linux > after a windows install. Unlike the S/390 my options are not as clear. We > use fdisk to create partition tables for Linux after the Linux install. Why would you do that? YaST should handle all that for you, both during the install and afterward. fdisk is certainly a powerful tool, which is why a lot of front-ends use it behind the scenes to do things. > fdisk understands DOS, BSD and SUN type *disklabels*. fdisk will obtain the > disk geometry automatically. DOS uses Cylinders/Heads/Sectors, Windows uses > both, Linux never uses them. Then I read about cfdisk saying its better > than fdisk, but fdisk has some support for BSD *disk labels* and other > non-DOS partition tables. Does cfdisk/fdisk use one of the EVMS segment > managers? No. As I said above, EVMS and LVM only come into play after the disk has been formatted and partitioned. If you want to try EVMS, in spite of its uncertain future, use YaST to do it. You'll need the yast2-storage-evms package at least and most likely the evms package as well. (I'm not sure exactly since I don't play with EVMS.) Mark Post ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
