I teach music on the side. All my students want to know how to play well, but don't want to practice. Everyone wants experience and knowledge, but are not willing to put out the effort to obtain it.
I went to SHARE 96 in Long Beach a little more than a year ago. I remember someone in one of the bigger VM sessions (It may have been someone from IBM, or more likely from CA) saying that VM has a history of being unappreciated. However, he predicted that within two or three years, someone who had experience in both VM and Linux would be able to "name his own price" in the the job market. Looks like it may be starting to come true. Companies want the knowlege but won't put out the time or money for the training, but they may be willing to pay for someone already trained. If you start to get offers, don't sell yourself cheap. "You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice." -Motto of the Darwin Society Gordon W. Wolfe, Ph.D. (425) 865-5940 VM Technical Services, The Boeing Company > ---------- > From: Coffin Michael C > Reply To: Linux on 390 Port > Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 9:33 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: SAF in zVM V4R2 Express Installation > > Hi David, > > Two years ago when I first became involved with Linux, I knew absolutely > nothing about it (zip, zero, zilch). I purchased an I32 version, > installed > it according to the installation instructions, and proceeded to study it > and > learn what I needed to know about it. I have been continuing to do so > ever > since, and whenever I need to user another part of Linux that I've never > really paid attention to, it's back to the books and other resources. I > had > lots of questions which were answered very quickly and in detail from the > good folks on the various Linux newsgroups. > > When I installed my first Linux/390 image (the original Marrist image) I > followed the installation instructions, and asked many questions of this > support group. > > I do not consider VM to be any more complex than Linux. It certainly > helps > if you have a background in it's core technology (i.e. mainframes in > general, 3270 usage, things of that nature), but the opposite was true of > me > when I first started with Linux (i.e. I knew none of the languages it > used, > it's command syntax was/is incredibly fussy both in terms of > mIxEdcAsErEsPEctEd commands, there was no centralized library to turn to > for > well written, cross-referenced and indexed information like an IBM SLSS, > etc. etc.). > > But ultimately, you have to decide to either learn the system you are > tasked > with supporting, or contract out the support of it. At least with VM (as > is > the case of all IBM mainframe systems) you have VAST libraries of data to > reference with clear, well written and understandable instructions (take a > look at z/VM Program Directory - step-by-step clear instructions on how to > install a z/VM system). With Linux there are only contributions made by > either the author or somebody else written in as much detail as they chose > to include, not cross-referenced to other related documents, often with no > practical examples, etc. etc. - you've heard the gripe from us IBM types > before. :) > > So for those folks who are saying that they want to use VM to host > Linux/390 > server farms, but they don't want to know anything about VM - it's kind of > like me saying I want to use Linux to run advanced web serving, database > and > networking tasks - but I don't want to know anything about it. It doesn't > work that way, you need to make an investment in understanding the system > you are supporting, at least to a level that you feel comfortable with. > > Of course, that's just my $.02. :) > > Michael Coffin, VM Systems Programmer > Internal Revenue Service - Room 6527 > 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W. > Washington, D.C. 20224 > > Voice: (202) 927-4188 FAX: (202) 622-3123 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: David Boyes [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 12:18 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: SAF in zVM V4R2 Express Installation > > > > We are a OS/390 shop with ZERO VM skills. The distributed group does > > not want to learn z/VM for many reasons, among them are the lack > > of any usable > > intro/how-to documents to get started with - the existing > > pubs assume a > > firm foundation or knowledge gained from attending a class. > > Hmm. While true, I don't see how this is different from supporting ANY > platform other than the one you've already got. If you went out and > bought > a Sun E15K (probably the mainstream device closest to this sort of > environment), you'd have to go to a Sun class to learn how to run the > partitioning tools -- in fact, Sun won't sell the machine to you without > it. > You can't buy books at Borders or Barnes & Noble about managing E15K > domains > (or at least not in my local bookstores) -- you've got to invest in > learning > how to use the tools you've been given. Sun doesn't publish this sort of > information, nor does HP/Compaq -- or any other HW vendor I'm aware of. > > I really don't see how or why IBM is expected to be any different in that > respect -- it'd be nice, but I can't say it's unexpected or unreasonable > to > expect someone to put some study time into this. > > > If you want z/VM+Linux to be successful you (IBM) need to publish a > > simple HowTo type document with step by step instructions, with > > explanation, for > > setting up and managing this new environment. > > This sounds more like a SHARE white paper than an IBM document (maybe the > first useful SHARE WP in the last decade or so...sigh). Perhaps this is > the > wrong forum, but I would think that tapping the VM talent in SHARE to > describe "best practices" is much more likely to get you a maintainable > and > useful document. > > The people with the skills to do this do exist; but we also have real > jobs, > too. I would suggest contacting Neale Ferguson offline and asking the > SHARE > VM and Linux projects to take this on, rather than beating IBM up about > it. > It's more productive, and probably would produce a more useful result. > >
