Last Hackweek I created a rescue system that is composed of a SUSE Linux kernel in an NSS (Named Saved System) and an xip2fs file system in a DCSS (Dis-Continguous Save Segment). This allows any Linux guest on a z/VM system to say "#cp ipl rescue" and have a fully functional SUSE Linux Enterprise system come up to allow them to fix what ever is wrong with the guest.

This Hackweek I want to try to figure out a way to take those two components and package them so that our customers could download them and put them on their z/VM system, using only typical z/VM tools. The rescue system is the output of a Kiwi build in the internal Build Service, which means it can be easily updated as needed.

Looking for hackers with the skills:

z/vm mainframe rescue

This project is part of:

Hack Week 14

Activity

  • over 8 years ago: markkp added keyword "rescue" to this project.
  • over 8 years ago: markkp added keyword "z/vm" to this project.
  • over 8 years ago: markkp added keyword "mainframe" to this project.
  • over 8 years ago: markkp started this project.
  • over 8 years ago: markkp originated this project.

  • Comments

    Be the first to comment!

    Similar Projects

    terraform-provider-feilong by e_bischoff

    Project Description

    People need to test operating systems and applications on s390 platform.

    Installation from scratch solutions include:

    • just deploy and provision manually add-emoji (with the help of ftpboot script, if you are at SUSE)
    • use s3270 terminal emulation (used by openQA people?)
    • use LXC from IBM to start CP commands and analyze the results
    • use zPXE to do some PXE-alike booting (used by the orthos team?)
    • use tessia to install from scratch using autoyast
    • use libvirt for s390 to do some nested virtualization on some already deployed z/VM system
    • directly install a Linux kernel on a LPAR and use kvm + libvirt from there

    Deployment from image solutions include:

    • use ICIC web interface (openstack in disguise, contributed by IBM)
    • use ICIC from the openstack terraform provider (used by Rancher QA)
    • use zvm_ansible to control SMAPI
    • connect directly to SMAPI low-level socket interface

    IBM Cloud Infrastructure Center (ICIC) harnesses the Feilong API, but you can use Feilong without installing ICIC, provided you set up a "z/VM cloud connector" into one of your VMs following this schema.

    What about writing a terraform Feilong provider, just like we have the terraform libvirt provider? That would allow to transparently call Feilong from your main.tf files to deploy and destroy resources on your system/z.

    Other Feilong-based solutions include:

    • make libvirt Feilong-aware
    • simply call Feilong from shell scripts with curl
    • use zvmconnector client python library from Feilong
    • use zthin part of Feilong to directly command SMAPI.

    Goal for Hackweek 23

    My final goal is to be able to easily deploy and provision VMs automatically on a z/VM system, in a way that people might enjoy even outside of SUSE.

    My technical preference is to write a terraform provider plugin, as it is the approach that involves the least software components for our deployments, while remaining clean, and compatible with our existing development infrastructure.

    Goals for Hackweek 24

    Feilong provider works and is used internally by SUSE Manager team. Let's push it forward!

    Let's add support for fiberchannel disks and multipath.

    Goals for Hackweek 25

    • Finish support for fiberchannel disks and multipath
    • Fix problems with registration on hashicorp providers registry