Another Linux/390 Support Company
As I was verifying some stuff for more updates to linuxvm.org, I tripped over this URL: http://www.sinenomine.net/linuxsupport.php According to it, Sine Nomine is now offering commercial support for SuSE and Red Hat Linux/390 as well as Debian/390. One more company to add to the "support" page, I guess. Mark Post
Re: linux/390 support
Stephan, Sorry for the late reply. I'm not aware of any particular companies in the UK that would provide Linux/390 support (aside from IBM, SuSE, etc.) They could be there, and I just don't know about them. For whatever reason, the only ones I _am_ aware of are in the US, although based on some of the queries in the mailing list I believe there are at least a few in Germany. Actually, that kind of information would make a nice addition to the linuxvm.org web site, I suppose. Since I try to limit what goes on linuxvm.org to information that flows through this mailing list, it might be helpful if people that work for companies that provide Linux/390 support (not products) would reply to this thread and state that. (And perhaps provide a URL and a contact address for email inquiries?) I'm not interested in terms and prices, etc., just the fact that the company provides support. Mark Post -Original Message- From: Stephan Mattelaer [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 2:55 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: linux/390 support --- Received from FPU.MATTES 7993015 14-11-02 07:43 -> [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello Mark We are also in the process of evaluating what support structure to put in place for our z/VM linux environment. It does seem ironic that the support contracts are so expensive in view of the fact that one of the driving reasons of going to Linux is to drive down costs. The idea of a per incident contract you referred to does sound like a good way to go forward as presumably you only pay for what you use. This sounds like a good insurance policy in view of the general information available free on the internet, such as the sites you mentioned. Would you or anyone else on the list have some recommedations of companies in the UK that would provide this sort of incident contract service and an idea as to what they charge for this service please. Also could I ask people on the list to mention which support contract they are using if any and what their experience has been with that support contract company. If possible, an indication of what it costs would be very usefull Thanks Mark (and everyone else in advance) Stephan From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 13:33:47 -0500 Subject: Re: linux/390 support Tom, No problem, it can be a little overwhelming. I guess the first point I want to make is that just because this is an operating system that runs on IBM hardware, doesn't mean that it comes from IBM, or that IBM would be the "natural" place to look for support. True, the Linux architecture maintainers are IBM employees, but that doesn't have to be the case. Early on, IBM made a decision not to have their own Linux/390 distribution, which I think was a smart business and political decision. Instead, they partnered with various established Linux distribution companies. What that means is the people with the most experience and skills supporting Linux/390 are not necessarily IBM employees. You do have a choice of where you buy support. You can get it through IBM, the Linux distribution company that created the distribution, or independent support companies, of which there are some number. (For the amount of money Sandy was quoted, _I'd_ give you 24x7 support!) There are some differences between the distributions as to what all is involved there. The mailing list archives has a fair amount of discussion on those topics. (It might be easier looking through http://linuxvm.org/archives/ instead.) I would imagine that once you get your system installed, most of the problems you are going to run into will _not_ be Linux/390-specific ones, but rather Linux-generic ones. In many cases you can find the answer to your problems with a few searches at http://groups.google.com/, because you probably won't have been the first one to hit a particular problem. >From my perspective, ensuring that you can obtain updated software for your distribution is a much more immediate concern than problem resolution. You will probably be better off having some sort of per-incident contract for problems. I really don't think you're going to need to spend the big bucks for anything more. Mark Post -Original Message- From: Tom Rusnak [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 12:05 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: linux/390 support Please forgive any ignorance in this question, yet another MVS techie dipping a toe into the linux world. We are looking to create a Linux/390 LPAR on an H30 and we are trying to figure out the "support" arrangements for the base operating system. With (MVS, OS/390, Z/OS) we ring up the IBM support center for all operating system related problems as part of the cost of licensing the operating system. What is IBM's arrangement with Linux/390? IBM (Australia) has told us that w
Re: linux/390 support
