11.4. Booting the installation on IBM Z to install RHEL in z/VM


When installing under z/VM, you can boot from:

  • The z/VM virtual reader
  • A DASD or an FCP-attached SCSI disk prepared with the zipl boot loader

11.4.1. Booting the RHEL installation by using the z/VM Reader

Booting the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) installation by using the z/VM Reader is a method designed for IBM Z (s390x) mainframe environments. This approach delivers installation boot images directly to a virtual machine through the z/VM Reader. It enables installations even when other boot methods (such as DASD or FCP) are unavailable or impractical.

Procedure

  1. If necessary, add the device containing the z/VM TCP/IP tools to your CMS disk list. For example:

    cp link tcpmaint 592 592
    acc 592 fm

    Replace fm with any FILEMODE letter.

  2. For a connection to an FTPS server, enter:

    ftp <host> (secure

    Where host is the host name or IP address of the FTP server that hosts the boot images (kernel.img and initrd.img).

  3. Log in and execute the following commands. Use the (repl option if you are overwriting existing kernel.img, initrd.img, generic.prm, or redhat.exec files:

    cd /location/of/install-tree/images/
    ascii
    get generic.prm (repl
    get redhat.exec (repl
    locsite fix 80
    binary
    get kernel.img (repl
    get initrd.img (repl
    quit
  4. Optional: Check whether the files were transferred correctly by using the CMS command filelist to show the received files and their format. It is important that kernel.img and initrd.img have a fixed record length format denoted by F in the Format column and a record length of 80 in the Lrecl column. For example:

    VMUSER FILELIST A0 V 169 Trunc=169 Size=6 Line=1 Col=1 Alt=0
    Cmd Filename	Filetype	Fm	Format	Lrecl	Records	Blocks	Date	Time
    REDHAT	EXEC		B1	V	22	1 	1	4/15/10	9:30:40
    GENERIC	PRM		B1	V	44	1	1	4/15/10	9:30:32
    INITRD	IMG		B1	F	80	118545	2316	4/15/10	9:30:25
    KERNEL	IMG		B1	F	80	74541	912	4/15/10	9:30:17

    Press PF3 to quit filelist and return to the CMS prompt.

  5. Customize boot parameters in generic.prm as necessary. For details, see Customizing boot parameters.

    Another way to configure storage and network devices is by using a CMS configuration file. In such a case, add the CMSDASD= and CMSCONFFILE= parameters to generic.prm.

  6. Finally, execute the REXX script redhat.exec to boot the installation program:

    redhat

11.4.2. Booting the RHEL installation by using a prepared DASD

Booting the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) installation from a prepared Direct Access Storage Device (DASD) is a method commonly used on IBM Z (s390x) mainframe systems. Using a prepared DASD ensures that the installation process is consistent, repeatable, and can be integrated into larger provisioning workflows.

Procedure

  • Boot from the prepared DASD and select the zipl boot menu entry referring to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program. Use a command of the following form:

    cp ipl DASD_device_number loadparm boot_entry_number

    Replace DASD_device_number with the device number of the boot device, and boot_entry_number with the zipl configuration menu for this device. For example:

    cp ipl eb1c loadparm 0

11.4.3. Booting the RHEL installation by using a prepared FCP-attached SCSI disk

Booting Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) from a prepared FCP-attached SCSI disk is a common method on IBM Z (s390x) mainframe systems, especially when using Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) storage. This approach is used when you need to install RHEL on systems that rely on external SAN storage rather than local DASD devices.

Procedure

  1. Configure the SCSI boot loader of z/VM to access the prepared SCSI disk in the FCP Storage Area Network. Select the prepared zipl boot menu entry referring to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation program. Use a command of the following form:

    cp set loaddev portname WWPN lun LUN bootprog boot_entry_number

    Replace WWPN with the World Wide Port Name of the storage system and LUN with the Logical Unit Number of the disk. The 16-digit hexadecimal numbers must be split into two pairs of eight digits each. For example:

    cp set loaddev portname 50050763 050b073d lun 40204011 00000000 bootprog 0
  2. Optional: Confirm your settings with the command:

    query loaddev
  3. Boot the FCP device connected with the storage system containing the disk with the following command:

    cp ipl FCP_device

    For example:

    cp ipl fc00
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