On 11/8/2015 9:11 PM, Timothy Sipples wrote:
So let's explore this possibility.
First of all, many congratulations on your $237 acquisition! You've got an
interesting machine, a machine that figured prominently in mainframe
history as the first genuinely "small" 64-bit mainframe -- though it may
not seem small in your basement. Here are a few details worth checking:
Thanks!
1. Do you have any ESCON ports on your z890, or only FICON/FCP? If the
latter, you would have 2Gbps ports capable of fallback to 1Gbps. The IBM
DS6800 is a superb match if you're looking for a bit of FICON/ECKD storage,
though make sure the DS6800 unit you find is actually ECKD. (Somebody on
this list just might have a DS6800 to donate.) If you have ESCON ports you
could also look at older ESCON-attached storage units or even possibly an
ESCON-to-FCP/SCSI converter.
I do have ESCON ports as-well, two 16 port cards installed. ( I have 4
FICON cards for reference )
I have looked into the DS6000 and DS6800, on eBay people are asking A
LOT I have made some offers but I doubt I will get anything from there.
The expansion units are worth almost nothing comparatively is the sad
thing. But if someone here happened to have a 1750-511 or 1750-522
laying around and wouldn't mind letting it disappear I would be more
than happy to pay for shipping.
I have never heard of ESCON-to-FCP/SCSI converters.
I've seen the FCP to SCSI boxes but they hook up via FICON and don't
count as a proper DASD that say z/OS can see or use, they count as a SAN.
2. The z890 was available with 1000BASE-T, Gigabit, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet
-- and even Token-Ring. For your purposes having at least a couple
1000BASE-T ports (Feature Code 1366) would be best, but the other ports
could be a bonus.
I think I have the 1000BASE-T cards. I have 5 total cards but two of
them were damaged due to some problems with thermal adhesive failing
thus making the heat-sinks fall off the chips and when they fell to the
bottom they got wedged when being removed and damaged the same chip in
two different cards. I have re-applied thermal adhesive in the 3 cards
that seemed ok and just set the other two aside for now. I currently set
up the first port on the first card for OSA-ICC so I can use that for
3270s in the future when I get them configured, and setup the rest of
the 5 ports for OSD so I can use them for standard networking.
3. Is the 4th core on your z890 configured as an IFL, ICF, or zAAP by any
chance? If not, it's a spare to the three cores that are configured on your
machine, and that's not bad either.
As far as I know I don't think so, it may be an IFL or ICF, but I know
its not configured as a zAAP as I was hoping it would be.
I will have to check later and get back as to what it is.
4. The z890 had anywhere from 8GB to 32GB of main memory. Do you know how
much yours has? Even the 8GB configuration should be fine for a personal
mainframe, but more might be fun if you want to run some memory intensive
home workloads.
It only has 8GB, but I will probably keep an eye out on eBay in-case a
larger module pops up.
5. I suspect CP Assist (CPACF, Feature Code 3863) is installed, though
that's something to check. You can also check to see if any cryptographic
adapters are installed. There were three available for the z890: PCICA
(Feature Code 0862), PCIXCC (Feature Code 0868), and Crypto Express2
(Feature Code 0863). The last one would be the best. All operating systems
can take advantage of these features.
I am pretty sure it is installed as when I double clicked on the CPC I
remember seeing 'Cryptographic Feature: Installed' or the likes.
I do not have any cryptographic adapters installed but I have seem them
floating around so if I want to play with one I can probably find one on
eBay for not too much if I'm lucky.
6. Do you have a HMC with DVD drive? If you don't, maybe that's another
item somebody on this list would know where to get.
No it does not have a DVD drive, but I would assume its just a matter of
finding a DVD drive for the T42, but also would the SE just realize its
been installed? because as of now these options are grayed out when
going to 'Boot from DVD or FTP'. But this isn't much of a problem
anyway, I am quite honestly finding it much easier to be-able to just
open the ISO on my desktop and using an FTP to boot since I can then
just point the FTP to any ISO or directory to try new things out without
having to burn a new disk or swap disks.
OK, now about z/OS. Your capacity model 320 machine is approximately 120
PCIs and exactly 20 MSUs according to IBM's LSPR tables. The z890 is
compatible with z/OS 1.13 but not 2.1 and above. (Version 2.2 is the
current release.) Last I checked (a couple years ago), if you're willing to
set a defined capacity of 3 MSUs for a hypothetical z/OS LPAR on your
machine -- and you should be, especially if the z890 supports softcapping
that LPAR (can't remember offhand) -- in principle it's possible to license
z/OS under standard commercial terms for about $125 per month for
authorized zNALC workloads. That would include the base z/OS operating
system, DFSMSdss and hsm, XL C/C++ compiler, SDSF, Security Server, and
RMF. Java 8 is still compatible with z/OS 1.13 and no additional charge,
and there are some other add-ons that are no additional charge. So maybe
"not crazy," or at least less crazy than you might have thought. If
somebody wants to subsidize that particular aspect of your hobby, that'd be
helpful. (Maybe you want to port some open source software to z/OS 1.13 and
above?)
Wow I will have to look into if I can soft cap the LPAR, there were
quite a few config options for the LPAR so I may be-able to do so.
I will definitely have to look into this as I didn't know it would start
so cheap!
Thanks for the info!
By the way, if you want to test z/VM you can, assuming you have a
DVD-equipped HMC. The z/VM Version 5.3 Evaluation Edition is still
available:
http://www.vm.ibm.com/eval/
The documentation says it requires a z10 or higher. In fact the z/VM 5.3
Evaluation Edition *probably* works on earlier machines capable of starting
from DVD, including the z890, though on pre-z10 machines the boot process
is *much* slower. Because of the slow boot, IBM never claimed that the
Evaluation Edition worked on models prior to the z10, but as I recall that
was the only issue. Of course Version 5.3 of z/VM is quite backlevel, but
Version 5.4 (also backlevel) is the last release of z/VM that works on a
z890, so you're not far off here. Also bear in mind this is a 90 day
evaluation license. Once you reach 90 days you're obliged to discontinue
use. Check the license agreement for details. IBM Redbook SG24-6695 is
likely to be useful if you head down this path. It's also possible IBM will
discontinue downloads of the Version 5.3 Evaluation Edition at some point
in the future.
I have actually already found this and will likely try it out in the future.
Just one question, is this 90 day evaluation from when you install it or
when you download it?
I like the ZZSA idea as well.
Yea I will likely try this out as well in the near future.
I've placed a brief story about your new personal mainframe at
http://www.mmainframer.com at least as a placeholder. Please keep us posted
on your progress.
Awesome, well I will try to provide as much information as possible. I
will likely once I get enough knowledge and feel prepared enough make a
nice Youtube video along the lines of 'I just bought a mainframe, what
now?'.
Basicly going from nothing to having an IPLable image installed on some
form of storage.
-Connor K
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