--- Received from FPU.MATTES 7993015 14-11-02 07:43 -> [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello Mark We are also in the process of evaluating what support structure to put in place for our z/VM linux environment. It does seem ironic that the support contracts are so expensive in view of the fact that one of the driving reasons of going to Linux is to drive down costs. The idea of a per incident contract you referred to does sound like a good way to go forward as presumably you only pay for what you use. This sounds like a good insurance policy in view of the general information available free on the internet, such as the sites you mentioned. Would you or anyone else on the list have some recommedations of companies in the UK that would provide this sort of incident contract service and an idea as to what they charge for this service please. Also could I ask people on the list to mention which support contract they are using if any and what their experience has been with that support contract company. If possible, an indication of what it costs would be very usefull Thanks Mark (and everyone else in advance) Stephan From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 13:33:47 -0500 Subject: Re: linux/390 support Tom, No problem, it can be a little overwhelming. I guess the first point I want to make is that just because this is an operating system that runs on IBM hardware, doesn't mean that it comes from IBM, or that IBM would be the "natural" place to look for support. True, the Linux architecture maintainers are IBM employees, but that doesn't have to be the case. Early on, IBM made a decision not to have their own Linux/390 distribution, which I think was a smart business and political decision. Instead, they partnered with various established Linux distribution companies. What that means is the people with the most experience and skills supporting Linux/390 are not necessarily IBM employees. You do have a choice of where you buy support. You can get it through IBM, the Linux distribution company that created the distribution, or independent support companies, of which there are some number. (For the amount of money Sandy was quoted, _I'd_ give you 24x7 support!) There are some differences between the distributions as to what all is involved there. The mailing list archives has a fair amount of discussion on those topics. (It might be easier looking through http://linuxvm.org/archives/ instead.) I would imagine that once you get your system installed, most of the problems you are going to run into will _not_ be Linux/390-specific ones, but rather Linux-generic ones. In many cases you can find the answer to your problems with a few searches at http://groups.google.com/, because you probably won't have been the first one to hit a particular problem. >From my perspective, ensuring that you can obtain updated software for your distribution is a much more immediate concern than problem resolution. You will probably be better off having some sort of per-incident contract for problems. I really don't think you're going to need to spend the big bucks for anything more. Mark Post -Original Message- From: Tom Rusnak [mailto:tom.rusnak@;cardlink.com.au] Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 12:05 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: linux/390 support Please forgive any ignorance in this question, yet another MVS techie dipping a toe into the linux world. We are looking to create a Linux/390 LPAR on an H30 and we are trying to figure out the "support" arrangements for the base operating system. With (MVS, OS/390, Z/OS) we ring up the IBM support center for all operating system related problems as part of the cost of licensing the operating system. What is IBM's arrangement with Linux/390? IBM (Australia) has told us that we do not order Linux via IBM but must order through another site, presumably Red Hat or SUSE. If we have installation problems I assume that support is presumably given through the vendor with whom we purchased Linux. My concern is what happens once we have a production application running on Linux/390 and we have an operating system failure. *) Is there any option for getting support from the IBM support center or IBM Global Services? *) Is there a 24x7 support arrangement involved? *) What are typical costs involved with support for Linux/390? *) What type of support does IBM provide? Level 1 equivalent or more? *) How many out there are running production work on Linux/390? *) Does anyone have any experience or war stories with using linux support particularly in Sev-1 or Sev-2 situation? kindest regards for any responses, Tom Rusnak Sydney, Aus. (This message cross posted between LINUX-390 and IBM-MAIN) This e-mail may contain confidential information and/or copyright material. This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only. Any unauthorised use m
Re: linux/390 support
