IBM s/390 manual Linux, Positioning with other small S/390s

1.2.2 Linux

In order to provide well-tested S/390 operation, a single Linux distribution was chosen as the ThinkPad base software. This is Red Hat 7.1 Linux. Other versions and distributions of Linux might work, but only ThinkPad/EFS machines running on this base operating system are supported at the time of writing.

This may change in the future, of course. Linux is an ongoing process and the EFS base system is likely to migrate to a future Linux kernel when one becomes available and FSI migrates the FLEX-ES code to it. FSI and IBM intend to manage EFS development with a high priority for system stability. In general, this means the EFS base operating system will not “chase” small Linux enhancements and may delay movement to major new releases until their stability for the EFS environment has been thoroughly confirmed.

Linux is a large topic. This redbook addresses Linux only to the extent needed to install and use FLEX-ES. There are many clever things that can be done with Linux, and some of these can interact with FLEX-ES and files used with FLEX-ES. Except as needed to install a basic ThinkPad/EFS system, we do not explore the things a user might implement using Linux facilities.

1.2.3 Positioning with other small S/390s

Recent entry-level S/390 machines used by PID members have included the following:

￿P/390, R/390, and S/390 Integrated Server (IS) systems (all based on P/390 adapters). These systems are no longer manufactured or marketed, but are still widely used by members of IBM’s Partners in Development (PID) organization.

￿Application StarterPak systems. These are no longer manufactured or marketed, but a number are in use by PID members.

￿Several models of Multiprise 3000 systems (MP3000). These are currently manufactured and marketed and widely used.

￿x/Server EFS (formerly known as NUMA-Q Enabled for S/390). These are no longer marketed for EFS solutions.

￿Various models of Multiprise 2000 systems. These are no longer actively marketed.

The following table offers a few initial comparisons:

	S/390	Rel	Typical	Internal	Typical	S/390	Significant
	CPUs	CPU	S/390	Disk	Internal	Chans	Features
		Perf	Storage	Perform	Disk
			in MB		Capacity
ThinkPad/EFS	< 1	1.4	256	Good	32 GB +	None	Very portable!
Netfinity/EFS	1	1.8	512+	Very Good	160 GB	Limited	Multiple S/390 instances
(small)				to Excellent			portable
xSeries EFS	3	5	512-2048	Excellent	200 GB+	Limited	Multiple S/390 instances
							significant non-S/390
							workloads possible
P/390	1	1	256 fixed	Limited	18-36 GB	Limited	Portable (except IS)
R/390
Int. Serv.
MP3000-P30	1	8	1024	Very good	72 GB	Excellent	LPARs
			fixed				Crypto hardware
							ICMF

4S/390 PID: ThinkPad Enabled for S/390