OK, I confess to being active on the IBMVM listserve, and generally just a "lurker" on this list. But since David Boyes brought up my name, I have to share the blame with our paranoid Internet Security group here.
Paranoia in an Internet Security group is probably a "good thing", but it makes getting work done much more difficult. Our own difficulty/delay, and hearing of frequent similar experiences directly from others and from our IBM reps, is what inspired my quest over the past several years to get a "Starter System" supplied by our Linux provider. If it would have been good for us, it could assist others in starting their own Proof Of Concept in less time than it took here. We're well past the need for the initial installation, but will still install the Starter System for the quick "rescue system" and perhaps the "installation server" capabilities. It took us well over two years of whining and making business cases for the Internet Security group open a port between an in-house workstation CD and the target stress-test z/VM system before we finally made progress. Obviously, this was a low priority semi-skunkworks POC. The final initial installation never involved the Internet Security group. They defended and continue to defend the mainframe walls vigorously and mercilessly. Instead one of our IBM reps happened to be visiting another customer running SLES on z/VM in the great white north. That customer, an active contributor to this list but who's name shall be withheld for privacy reasons, created a DDR tape dump of a working SLES FTP server, giving it to our IBM rep who returned it to us. Once in our hands, we loaded it up in about 10 minutes, made the change to the IP address and hostname, defined a Guest LAN (before Vswitch), and booted it up in short order. Two years of misery ended in about 30 minutes! That done, we could finally perform the documented SLES installation after inserting the install CDs on a blade attached to a z/OS system to which the z/VM system had access, "mount"ing the CD on z/OS and then again on the new Linux FTP server. After seeing the CMSDDR package, it seemed a perfect solution to getting a quick download from our Linux distributor (Novell). In essence, it was the same thing we had done with the gift Linux FTP server from the great white north: take a running Linux guest and simply restore it - but without any tapes. I first approached IBMers, who quickly demurred -- declaring that IBM does not distribute Linux in any form. After that I went to our Novell rep, who put me into contact with someone else at Novell. He was receptive to the starter system idea, but even after repeated pings nothing ever came of it (Novell is a big company). So I put the idea on the list (IIRC, the IBMVM list). David stepped up to the idea, and Mark asked for confirmation (his survey) on the listserves to make the business case to Novell. Personally, I wanted the download to be performed directly via the CMS FTP client on the target z/VM system with no workstations involved - direct from Novell to 3390. But David wisely saw the flaw in that desire: most sites don't have access to the internet from their z/VM systems - especially those new to z/VM wanting only to get their Linux for System z POC's going. Requiring them to add the steps to get their VMFTP and FTPSERVE servers going, and obtaining access from their z/VM system to the internet, could have prevented or delayed the target audience from using the starter system. Never ones to stop at a single good idea, David and his crew of "always do-well's" expanded the original starter system idea to include the "rescue system" and "installation server" capabilities. So, while I concede that the starter system idea was generally my fault, I really do have to share the "blame" with our paranoid Internet Security group. And of course, share the "blame" with David and the other good folks at Sine Nomine Associates, and with Mark Post and those at Novell for actually doing ALL the work to create it and make it available (no small feats). Thanks to all who made this possible. If news of this download is properly shared and documented, it should speed up POC installations at many potential new customer sites. Mike Walter Hewitt Associates Any opinions expressed herein are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of Hewitt Associates. >Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:59:41 -0400 >From: David Boyes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 Starter System for IBM System z > >> Brilliant work one and all. Thanks to the efforts of both Novell and >> Sine Nomine Associates the Community benefits. >> It is great that a plan like this can come together and add to the >many >> contributions by these two wonderful organizations. > >I will, however, point out that it is literally all Mike Walter's fault. > >This will amuse some, and amaze the rest. 8-) > >I have a nice presentation on the making of the starter system available >if any user group would like to schedule it. > >Share and enjoy, > >-- db The information contained in this e-mail and any accompanying documents may contain information that is confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply e-mail and then delete this message, including any attachments. 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