This IBM® Redbooks® publication describes how to create Linux® virtual servers in IBM z/VM® on IBM System z® hardware. This book adopts a cookbook format that provides a concise, repeatable set of procedures for installing and configuring z/VM in a logical partition (LPAR) and then installing and customizing Linux. You need an IBM System z LPAR with the associated resources, z/VM V6.1 media, and a Linux distribution. This book assumes that you have a general familiarity with System z technology and terminology. It does not assume an in-depth understanding of z/VM and Linux. It is written for those clients who want to get a quick start with z/VM and Linux on the mainframe.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication is Volume 2 of a five-volume series of books entitled The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM Z®. This volume includes the following chapters: Chapter 1, "Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux on LNXADMIN" on page 3, describes how to install and configure Red Hat Enterprise Linux onto the Linux Administration server, which performs the cloning and other tasks. Chapter 2, "Automated Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations by using Kickstart" on page 37, describes how to use Red Hat's kickstart tool to create Linux systems. This tool is fundamentally different from cloning in that an automated installation is implemented. You can try kickstart and cloning. Understand that these applications attempt to accomplish the same goal of quickly getting Linux systems up and running, and that you do not need to use both. Chapter 3, "Working with subscription-manager, yum, and DaNdiFied" on page 47, describes how the Red Hat Network works. It provides centralized management and provisioning for multiple Red Hat Enterprise Linux systems. Kickstart is an easy and fast way to provision your Linux guests in any supported Linux platform. It re-creates the operating system from the beginning by using the kickstart profile configuration file that installs the new operating system unattended. It also sets up the new guest according to the definition that was set up in the kickstart file. Usually, Linux is administered by the same team that manages Linux on all platforms. By using kickstart, you can create a basic profile that can be used in all supported platforms and customize Linux profiles, as needed. Cloning requires a better understanding of the z/VM environment and z/VM skills. It is a fast process if you enable the IBM FlashCopy® feature in advance. It clones the disks from a golden image to new disks that are used by the new Linux guest. The process can be automated by using the cloning scripts that are supplied with this book. It is recommended that you start with The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM Z Volume 1: IBM z/VM 7.2, SG24-8147 of this series because the IBM® z/VM hypervisor is the foundation (or base "layer") for installing Linux on IBM Z.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication is Volume 3 of a series of three books called The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM z Systems. The other two volumes are called: The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM z Systems Volume 1: IBM z/VM 6.3, SG24-8147 The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM z Systems Volume 2: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 Servers, SG24-8303 It is suggested that you start with Volume 1 of this series, because IBM z/VM® is the base "layer" when installing Linux on IBM z SystemsTM. Volume 1 starts with an introduction, describes planning, and then describes z/VM installation into a two-node, single system image (SSI) cluster, configuration, hardening, automation, and servicing. It adopts a cookbook format that provides a concise, repeatable set of procedures for installing and configuring z/VM using the SSI clustering feature. Volumes 2 and 3 describe how to roll your own Linux virtual servers on z Systems hardware under z/VM. The cookbook format continues with installing and customizing Linux. Volume 3 focuses on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12. It describes how to install and configure SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 onto the Linux administration system, which does the cloning and other tasks. It also explains how to use AutoYaST2, which enables you to automatically install Linux using a configuration file, and explains how to create and use appliances and bootable images from configuration files. In addition, it provides information about common tasks and tools available to service SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication is volume one of five in a series of books entitled The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM Z. The series includes the following volumes: The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM z Systems® Volume 1: IBM z/VM® 7.2, SG24-8147 The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM Z Volume 2: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 Servers, SG24-8303 The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM z Systems Volume 3: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, SG24-8890 The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM z Systems Volume 4: Ubuntu Server 16.04, SG24-8354 Virtualization Cookbook for IBM Z Volume 5: KVM, SG24-8463 It is recommended that you start with Volume 1 of this series because the IBM z/VM hypervisor is the foundation (or base "layer") for installing Linux on IBM Z®. This book series assumes that you are generally familiar with IBM Z technology and terminology. It does not assume an in-depth understanding of z/VM or Linux. It is written for individuals who want to start quickly with z/VM and Linux, and get virtual servers up and running in a short time (days, not weeks or months). Volume 1 starts with a solution orientation, discusses planning and security, and then, describes z/VM installation methods, configuration, hardening, automation, servicing, networking, optional features, and more. It adopts a "cookbook-style" format that provides a concise, repeatable set of procedures for installing, configuring, administering, and maintaining z/VM. This volume also includes a chapter on monitoring z/VM and the Linux virtual servers that are hosted. Volumes 2, 3, and 4 assume that you completed all of the steps that are described in Volume 1. From that common foundation, these volumes describe how to create your own Linux virtual servers on IBM Z hardware under IBM z/VM. The cookbook format continues with installing and customizing Linux. Volume 5 provides an explanation of the kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) on IBM Z and how it can use the z/Architecture®. It focuses on the planning of the environment and provides installation and configuration definitions that are necessary to build, manage, and monitor a KVM on Z environment. This publication applies to the supported Linux on Z distributions (Red Hat, SUSE, and Ubuntu).

This IBM® Redbooks® publication is Volume 4 of a series of books entitled The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM z Systems. The other volumes in the series are: The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM z Systems Volume 1: IBM z/VM 6.3, SG24-8147 The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM z Systems Volume 2: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 Servers, SG24-8303 The Virtualization Cookbook for IBM z Systems Volume 3: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12, SG24-8890 It is advised that you start with Volume 1 of this series, because the IBM z/VM® Hypervisor is the foundation for installing Linux on IBM zTM Systems.

This IBM Redbooks publication shows the strengths of z/VM and how you can use these strengths to create a highly flexible test and production environment. Some of the strengths of z/VM that are shown in this book are that you can run Linux on z/VM, you can run a sysplex under z/VM, and you can develop code under z/VM for z/TPF. You can also provision Linux guests under z/VM. A vswitch allows you to connect all of your guests (all operating systems that run under z/VM) easily to the network. You can simulate your production environment on a sysplex. The intention of this book is to show the strengths of z/VM and how you can use these strengths to simulate your production environment and expand your application development and testing environments.

This IBM IBM Redbooks publication describes how to setup your own Linux virtual servers on IBM zSeries and System z9 under z/VM . It adopts a cookbook format that provides a clearly documented set of procedures for installing and configuring z/VM in an LPAR and then installing and customizing Linux. You need a zSeries logical partition (LPAR) with associated resources, z/VM 5.2 media, and a Linux distribution. This book is based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 (SLES9) for zSeries and we address both 31-bit and 64-bit distributions. In addition, there are a few associated REXX EXECs and Linux scripts to help speed up the process. These tools are not IBM products nor formally supported. However, they are informally supported. They are available on the Web. In this book, we assume that you have a general familiarity with zSeries technology and terminology. We do not assume an in-depth understanding of z/VM and Linux. This book is written for those who want to get a quick start with z/VM and Linux on the mainframe.