Timothy Sipples wrote:
A tape drive is no longer a requirement to start and run z/OS -- thank
you, IBM!
Timothy,
Could you outline the procedure for installing z/OS on a greenfield
site z196 without a tape drive?
Last time I installed z/OS on a brand new z10 at a new site, a 3590
tape drive was required to load the distribution tapes. What has
changed?
Thanks,
Roger Bowler
--------------Original message--------------
If you'd like to attach consumer-grade laptop hard disks to z/OS, go
for
it! There's a prolific poster to IBM-MAIN who has one idea how to do
that.
This company (no affiliation) has a couple other inexpensive ways:
http://www.mainstorconcept.de/zdasd.html?&L=1
http://www.mainstorconcept.de/mfstor.html?&L=1
[A tape drive is no longer a requirement to start and run z/OS -- thank
you, IBM! -- although there are many occasions when it makes sense
to have
tape drives and libraries, perhaps lots of them. "It depends."]
Now, hard disk cheapness with your mainframe may or may not be a
good idea.
Your mileage may vary. Mainframes and z/OS are quite obviously
designed and
optimized for enterprise-grade computing, in the fullest definition
of the
term. When IBM has dabbled in storage products with somewhat fewer
functions and less expandability (with correspondingly lower prices
-- but
without compromising quality), unfortunately, typically, too few of you
have been buying those products. Moreover, the mainframe storage
market is
extremely competitive and has been for decades.
This topic comes up from time to time and, frankly, I don't get it.
"But I
can buy a 1TB hard disk for my PC for $XX." Yes, you can. And you
can even
attach it, and many more like it, to your mainframe if you wish. (See
above.) You can also install that hard disk in your missile's guidance
system, in your space probe's scientific instruments, in your
nuclear power
plant's valve operating computer, and in your medical diagnostic
equipment.
You probably could, technically anyway. Should you?
The fact is, these things really are different in many ways,
starting with
the misleading comparison between a spindle and a storage frame.
They have
different qualities: performance, environmentals, error rates, testing
standards, control systems, caches, administrative functions, disaster
recovery capabilities, storage management features, etc., etc. I
know it's
shocking, but it actually costs vendors a bit to provide those
differentiated qualities and capabilities and to do the R&D to
invent them.
And if mainframes didn't have these qualities and capabilities,
maybe they
wouldn't be mainframes.
But it's a free market, so if you aren't interested in those things,
go for
it! But thank goodness there are more (and higher quality/richer
function)
storage options in the world than consumer-grade PC hard disks.
There are also endless arguments about whether a PC or a Macintosh is
"better," and endless debates about pricing differentials. Let's
stipulate
that PCs are cheaper than Macs for sake of argument. That's
interesting,
even fascinating. Except there's one wee little problem: PCs don't
(legally, reliably) run Mac OS X. Thus they're very different, and
in other
ways. Is running Mac OS X worth the price premium to you? It
depends, but
for increasing numbers of buyers around the world, yes, heck yes.
As a reminder, whether or not I remind, I speak only for myself,
especially
when I'm controversial.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy Sipples
Resident Enterprise Architect (Based in Singapore)
E-Mail: timothy.sipp...@us.ibm.com
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