Tom, No problem, it can be a little overwhelming. I guess the first point I want to make is that just because this is an operating system that runs on IBM hardware, doesn't mean that it comes from IBM, or that IBM would be the "natural" place to look for support. True, the Linux architecture maintainers are IBM employees, but that doesn't have to be the case. Early on, IBM made a decision not to have their own Linux/390 distribution, which I think was a smart business and political decision. Instead, they partnered with various established Linux distribution companies. What that means is the people with the most experience and skills supporting Linux/390 are not necessarily IBM employees. You do have a choice of where you buy support. You can get it through IBM, the Linux distribution company that created the distribution, or independent support companies, of which there are some number. (For the amount of money Sandy was quoted, _I'd_ give you 24x7 support!) There are some differences between the distributions as to what all is involved there. The mailing list archives has a fair amount of discussion on those topics. (It might be easier looking through http://linuxvm.org/archives/ instead.) I would imagine that once you get your system installed, most of the problems you are going to run into will _not_ be Linux/390-specific ones, but rather Linux-generic ones. In many cases you can find the answer to your problems with a few searches at http://groups.google.com/, because you probably won't have been the first one to hit a particular problem. >From my perspective, ensuring that you can obtain updated software for your distribution is a much more immediate concern than problem resolution. You will probably be better off having some sort of per-incident contract for problems. I really don't think you're going to need to spend the big bucks for anything more. Mark Post -Original Message- From: Tom Rusnak [mailto:tom.rusnak@;cardlink.com.au] Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 12:05 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: linux/390 support Please forgive any ignorance in this question, yet another MVS techie dipping a toe into the linux world. We are looking to create a Linux/390 LPAR on an H30 and we are trying to figure out the "support" arrangements for the base operating system. With (MVS, OS/390, Z/OS) we ring up the IBM support center for all operating system related problems as part of the cost of licensing the operating system. What is IBM's arrangement with Linux/390? IBM (Australia) has told us that we do not order Linux via IBM but must order through another site, presumably Red Hat or SUSE. If we have installation problems I assume that support is presumably given through the vendor with whom we purchased Linux. My concern is what happens once we have a production application running on Linux/390 and we have an operating system failure. *) Is there any option for getting support from the IBM support center or IBM Global Services? *) Is there a 24x7 support arrangement involved? *) What are typical costs involved with support for Linux/390? *) What type of support does IBM provide? Level 1 equivalent or more? *) How many out there are running production work on Linux/390? *) Does anyone have any experience or war stories with using linux support particularly in Sev-1 or Sev-2 situation? kindest regards for any responses, Tom Rusnak Sydney, Aus. (This message cross posted between LINUX-390 and IBM-MAIN)
Re: linux/390 support
Tom; > We are looking to create a Linux/390 LPAR on an H30 and we are trying > to figure out the "support" arrangements for the base operating > system. > What is IBM's arrangement with Linux/390? IBM (Australia) has told us > that we do not order Linux via IBM but must order through another > site, presumably Red Hat or SUSE. IBM service for Linux varies by country, as do the acquisition rules. However, IBM does provide full defect and how-to support for both Red Hat and SuSE on S/390 and zSeries. You call the same number that you would use for OS/390 problems. We recently had a MAJOR price cut in this support here in the Americas, so I presume the same has happened in Australia. Regards, Jim
Re: linux/390 support
$52,917 (for 1 ifl) Sanford H Gelbard To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: linux/390 support Sent by: Linux on 390 Port Subject: linux/390 support Sent by: Linux on 390 Port >
Re: linux/390 support
Tom, I was given the following figure last year. Linux OS Technical Support 1 IFL: Per year for IBM Global Services 24x7 support (Embedded image moved to file: pic19072.pcx) (2 IFL engines would equate to $63,311/year) sg Tom Rusnak Subject: linux/390 support Sent by: Linux on 390 Port pic19072.pcx Description: Binary data
linux/390 support
Please forgive any ignorance in this question, yet another MVS techie dipping a toe into the linux world. We are looking to create a Linux/390 LPAR on an H30 and we are trying to figure out the "support" arrangements for the base operating system. With (MVS, OS/390, Z/OS) we ring up the IBM support center for all operating system related problems as part of the cost of licensing the operating system. What is IBM's arrangement with Linux/390? IBM (Australia) has told us that we do not order Linux via IBM but must order through another site, presumably Red Hat or SUSE. If we have installation problems I assume that support is presumably given through the vendor with whom we purchased Linux. My concern is what happens once we have a production application running on Linux/390 and we have an operating system failure. *) Is there any option for getting support from the IBM support center or IBM Global Services? *) Is there a 24x7 support arrangement involved? *) What are typical costs involved with support for Linux/390? *) What type of support does IBM provide? Level 1 equivalent or more? *) How many out there are running production work on Linux/390? *) Does anyone have any experience or war stories with using linux support particularly in Sev-1 or Sev-2 situation? kindest regards for any responses, Tom Rusnak Sydney, Aus. (This message cross posted between LINUX-390 and IBM-MAIN)
