z/VM and z/Linux: Info about installation
 

Hello everybody, hope that it's the right section.

I would like to ask if some of you has experience with z/Linux on z/VM, and this because I need to know one thing:

Is there any opportunity to install the z/Linux machines not only on the Minidisks but even on a partitioned DASD or on TAPES?

Different machines, installed on the same DASD but on different partitions, or different machines installed on different tapes (and, of course, they must run at the same time).

Thank you for the help!

Not a lot of z/VM expertise here I suspect.

Guest minidisks are usually portions of (ECKD) DASD, not the entire disk. So multiple guests can be installed onto the same physical DASD (without being aware of the fact).
As for tapes, I reckon not, but they should be boot-able from CMS ...

Without meaning to be rude, this line of question seems decidedly odd.

You need to realize that minidisks are partitioned DASD. They are the same thing.
So it sounds like you may be curious if it is possible to run zLinux without z/VM.
Answer: YES

You can run zLinux without z/VM.
You will still partition the processor. (This is different from partitioning disks.)
You would give zLinux it's own "partition", aka LPAR (Logical PARtition). Works.

But I don't recommend dedicating an LPAR to Linux.
If you have a mainframe, you should get z/VM. (Sounds like you already have z/VM at your shop.)
The insertion loss with z/VM is much less than for other hypervisors.
You get much closer to unity performance with Linux on z/VM.

The boot methods I have seen recently for zLinux include both tape and (virtual) card deck.
It is possible to ship a bootable disk image (I do it), but most distributors don't bother because burning the bootable image to physical DASD is not widely practiced in the mainframe world. The operational equivalent of 'rawrite' is a peculiar script fed to the DDR program. Cards and tapes are a little klunky, but they get the job done. (And they are quicker than getting DDR just right.) Then once you have Linux running, you can re-stamp bootable disks (or minidisks) over and over.

-- R; <><